Ack! The Baby's Walking - Now What Do I Do?

If you began your working at home career with a newborn at your side, you are in for a big surprise once the baby becomes mobile. Gone are the days when your infant slept 18 hours a day or was content to lay in one spot when awake. Gone too are the days when you could get all of your work done in one sitting. Now that the baby is on the move, you need to change the way you work.

It is still possible to work from home with an older baby but it requires a different mindset. In addition, don't expect to work at the same pace. A job that normally takes fifteen minutes without interruption can take hours to complete when the baby is running around. With this in mind, be realistic about how much you can accomplish. You won't likely be able to put in a full eight hours unless you have someone to help with childcare. Working from home on a part time basis is doable if you approach it the right way and are willing to adapt as needed.

Naptime is precious to any mother; it's especially dear to the work at home mom. For two to three hours, you can work while the baby sleeps. Try to establish a regular nap routine so that you will have a fairly consistent work schedule. For example, if your baby regularly sleeps for two hours in the morning starting at 9:00AM and then naps in the afternoon around 1:00 PM for another two hours, you'll be able to count on working from nine to eleven and from one to three each day.

Naturally, with babies, you can't always rely on their cooperation. Some days, naps won't go as planned. On those days, go with the flow and try to adapt your schedule to match the baby's schedule. Whether the baby naps on time or when she wants to, once she's finally asleep, you can go to work. Try to save phone calls for naptime so that your clients and business associates won't hear coos, babbles, and cries.

All too soon you'll hear that telltale squawk announcing, "I'm awake." With this squawk, you'll need to switch gears. First, give her what she needs. She'll want to snuggle, nurse, eat, or have her diaper changed right away. While you may have been in the middle of a report or getting ready to call an important client, those tasks are on hold for now. Baby comes first! Enjoy these moments. After all, being able to spend time with your baby is one of the major perks of working from home.

You can fit in some business when the baby is awake too. Make sure that your office is baby-friendly and let her play while you work at your desk. Set up an area of the office with special age-appropriate toys or plop her in a saucer or swing for ten to twenty minutes of "contained" peace. When the baby becomes a preschooler, your office can evolve. For example, set up a small desk with crayons and paper and schedule "art time" to coordinate with "work time."

Some work at home mothers find that they simply can't get their work done with a busy baby on the move. Perhaps naps have become non-existent or the baby gets into everything. Whatever the reason, something needs to change. Childcare or further reductions in the number of hours you work are logical options.

Even those who manage to get most of their work done sometimes need a helping hand. Do you have a pre-teen neighbor who is interested in babies? While you might not yet be ready to turn your baby over to an actual babysitter and the pre-teen girl might not quite be ready to babysit on her own, consider an arrangement where your young neighbor comes over for an hour or so each day to entertain the baby while you work. She'll get valuable experience and be able to earn a few extra dollars, your baby will learn to interact with others, and it won't break your bank.

For example, if you pay $3 per hour, your pre-teen neighbor will earn $15 a week just for playing with your baby. That's about enough to buy a CD or begin saving for a larger item. In the meantime, you will be able to see how her babysitting skills are progressing and be able to gauge her abilities as a potential babysitter further down the road. $60 per month can buy you a full 20 hours of extra time for work.

Once your baby has learned how to get around, your work at home routine must adapt. In fact, this is just the first stage of adapting. When you work from home with kids underfoot, you will find that multi-tasking takes on a whole new meaning.