How soon after birth can you plan to WAH again?

[amitymama]

I'm trying to establish a freelance journalism career right now and hope to get one or two items published before I have this baby in two months. By the time this babe is 1 year old I need to be earning at least a part-time income. How long after the birth should I realistically give myself to be able to even THINK of working on more articles and selling them? I know a lot depends on the baby and how much sleep I'm getting but I'm trying to figure out if 3-6 months is a reasonable expectation or if I'm kidding myself. I'm freaking out at the idea of how to juggle work with a newborn and a toddler at home!

[paphia]

I find that I can get back into my regular home routine at around the three month mark, give myself a month to get reorganized and by then baby is big enough to tolerate a few minutes here and there being put down. I don't know how well you write in short periods, but as long as you can do your research and writing in shorter chunks of time, you should be able to get some of your work routine back before 6 months. It is a lot harder with a toddler and a newborn because the toddler will need your attention when the baby is sleeping. But you can usually get a good routine going within the first six months. Just now dh and I are getting on top of our household duties (we moved when ds was 3 weeks old and we're finally ready to sell the old place), and we're figuring out how we can work in giving each other several hours of work time each week (so he can program and I can write).

Good luck and I hope you get an easy baby!

[amitymama]

Originally Posted by paphia

Good luck and I hope you get an easy baby!

Oh dear lord, me too!

Thanks for your input. I think 3-6 months sounds about reasonable, like you said.

[CAUCmama]

3 to 6 months, agreed. I did this with my toddler at the time and my newborn...though I had clients who couldn't deal so I ended up having to work and being a stressed out nightmare at about 2 weeks PP.

I'll admit though, it didn't get "easy" to work from home until the baby was about 13 months old and walking, now they will play together for long stretches and I can get some work done outside of naps. =)