How to Work from Home with A Baby (and Make It Work)?

To some people, becoming a work-at-home mother (WAHM) may sound like a dream. Working from home is commonly associated to the holy-grail of work-life balance as it offers more flexibility, zero commuting, freedom from nasty office politics, pajamas as the ‘office’ attire, power naps, and more time with the kids. While most parts of the above are true, did you know that working from home, with a baby or young children around, also translates to high stress levels, constant distractions, burnout, and extreme multitasking for mothers? Been There, Done That Photo Credit: Freepik My work-from-home career started about ten years ago. While I am grateful to have the chance to earn a living and gain a sense of professional achievement while being around my children, witnessing and snapping pictures of their milestones and special moments when they were a baby; I must emphasise that working from home with an infant around sans helper had certainly got my adrenaline pumping. No less. It was very challenging to mother a child under one and be an (freelance or contract) employee at the same time. There were emails to be replied, programmes and reports to be written, deadlines and weekly target to be met, conference calls to attend and lots of important calls to be made during business hours. Yet, quite often, there were successions of interruption from my baby that led to little to no productivity; putting more stress on me for the rest of the day. Imagine the panic and sudden surge of my stress levels when my baby suddenly woke up or refused to nap when a conference call with my bosses or clients was due and I had nobody at home to pass the baby to. Or picture this: A frustrated and weary new mum trying to comfort her teething baby while she had to submit her weekly reports before EOD. And this: A baby who cried her lungs out because she was hungry or her diaper was soiled but mummy could not attend to her just yet because she was in the middle of composing an important email that needed to be sent out like now! On top of the madness mentioned above, as the person who got the “luxury” to work from home alongside with my baby, the obligations to complete all the basic house chores like preparing meals, cleaning, and doing laundry correspondingly fell on my shoulders. Back then, my mind and body was like constantly being pulled into different directions, day in day out. Mastering the Art of Working from Home with a Baby Photo Credit: Freepik While working from home with a baby or a toddler is, without doubt, no picnic, there are ways to manage remote ‘work-and-parent’ arrangements. If you are struggling to stay professional, productive, and sane while caring for your baby or a very young child, the following suggestions from a full-time work-from-home mother like me may work for you. Work when the baby naps Before blowing the candle on their first birthday cake, babies usually sleeps more than once in a day. Take advantage of baby’s multiple naps during the day and hit your work hard (read: tackle the most pressing tasks on-hand) when he or she sleeps. I tried to make all the important calls when my baby took her naps because work calls demand uninterrupted time. Other tasks such as emailing or writing programmes still can be done when the baby is awake but certainly not phone calls. Make a to-do-list Every morning before you start your work, take a few minutes to sit down, set, and jot down a daily target of things that you need to achieve. Segment your tasks according to their level of urgency or importance and try your best to tick them off whenever you can. This strategy maybe a tad difficult to achieve if you have to work with a baby at home but try not to call a day off just yet if 80%–90% of the items in your to-do-list are not crossed; otherwise, you will likely have a harder time to detach from work after office hours and face a longer to-do list and pressures the next working day. Create a routine If your job requires you to follow the normal office hours (9 am–6 pm), sticking to a routine on week days is necessary. Once you are able to predict your baby’s daily schedules, e.g. the times when he or she normally goes to bed at night, wakes up in the morning, naps in the afternoon, feeds, needs her bath, and so on – make an attempt to eat, do your work, or complete house chores around your baby’s schedule. If you are a morning person, wake up earlier, squeeze some work, or even cook your quick lunch or your baby’s food before she wakes up in the morning. Expect interruptions and make use of them Like it or not, working from home with a baby or young children means you will be constantly interrupted. They will not understand that you are in the midst of an important call or need to finish typing so you can send the email over to your boss in the next second. Embrace these interruptions and consider them as part of the gig. Better yet, use these interruptions as your short breaks during the day because you may need one or two breathers to recharge yourself anyway. Get extra help if you have extra budget I find that cooking lunch and keeping my house spotless, while I am already very overwhelmed with ensuring my productivity at work and a baby during the day, arduous. As such, once I had extra budget, I hired a house cleaning service once a week and ordered monthly home-cooked meal delivery to save my time spent in the kitchen from Monday to Friday. If you are unable to find a similar food delivery service in your area, you can also consider ordering food online on some crazy days. This way, you will get more time to focus on completing your work while attending on your baby’s needs; particularly, if hiring a nanny or a live-in helper is not an option. Let go the guilt Combining parenting and working, in general, is a delicate balancing act. Working from home with a baby is a harder balancing act and not everyone can do it. If your baby is old enough to play solo, do not feel bad for not engaging with her all the time or for letting her play alone with her favourite toys while you work. As long as your baby is put in a safe place (a playpen or fenced play area, for instance), close to where you work, and you can keep an eye and ear on her, it is okay to let her entertain herself for a few good minutes. Be realistic and do not beat yourself up if you cannot do everything impeccably, because no one can. Invest on a good diaper brand Those who work at home still need to work efficiently, get the work done, and hit certain KPIs so they will be hired again in the near future. To ensure you have enough quality time to do your work when you are at home alone with a baby, keeping your baby happy and calm for as long as possible when he or she is asleep or awake is absolutely important. Achieve this by giving your baby a good and trusted diaper that will keep him or her dry and comfortable such as MamyPoko Extra Dry. The Next Important Thing: Safeguarding Your Sleep While Working from Home Photo Credit: Freepik To sum up, working from home leaves mothers with very little room in their day to deal with any sort of exhaustion, including one resulting from a rough night with a baby. WAHMs are required to work extra hard to balance everything day after day. Thus, having a good sleep at night is essential. Although sleep may sound elusive to some mothers with babies, be assured that with MamyPoko Extra Dry, you can now have a good night’s rest as your baby enjoys long hours of quality sleep. Sleep Better and Wake Up Happy with MamyPoko Extra Dry MamyPoko Extra Dry features a powerful absorbent core that absorbs and locks in urine for up to 12 hours. And now, it is upgraded with +20% more absorbency, which makes it even better! This keeps your baby feeling dry, which means baby can stay comfortable always, and enjoy longer quality sleep. What does it mean when baby gets to sleep better? It means mothers can also have a good night’s well-deserved rest instead of being woken up by a crying baby in wet diapers. A good night’s sleep equals to baby waking up happy in the next morning and mother feeling recharged to take on another busy day – juggling on work and other duties at home, without having to worry about constantly changing her baby’s diapers. MamyPoko Extra Dry is also equipped with Speed Airwave technology and 360° air flow for extra dryness – perfectly suited for Malaysia’s hot and humid weather. When baby is comfortable, he or she can nap well and enjoy playtime longer during the day, so mothers do not have to rush their work and other errands. Bottom Line Photo Credit: Freepik By getting a good quality diaper like MamyPoko Extra Dry, mothers will get to save a lot on their grocery expenses as the numbers of diaper-changing in a day lessen if you use MamyPoko Extra Dry. Not only that, MamyPoko Extra Dry will provide mothers with more much-needed time to complete their everyday tasks and babies are happier too. All in all, getting MamyPoko Extra Dry as your baby’s trusted diaper brand screams more value! Definitely a more worth it choice! So hurry, get your hands on MamyPoko Extra Dry on Motherhood.com.my today! But What if We Told You That There is A Chance to Win 1 (ONE) Carton of MamyPoko Extra Dry?! Finally, you know how amazing MamyPoko Extra Dry is with its 20% more absorbency feature. So now, we are giving you the chance to win 1 carton of MamyPoko Extra Dry by entering our ANSWER & WIN contest on Motherhood’s Facebook page. There will be 5 lucky winners bringing home the prize! How to WIN? Step 1: Tell us in the comments section of this Facebook posting why MamyPoko Extra Dry is your #MoreWorthIt diaper! Step 2: TAG 3 of your friends and SHARE the contest post (set your account in public mode). Excited to find out more about how MamyPoko Extra Dry helps both mummies and babies get a good night's rest? Well, it's time to make your way to MamyPoko Malaysia’s official website for more information and stay tuned on their Facebook page for more inside scoop and attractive offers! Last but not least, do spend some time to check this video out to discover why waking up to a happy baby with MamyPoko Extra Dry is more worth it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v8TqIhibqfmM

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