[mom2anangel]

Are there any moms out there who bring their baby to work with them? How old is baby? What is your job? How do you deal with getting your job done and taking care of your little one? How long will you bring baby to work with you?

As for me I have a 16 month old DD and I'm a nanny for a 10 month old boy. I love kids, esp babies so my job is pretty easy. The babies tend to entertain eachother most of the time. Sometimes things get stressful when they are both hungry or tired, but I can deal it is over as soon as they nap or are fed. DD has to mommy share on the days I work (I'm PT), but I think it preps her for having siblings. If I had my choice she would continue to come to work with me until she's in school.

 

[Stephig]

I have tried to take my sons (2yo & 7mo) to work with me, and I honestly couldn't get anything done. Luckily I work for my grandmother as an assistant right now while I go to school... so she is really understanding.
I spent most of my time telling Logan (2) to not touch anything because her house is FAR from child-proof. And when I wasn't doing that I was being fussed at by a bored baby! lol.

I'm sure there are ways to do it, it really just depends on what your job entails.

 

[bdoody11]

I recently tried to bring my DD (4.5 months) with me to work and it was not successful. She is just too into everything and wants to be held. A sling/wrap won't work because she can't tolerate me sitting which I need to do to work on my computer.

I've decided when daycare is closed I will take vacation or get my Mother to watch her. I

to those that can work with their DCs around!

 

[berkeleyp]

I work as a legal assistant for my father about 25 hours per week. I've been taking my dd with me to work since she was 3 months old-she's now over 2. We go to work every day for 4-6 hours. Its had its challenges but I've been so glad to have her with me.

I keep my office super child-proof and have quite a few toys. She loved her sling at the beginning as well as a sheepskin to lay on then she moved into an exersaucer which she loved. When she became mobile, it became more difficult but she has always been very good at entertaining herself. She plays at my feet. Around 20 months, I was getting very frustrated, had to stop nursing at work, and was about to send her to daycare. Instead, I brought a TV (which she had never really seen before) to work with an old VCR. Now she watches videos 1-3 hours a day while I work. I hate this but it feels better for us than sending her to daycare. I really can't afford daycare anyway.

 

[rosie_plus_one]

I bring my 6 week old into work with me for 3-4 hours a few times a week. I'm a book keeper for a small company and everyone leaves the office when I come in, so it works great for us. He generally sleeps most of the time, and it's much quieter here than at home with my 20 month old son.

 

[artemis80]

I have a pretty undemanding job. I was able to bring ds once a week until he got more mobile and active. Until he was 7-8 months old, he was fine snoozing in a bouncy seat or playing in a play yard (okay, playpen). Once he learned to crawl, and wanted to crawl everywhere, though, it was all over!

I never really got much done with him around, even before he got active, but that was okay in my job.

 

[lilylidou]

No,beacuse my company forbid that

 

[paula444four]

my guy has been coming to work with me since i returned from ml...at about 8 weeks old. of course this has been a part time situation. i take a late lunch...and go pick him up from day care...spend some time together at the park etc and then return to work. in the early days he was here 2-3 hours a day...and now that he is nearly a year old...i keep it to 1 hour a day. so i take my lunch at 3...and return at 4 with him.

it isnt easy! he is absolutely a distraction and sometime i get nothing done wtih him here. however...it has increased my overall moral..and helped with the transition in so many ways! i appreciate my employer allowing it. however...my original request was till he was mobile...which he obviously has been for months and months...so im hanging on till someone notices.

my office looks like a nursery/playroom...although i try to keep it hidde when he isnt here..but thats impossible. they were worried about keeping the offie professional. i try to keep new toys here to keep him occupied..but usually he wants to play with anything that is not a toy!

good luck with your babies. it definitely worth a shot...i wouldnt change anything in my experience. those are precious hours that we had together..even if i was frazzled sometimes.

 

[sonrisaa29]

My son is 3 but I've taken him to work about once or twice a month if not more since he was 2. I work as a video editor, and one of his favorite things to do here is to a) watch me edit or b) go watch movies on the big screen tv or c) play with my bosses dog's

I will say that it works out okay if I am not in the middle of a deadline, but if I am its a little more complicated.

 

[MSUmama]

I work as a breastfeeding peer counselor. I bring dds (12 and 13 yo) with me a few days a week and the whole office puts them to work! They file, make copies, stamp things, stuff envelopes, and so on. 2 yo ds has joined us a few times but he goes to a very nearby home daycare 3 days a week, 4 hours a day and he'd honestly rather be there, he loves it and it's a small group. He asks to go play at Hillarie's when it's not his day to go! I'm expecting baby 4 any day now and will bring baby when I can, planning to sling and have many offers to rock/watch baby from co-workers already. I also spend a lot of time visiting clients at home and while for the most part I won't take baby, there are a few clients who have already told me I'd better bring baby with me when I visit them, lol! I'm so thankful to have the job that I have but I'd probably still be a SAHM if I hadn't landed this job.
Amy

 

[queen b]

i, too, am a childcare provider. it's definitely the best way for me to go as far as needing to work and not wanting to put dd in daycare. my dd is 17 months, as is the other little girl i care for. in addition, i have her 3 year old brother once (sometimes more) a week. it's great for my babe b/c she is quite socialized and is open to sharing! it's great for me because dd and i never have to be apart (unless i need some mommy time) and i love kids! it does have its challenges though. it's the hardest work i've ever done and i do get quite burnt out. it's hard enough to take care of your own child, which is such a huge responsibility, but taking care of another persons child can be an even greater responsibility many ways. it's difficult balancing two toddlers who run around like crazy, but still don't really talk. while it's not my life long career, i'm so grateful to be doing it for now! i do look forward to having another baby and being able to be a sahm with my own two kids though! but, i would recommend this type of work to other mamas!

 

[Eben'sMama]

I'm an Infant-Parent Mental Health Specialist and Marriage and Family Therapist and just started facilitating parent-child playgroups/education groups at the local University of California campus. It's a peer support model, so I'm more there to support and guide the group, and lend child development education if necessary; it's not a "therapy" group. I'm there about 5 hours a day each on Fri. and Sat.

I bring my DS with me--he's almost 15 months. It's working out pretty well so far. I think it's helpful to the parents to see my modeling what they're learning in the group, and also to see that even "experts" are human and have their challenging parenting moments!

I'm also almost 37 weeks pregnant and will be bringing the new babe with as well once I return to work. I have this fantasy that he will just nurse and sleep in the sling the whole time, but we'll see...

 

[e.naomisandoval]

It was actually an article in Mothering a bit ago about kids at work that really put me over the top on working at home and homeschooling and starting a business while my little one was still a baby. Actually, I think it was a whole issue. They went behind the scenes at Mothering and also some other businesses. It was really very, very inspiring to me. It changed my whole perspective. I didn't need to get away from my kids to work. I could figure out something I could do from home! I should have written in to say how grateful I was for that......

 

[TryingMommas]

I brought Em to work with me from when I went back to work FT when he was about 3 months old. Actually, both Dp and I worked FT, and split up the time with him, so he "worked" PT at both of our jobs. It really worked out amazingly well for us!

I work for a non-profit supportive housing agency, where I am one of the services program managers. I have my own (very small) office, and don't do very much direct service - lots of computer work & meetings. Working with him was the best when he was pre-crawling. I had a gymini mat on the floor, and toys & books for him (he liked tummy time and back time) and he spent a LOT of time in the Moby wrap carrier. He pretty much took almost all his naps while being worn (sometimes he'd also nap on my shoulder during meetings - too bad I couldn't snooze, too!).

My co-workers and boss were *very* supportive, in fact my supervisor's office is accross from mine and she LOVED having him around. It helped a lot that Em was a super-cute and happy, contented baby who rarely cried. Also, it was great that D and I split the time each day, so we each had a chunk of non-baby time to get things done if the baby-time was not very productive that day. We definitely were *less* productive with a baby then without, but I really was able to keep doing my job while I had him at work with me.

Once he started scooting/crawling, it got a lot harder - he also got a lot louder (not crying, just vocalizing a LOT) so phone calls got hard to do without lots of explanations. Plus he was getting big enough to push out of the Moby if he wanted to. So - we started using a pack-n-play &/or seat at work and started looking for child care at around 6 months. Then I freaked out and wasn't ready to be apart from him so we put it off again and had a harder 2 months of bringing a mobile baby to work (luckily, he just kept getting cuter and more gregarious, so all our co-workers were totally in love with him at that point). It also helped that we got an Ergo - finally big enough for the back carry!

I'm glad I kept him with me as long as I did (until 8-9 mos) ... but there were down-sides, the biggest one was that toward the end I really felt like it wasn't very good for *him* to be there. He had no set routine, and he started to only be able to nap for 30 min at a time. Once he started child care (nanny share with another family) he began to nap excellently, so I think having routine was really good for him.

Since 9 mos, he's been in child care 4 days/week and my DP dropped to PT and has him Fridays. She often still brings him in to me for an hour or 2 on Fridays to nurse and be with my while she runs an errand or two. In fact, the Fridays when he doesn't come to see me (like today) my boss says "where's Em? I miss him."

I think if you have a supportive work environment, it can be really fabulous to bring your baby to work, especially in the early months and while exclusively bf'ing.

Rachel

 

[mimie]

I took my baby to work with my until she was six months old. I used a pouch and the Baby Bjorn, and she alternated between nursing on my lap, napping in the pouch or the Bjorn, napping in her swing, or playing in her bouncy seat or exersaucer.

I'll be honest - it was difficult. I felt like I had two full-time jobs. I work for a small non-profit in a demanding position. Fortunately, I could get by with being in the office 4-6 hours/day and then working from home.

She started part-time at a home-based daycare at six months when I felt that she needed more stimulation than I was able to give her while working, and she needed a more structured schedule than I could depend on at work. I started feeling like I was ignoring her.

All of the hard work was totally worth it, though, to be with her for six months. When she did start daycare at six months I felt very comfortable with it - I would have been a wreck if I had had to put her in daycare at eight weeks (when I started back to work after maternity leave).

 

[mama sadie]

I have a demanding but flexible job in a leadership position at a non-profit with a very understanding boss and office mates. I brought DD to work with me from about 2 months - 9 months. Looking back, months 2, 3 and 4 were pretty easy as she slept so much, and anywhere - on my lap, in the bjorn, under my desk, etc. I could get about 4-6 hours of work done at the office, and then made up the rest at home evenings and weekends. The best part was getting to be with my DD around the clock and not having to pump. I can't remember when exactly, but at around 4 months I started having relatives come to the office to watch her there so I could focus more on my work. I basically turned my cube into a playpen and then took my laptop and worked elsewhere in the office. When the weather got better they could take her out for long walks. By 9 mo, she was just too active and vocal to be happy there, so we have transitioned to having her grandmas and aunties watch her at our place while I am at the office, and they bring her in at lunchtime to nurse. This is working GREAT at the moment, and I think it was a really smooth transition for both me and DD as we got to gradually get used to spending time apart. We are so lucky to have family close by who is willing to do this! We have also just gotten into having DH put her to bed sometimes instead of me nursing her to sleep everytime, so I am a happy mama!

 

[Elizabeth0506]

Yes, I bring DD with me to work, she is 11 months. I am a dance instructor and she will usually sit in the corner and play while I teach, if she starts to get fussy I just hold her on my hip and keep dancing. If she is really fussy usually one of the moms will watch her while I teach.

 

[straighthaircurly]

I brought my son to work with me for the first 7 months. My DH and I own a car repair business so we get to set the rules.

I did trade jobs with the office manager (I had been the service manager) so that I had more time available to care for him and nurse him. We knew that once he started crawling it wouldn't work (everything at the shop is just too dirty) so then he started daycare until I gave up and started staying home with him at 23 months. The funny thing was trying to guess at what age he would be crawling, I guessed 7 months so I reserved a daycare spot for then. One week before he was due to start he began crawling and that week was brutal because we had to keep him "contained" in a small play area at work. He was so happy to start daycare.

(though that only lasted for about 11 months). Now he is almost 4 and he comes to work with me for a few hours at a time, a couple days a week. I left my FT position and just help with some personnel management and financial oversight. He has toys there and loves hanging out "fixing" cars with his daddy.

 

[Om Girl]

thanks for posting this thread, I'm looking for the same thing!

 

[leafwood]

I have brought dd to work a few times. Mainly during snow storms when I know the office is going to be very slow and daycare is closed. Also, I NEVER see clients when I have dd in the office (I'm a psychologist). There is a nursery program run by social workers and they gladly incorporate dd into that when she's there and she loves it. I don't mind her doing that since I am not involved with any of those children therapeutically.

Dh is a researcher/professor and has brought dd to the office/lab a few times as well. Usually armed with snacks, the portable DVD player and a blanket for her to camp out on. She prefers mommy's work because we have toys and now she thinks I just play at work all day. If only!

I also have to say my director is very family oriented and I always clear it with her first. Dh really does not have a "boss" so it's not an issue.

We are lucky.