childcare while working at home?

[scotia]

I've been lucky enough to find a full-time work at home position.  There will be occasional days of traveling, but primarily, I'll be home.  After being unemployed for a while, I'm so happy to have found a job in my field, let alone one that will allow me to be home with DS.  I'll be starting in January, when he is ten weeks old. 

The problem is that I have no idea what to do about childcare.  I have a friend coming over two days a week with her own LO to help care for him, but that still leaves the other three days.  I've started interviewing nannies, but the further I get into the process, the more I wonder if it's really worth hiring someone... He's still so little, and while, yes, caring for an infant is incredibly time-consuming, I feel kind of weird paying someone to be in the house all day when I'm there.  It would be different if he were older, but really?  He still naps on and off all day.  Plus, I'm breastfeeding, and had already planned on continuing that while working.  Granted, when he is awake and not nursing, it would be nice to have someone there to read to him, take him for walks, etc., but right now sleeping and nursing take up the largest chunk of his day.  I'm not looking to pay anyone to do housework or cooking, so is it ridiculous to pay someone to basically hang out in the house all day?  They would have nothing to do while he nurses or sleeps. 

Or am I fooling myself that I'll be able to get anything done if it were just me and him?  My job is administrative in nature, so there will be quite a few phone calls/conference calls, but also just a lot of paperwork and emailing, which I could conceivably do while wearing him.  (maybe?)  I will need to make calls without worrying about a crying infant in the background, but a lot of them will be to co-workers.  I've done some consulting work for this company before, and know everyone in the office - they all know that I have a baby at home, and I honestly don't think they would care if he were occasionally in the background.  But (always a but), I'll also have to be on the phone with people outside of the company, and need to be professional.

So, what do you all think?  Is it worth hiring a nanny for those three days?  Or should I wait until he's older and would need someone there to interact him more full-time?  Has anyone here successfully worked from home without help?  Thanks in advance for any/all advice or experiences!

[savithny]

First, find out if your employer has a policy -- my employer has a written policy requiring telecommuters provide proof that they have childcare arrangements for work hours.  

I've worked from home on and off for 10 years.  I work in the office every day for at least 4 hours (unless I have a sick kid or snow day).  And then I sometimes take some work home - not every day, but often enough I know what it's like.  

I know that I'm much less productive when I'm working with kids awake and in the house.  I have to save anything that requires concentration for after they go to bed.  I've tried to do conference calls from home, but there's something about being on the phone that attracts my kids and has them shrieking in the background for my attention. 

[meemee]

10 weeks is different than 4 weeks. i have never ever experienced a 'not a lot of work' with a baby. 

i would not expect sleeping all the time. 

to me it is worth it to not have to worry about taking care of DS esp. since you do have phonecalls to make.

even if its to your coworkers i would hate to have them think that childcare might hold you back from performing.

also just having another person in teh house to help and your son to get used to (i am looking at long term) i think is good. 

i would much rather err on teh side of caution, than trying to wing it initially and then scampering to find a nanny. 

good help is not that easy to find and you may have to wait a bit anyways. 

[Super~Single~Mama]

I would find someone.  A good friend of mine has an almost 3mo right now, and we're finishing up our law school semester.  She doesn't have childcare for him right now (although she does for her 18mo - the center doesn't take children until they are 3mo), and I've babysat for her several times in the last few weeks, and so have a few other classmates of ours so that she can do client meetings, conference calls, etc.

I would start looking, you'll most likely need one at least by the time baby is 4-5mo, b/c that's when they don't sleep as much, and are much more interactive.

[siobhang]

I concur with the other posters. I have worked from home since my youngest was 3 months old. I have tried not having childcare and in fact the first two months, I worked 30 hours with no alternative care and it was HELL. I ended up working every minute my baby was sleeping or when my dh was home and I got no down time. I found I was not a good employee and a worse mother - i was very resentful of my baby and his needs. As soon as we got an au pair, my stress levels dropped a lot.

As PPs have said, many employers require that you have childcare for all hours you are working. You cannot trust your child to sleep when you need him to or not start screaming in the middle of a conference call or suddenly start teething and fusing the same week as a big deliverable.

And when your kid starts crawling and walking, it gets 100000x worse - toddlers are actively trying to kill themselves and/or destroy the house. They need to be watched for every second, even in a baby-proofed house.

There are many options - a nanny, au pair, inhome childcare locally.Good luck!

[laurabfig]

I agree...you'll need childcare.  No guarantees that baby will sleep when you need to be on a conference call.

That being said- I would love if I could work from home and just have a nanny there.  You are so much more present for your child.  You can nurse frequently rather than pump.   (I'm jealous!) :)

[Tjej]

I think you should reconsider having a nanny or au pair only mind your child.  They can do things for you while baby is sleeping.  It will free you up to spend more time with your child when you are not working.

I think if you are going to need to be professional on the phone you should find someone.

Tjej

[scotia]

Thanks for the input, everyone!  I think you're right - working full-time with DS there would be too much.  The nanny interviews continue...