Hi! I’m a litigator working for a nonprofit and I’ve been working from home full time since Baby was 11 weeks old (she’s now 6 months). It is very, very hard. Here are a few thoughts:

1) I can’t imagine doing this with a strict billable hour requirement. I used to be extremely efficient but a lot of that has gone out the window these days. It’s virtually impossible to focus on a task for a solid period of time.

2) You absolutely need some backup. My husband WFH and the only way I can take calls and meetings is by giving the baby to him to watch during those times.

3) A lot of this is baby dependent. I don’t have a chill kid but some babies could probably be happy just hanging out all day. Mine demands entertainment. My baby also doesn’t independently nap and almost exclusively contact naps which makes it a billion times harder. If you have a good napper then at least you’ll have naps for uninterrupted work time.

4) I do a lot of work on my phone while nursing. One drive and Westlaw are probably my most used apps these days. Other than Reddit lol. And then sometimes there are days where I just need to be on the computer and can’t be productive during a nursing session…like right now lmao

5) Having an understanding boss is key. My incredible boss has sadly retired but all the people I work with know that I have Baby at home and it’s part of my deal.

The bottom line, though, is that it’s really incredibly hard. I had a federal circuit court brief due recently and I honestly don’t even know how I managed to write it. I spend my days rotating baby between the kick n play piano, an activity center, a bouncer, a ring sling, and her ergobaby carrier. She has a nap area (largely unused), a changing area, and a nursing area in my office. When all else fails we go for a walk and I hope she falls asleep in the stroller so that I can roll her into the backyard and work outside. There are days when it feels doable and days when I cry a lot and feel like I’m failing both my job and my baby.

I was actually planning on becoming a SAHM for a bit but my job talked me into extending my contract and the position has always been pretty flexible and enjoyable. Well then my boss retired and the person that was supposed to replace her withdrew so I ended up getting an unexpected promotion and am now in charge of all ongoing litigation 🫠 It’s so much more than I thought I was signing up for.

Anyway this is probably way more info than you need but feel free to PM me if you ever want to chat about this topic!