Need advice for both parents working at home

[SuperGojiMama]

Hi all, 

I'm hoping to find some answers here. My hubby and I both work from home full time. We have a 4 month old little boy who is starting to move around on his own and really require more attention. 

Does anyone have any experience with this? He's not quite old enough to be occupied with an activity, but he can entertain himself for 15-20 minutes or so at a time on a mat. 

I am just looking for tips on what our strategy can be, so that we aren't neglecting our little guy, but also able to get our work done. It's not really possible for either of us to work any less than full time currently. My husband can maybe get by with a little less, but then usually spends time working outside or on the house in some way. 

Any thoughts are appreciated!!

[crunchy_mommy]

I'm the only WAH parent in our family but I think some of the same ideas could help you.

I'm hoping at least one of you has flexible hours -- if not, I'm not sure how you could sustain this long-term without hiring a nanny or something. It's easiest for the first 6mos or so... then they get so much more active & need more stimulation & get into everything and it's just a whole lot harder -- pretty much impossible once they are toddlers if you can't hire someone to help or work while the kid sleeps (which, in my case, means I'm only sleeping about 6 hours a night on a good night!)

If both of you can work a large chunk of time while the baby's asleep for the night, that would cut down drastically on the hours you need to squeeze in later. So depending on your baby's schedule, maybe both work from 8pm-midnight, or 5am-9am, something like that. Then you each need to fit in only about 20 hours more... so then one of you could work mornings & the other, afternoons, while the other watches the baby. Then you'd still have a few hours in the early evening for more leisurely family time.

You could also just alternate shifts -- i.e. one of you does 6am-2pm, the other, 2pm-10pm. The plus side if this is that it's not dependent on your baby sleeping well (can be really stressful if baby wakes up 3 hours too early one day!) The down side is, you'll be in the same house all day but spend hardly any quality time together (except weekends).

Anyway, hope something like that will work for you. Other things that help me (my DS is now 2.5yo): I have a laptop on a stand that I use in bed. DS won't sleep unless I'm right beside him, so this way I can get my hours in without leaving his side. I can also comfortably nurse him/comfort/keep him asleep while I'm working. Having a proper, somewhat ergonomic setup (I use a lot of pillows, boppy, etc. in combination to be comfortable) is important so you don't end up in chronic pain from nursing while working or whatever. When DS wakes up too early, we sit together & cuddle & listen to music on the laptop while I finish up my work. We also have the entire room I work in baby-proofed & totally safe (less important now, but critical from about 6-18mos!) so he can play a bit without me worrying about him.

[dogmom327]

I agree that split shifts are a good idea.  We have a sitter for several days a week for our kids but if we didn't that'd be the only option I think would be feasible.