u/Kooky_Street_1491

I have a 5 month old and both my husband and I work from home. I have my own business so am completely flexible on my hours and only work 2-3h a day (however also on the weekends), while my husband looks after the little one. Both our work is on our laptops and sometimes also on our phones. Occasionally, I work short bursts of time (15-20min) on my computer or phone while the baby is playing by herself on the floor next to where I sit. I am very strict about my baby never looking at a screen unless it's for family calls (we live quite far away form our family), and I never scroll social media or watch series or the like around her. Whenever she starts fussing or seems otherwise unhappy I of course attend to her immediately.

My mum (who lives in a different country so has never seen how our day looks like) keeps commenting on how parental screen use can negatively affect babies / small children (main point is about hindering their language and social development, making them prone to feel neglected and hence to act out). Is there any evidence for this? All studies I find seem to focus on screen time for infants / children, not them witnessing parent behavior.

Hi all, let me start by saying I know I am in a very privileged situation and I do feel lucky that I can even make the decision and don't have to work if I don't want to. That being said, I'd love any and all thoughts on the following situation I am currently facing, and maybe some of your own experiences if you have them.

I am an independent consultant with my own business that allows me to work from home and I always liked my work (not loved it though!). My husband also works from home and has relatively flexible hours, and he makes enough so I wouldn't have to work if I didn't want to.

4 months ago I gave birth to our first. I love spending time with her and I do have some side projects I work on when my husband looks after our daughter, usually for a few hours in the mornings. I now got an offer to work on a consulting project again. It would be quite lucrative and only part time (30h/week), so the set-up would likely be that I work until early afternoon and my husband takes care of our daughter during my work time, and we then switch so he can work afternoons and evenings. It would also mean I would likely have to pump so my husband can feed my daughter during the time I work (currently I exclusively breastfeed).

Somehow I feel so guilty to even consider this. On the one hand I think I would love to work again, and of course the additional money is nice, even if we don't strictly need it. But on the other hand I am afraid it would somehow hurt my daughter, as I would have a lot less time with her and making this work would require lots of coordination. And of course I am also worried I will later regret missing out on this time with my daughter and having chosen work over maximum time with her.

Would love what you think or how you approached similar situations!