I've negotiated with my boss to work from home two days per week for the next few months. My husband will be home with our baby 5 days/week during that time. I'm feeling really lucky that I get to do this but I'm not finding it as straightforward as I expected it to be. My daughter is 3.5 months old and she is very laid back and not picky about who is taking care of her so I thought it would just be a matter of him bringing the baby to me to nurse when she was hungry and then leaving me to do my work when she's not.
But (surprise!!) it hasn't been that simple. I can't even really put my finger on what is wrong. One thing is that when I'm home and working, she doesn't seem to nap as well as if I'm home on the weekend or if my husband is home with her alone. When he's alone with her, she gets bottles of breast milk, which seems to help her nap more reliably, and when I'm home with her I will often nurse her to sleep for naps. But I don't have a lot of time to do that when I'm working from home, so I will nurse her before a nap and then my husband will try to put her to sleep and it just doesn't work. I can see why she's confused and reluctant to sleep! But sometimes she'll nurse for 45 minutes or an hour, mostly asleep, when I'm putting her down for a nap and I don't have time for that on the days I'm working. But I end up doing it because I want her to get the sleep she needs. Occasionally, she'll nurse on my lap on a pillow while I work at the computer and end up sleeping there for a while. Which works really well. But she doesn't seem to nap as well there as she does in bed (understandably).
I guess overall I'm just finding that I'm spending a lot of time taking care of the baby when I'm working from home. I'm sure this is mostly my fault (it's always what I'd rather be doing) but maybe my husband could use some guidance about how to be more supportive. But I'm not sure what to ask him to do. When he brings her to me to nurse, I often end up changing a diaper, playing, etc. partly because I don't want to give the baby up and partly because often by then my husband has wandered off to do something else while he has the chance (it's usually laundry or taking a shower so I don't want to complain too much!!).
Are there any moms out there who have made this work and can offer up any tips? What was your typical routine like each day? Did you nurse on totally demand or was it helpful to try to adhere somewhat to a loose schedule for feedings? I'm not even sure how we would do that but maybe it would help? Were there any "rules" you could give yourself or your baby's caregiver to try to help you both stay focused?
I would really appreciate any tips from working from home moms who have made this work. Thanks!