r/MomsWorkingFromHome

Hi all

I’ve been WFH for 6 years and it’s been a huge blessing being home when my oldest is out of school, and when she gets home. However she was already in elementary school when I started WFH. I just had a baby and he will be starting daycare in a few weeks at 11 weeks old. Unfortunately my job is not one where I can care for him while I work, even just part of the day. I knew this from the time I got pregnant but I still can’t help feeling guilty about sending him so young. I have no village, my parents are dead. In home nanny’s are more than we can afford. My situation was completely different when I had my daughter in 2013 - I was able to stay home for a year and after that she was only cared for by my parents for a few hours a day in between me going to work and my husband getting home until she was in elementary school and went to extended day for just a couple hours a day. My postpartum has been brutal on my mental health and I cant help feeling like my baby boy is getting the short end of the stick. Would love some encouragement ❤️

I’m exhausted most days. I exclusively breastfeed my 5 month old and he’s still waking up about 3x overnight. I work a full 40 hour week and take care of my toddler and baby half my shift each day. My husband is in charge of cooking all our meals and meal preps 3 meals (every couple of days). He does help with my toddler up until 1pm everyday before he goes to work and in between feedings he gets our younger baby too. I was working from home before we had our babies and thought it would be the most convenient in terms of childcare.. at the time before I got pregnant my job was very much chill until they sold the company, management changed and now I am glued to my monitors.

My toddler used to nap 2 hours and it gave me some time to focus on my work and then only have him do independent play for the last hour of my shift.

Now his naps are as short as 40 mins that I have to get him to entertain himself for 2.5-3 hours. I don’t blame his boredom and I know he doesn’t understand I’m working but I hate that I have to push him away from my desk and he just wants interaction from me. :/

The entire time I now also have a fussy 5 month old who only naps 30 mins every couple hours. My 5 month old also doesn’t like to be held for too long, he doesn’t like tummy time and only likes the playmat for a short time. Oh and baby wearing him is just as bad. He arches his back and yells like he doesn’t enjoy it but the moment I lay him down he cries even louder.

I feel hopeless sometimes and doubtful that I am a good mom. My job is so stressful but we need the income. raising both my kids but I feel like I’m not mentally there, I’m so drained :/.

I feel like I’m always go go go and no time to breathe. I tried waking up earlier to get “me time” but I’m so tired from the overnight wakings I sleep in until my toddler gets up. From 9-10pm every day I’m in mom mode/work mode. Then I stay up until 1am so I can just be in silence. I feel horrible that this is my reality. I love my kids so much and want to be better for them.

Any work from home moms that have tips on how to juggle things better? I miss my kids so much yet I’m with them 24/7. I feel like I’m not even with them.

What do you ladies do on your downtime, where you cant necessarily step away from your computer, but you are waiting for a call to come in? I feel like I waste so much precious time where I could be doing self care or something, and I don’t. Any suggestions? ***this is assuming your kids are napping, in school, or in childcare***

Does anyone work remote while also homeschooling their children? For context, both my husband and I work from the house and are currently keeping our kids here while we work. My oldest just turned 5 & is expecting to go to Kindergarten in the fall but I’ve always had a feeling to just keep her home and homeschool. Recently, a teacher at the school she’s supposed to attend got arrested for assault of a child in her care & I think that was the final straw for me. My daughter seems excited to go to school but I’m just not sure it’s the best idea. Is it even possible to work and homeschool? I know smaller kids don’t actually need 6-8 hours of school a day. Just want to know how realistic it is.

I am struggling with how to let go of this guilt. I feel sick that instead of being able to wake up and take my kids to a playground tomorrow i have to work 10 hours and we will all be home. All i want is to be their mom and I find myself so angry that I cant just be a stay at home mom. I just needed to write this down somewhere.

Tomorrow my son turns a year old, officially marking the first year under my belt of working from home with an infant. I am a single mom with no village, no childcare. I did it 100% on my own.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

- it is NOT impossible for everyone and every job

- not being able to do it is not a failure

- How to type with one hand while breast feeding

- A headset with a manual mic that I can turn off is a must

- A play pen is non-negotiable

- Screen time can be a tool, not an enemy

- Some days make me want to quit

- Some days all I do is survive

- a lot of days both of us thrive

- Caffeine, lots of it

- nap times get weird some days

- Sometimes I am up until 2 am working while he sleeps to catch up

My job still has zero idea that I work with my son, thankfully.

Looking forward to doing it for another year!

My daughter will be 3 soon. She’s so full of personality and so smart. I am not a good mom right now. I hardly have energy to smile and be silly last few weeks. I do the normal stuff obviously like feed her, keep her and the house clean, I don’t ignore her lol. But I just feel like I’m staring at the wall most of my day counting the hours down til her dad gets home. I don’t feel relief until I’m working. The last few months she’s been very… ?? Threenager I suppose lol. Lots of whining, says the opposite of *everything* I say, tells me no for everything, etc. I am generally a patient person so I’ll give her hugs, name her feeling, “YOURE NOT UPSET”, … wait for her to calm down again, and explain it to her gently like “sometimes change is hard but hard isn’t bad”, because she is so horribly attached to her paci. I should’ve cut that out asap but she’s always been such a bad sleeper so I selfishly didn’t want to give it up yet once I started getting 6 hours of sleep in a night.

Anywho. Idk. I’m lucky to hit 25 hours in a week work wise. I just started a biz and it’s going great. It’s currently my sanctuary. But I don’t want to feel that way. I don’t want to wish away these years with my daughter. But they’re so exhausting and difficult right now. Any time we try to do anything fun she’s just AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH over something I say, do, etc. For example, she doesn’t like birthdays because birthdays = getting older = not a baby anymore = losing paci + she likes diapers + doesn’t like to help me pick up her toys, or if she spills something she doesn’t want to help me clean it. She loses her mind and yells and screams and whines and starts crying because someone has a birthday hat on in a cartoon or something. We’re literally having a Halloween party for her bday, not a bday party. We will be singing happy Halloween to you lol. She loves Halloween just as much as she hates birthdays right now.

I really feel like as a parent, I’m balanced. I’m soft and warm but I’m not a pushover either, I correct as needed but let natural consequences be the consequence. I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I feel like it shouldn’t be this hard and I feel like I shouldn’t be this exhausted mentally before 10am. I’m so whipped. I keep getting the physical sensations of depression despite not being sad or having true reasons to be sad. My life is great right now. But I feel so hollow until 5pm. Sometimes I feel like I’m not meant for motherhood. I’m really bad at this. Like what am I doing wrong. My daughter adores me thankfully but I don’t know why. I feel so blah.

Hello, fellow working mothers. I truly hope you are well today and not going out of your mind in the throes of motherhood.

Any advice on working from home with little ones? My eldest will be going into 1st grade this upcoming school year (5 now, 6 then), my youngest (2) is in a daycare program but the possibility of that being available next year is rocky, and I'm currently 4 months pregnant after a BC failure. I'm applying for every remote job possible because we plan to move out of country by the beginning of next year. However, I will be juggling all these little tornadoes solo for a while and want to know if anyone has done it successfully/without absolutely losing their minds. And the biggest HOW of all time.

All and any advice is welcome. I am thankful for all of you, even though we are in the most thankless job there is out there! (:

Happy Friday everyone! This is our weekly sticky thread to share the good, the meh, the bad, (and) or the ugly! How did your week shake out?

Nothing about today was easy

I've been wfh since 2020 and just added my little one into the mix last year. She will be 1 year old in a few weeks

It keeps getting harder by the day. Everything between having to serve 3 meals a day plus snacks and nap timing.

I think we are about to be in the middle of a schedule change with going to 1 nap a day

Feeling nervous and anxious how this will effect my work day, especially as we work out the kinks

Somedays are great. And others I just dont know how much longer I can manage. I really want to hang in there until pre-k

How do you guys manage to refresh yourself to keep going? I can honestly say it's starting to take a tole on my mental health

This mama needs a break

Happy Hump Day!

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Exchange tips, ideas, motivation, and commiseration in this thread :)