You can manage to work from home with your baby. However depending on the age of your child, the needs of your baby and the demands of your work, you might find this to be too overwhelming sometimes. While it is doable to still care for your child while working, the pressure might be too much and you may fail in both work and caring for your child.
As such it is necessary that you hire a caregiver so that you can focus on work as your caregivers focuses on childcare. It is important that when you sit down to work when at home, you can fully focus on work so that your productivity is not interfered with by your child.
Therefore hiring a nanny or baby sitter is more recommendable because it is convenient and allows you to see your child when you are not engaged with work.
Benefits of Hiring a Nanny when you Work from Home
When you have your nanny around when working from home, there are some extra crucial benefits you get. A nanny at your home as you work allows you;
- More convenience- No need to do daycare drop off and pickups or treat daycare bugs. A live-in nanny will especially add in more convenience because you can continue working during odd hours.
- Save more time – No wasting time on daycare drops off and pickups, office commute among others since your nanny is coming to your house.
- Spend more time with baby- You can see or spend time your baby at any time you are free from work such as during your tea and lunch breaks.
- Get quality nanny care- Your presence in the house can improve the level of care your nanny gives your baby.
- Supports your work-life balance-You can effectively divide time between work , parenting and personal errands.
Challenges of Working from Home with a Nanny
On the other having a nanny as you work from home may have problems and issues. Some of these challenges may include;
- Too much disruptions from the house- The disturbances from the nanny and the baby may make you less productive at work, especially if they are within your sight
- Feeling the need/urge to check on the baby- It is hard to ignore the fact that their baby is in the next room hence making you check on them too often, reducing your focus and productive.
- Baby being too fussy because you are around -The care relationship between the nanny and the baby may fail to develop because you too available to the baby.
- Difficult yo set work/home boundaries – You are constantly thinking about your baby while you are working or vice versa, making it hard to separate the two.
Read: Disadvantages of Choosing Nanny for your Infant
Top Secrets to Effectively Work from Home with your Nanny
1.Create Strict Work Boundaries
To successful work from home with your nanny and ensure your baby is receiving effective nanny care, you need to establish boundaries. This includes everything from work hours to baby hours you and your nanny share.
The goal here is to allow your nanny the space and time to care for your baby as they would in your absence if you worked from the office. You will find this approach to be a very effective way of ensuring that your work arrangement and your nanny situation do not collide.
Some of the work boundaries you may need to set include;
- Resist the urge to keep checking on your child
- Keep strict hours on the time the baby spends with you verses the time they spend with your nanny
- Avoid intervening on the time your baby is with your nanny- let your nanny be in-charge completely
- Try to stay out of the way for the most of caring for the baby until it’s time to relieve your nanny
- Have your nanny know you will be busy working and can only interrupt for emergencies
Read: How to Set Boundaries between you and your Nanny
2. Have a Designated Work Area /Home Office
To effectively work from home when your nanny and your baby are present you need to be literary out of their sight. You need to have a secluded area where your mind can effectively switch from home mode to work mode. By doing so, you can ensure that your nanny is not getting into your way or you into theirs.
You may not be able to do this if you are working within the eye sight of your child with your nanny. By being away, in a quiet place, you will focus more and concentrate better on your work. In addition, your nanny and your baby will do better when your baby does not see you around rather see you yet you are unavailable.
To this effect, ensure that you;
- Create a home office to work from to avoid colliding with the nanny
- If you don’t have an office, work from your bedroom or other secluded areas such a spare room or basement as the nanny may use the rest of the rooms
- Avoid taking breaks to go see your baby as this may make your nanny’s work harder
- Limit noise and disruptions coming into your working area to avoid the need to move from your work area
- Have everything you need in your office area to avoid the need to go to the main house e.g. water dispenser, microwave, bathroom, etc.
- Lock the door if need be to avoid sudden disruptions coming from your nanny and the baby such as during an important meeting
Read: How to Make Working from Home Easy
3. Create a Consistent Work Routine
You can successfully work from home and have a nanny care for your child by creating and sticking to a strict work routine. It is one of the most useful things you can do to make your work from home situation manageable. The routine should focus on the hours you work, what you do on your breaks among other routines.
- Set starting time for your nanny- Hand over your baby to your nanny immediately their time starts and begin your work.
- Always stay out of sight unless in cases of emergencies to allow you to concentrate on your work.
- Avoid taking breaks to see your child-It leads to meltdowns that are not generally healthy for you and your baby and also makes your nanny’s work harder
- Take your breaks away from the main house area, e.g. take a walk outside to avoid irritating your baby
- If you opt to see your child during breaks, make them brief and consistent to ensure that nanny can manage the situation
- Take breaks or grab items you need around your baby nap time to avoid them seeing you unnecessarily
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