How to Work from Home with a Baby Without Burnout or Guilt
If you’ve ever tried to figure out how to work from home with a baby without losing your mind — you know how real it gets. Yesterday was one of those days we barely admit to anyone, except maybe God, ourselves, and one trusted friend.
It was chaos.
My 13-month-old was on a mission. Climbing out of the playpen, getting into everything, and testing every limit. Meanwhile, I was trying to work from home with a baby, write a blog post, finish up 20 Pinterest pins, and handle some marketing tasks for my other remote part-time job. All. At. Once.
And I cracked.
Not in a meltdown kind of way, but in the quiet, simmering frustration that builds when you’re pulled in a hundred directions and none of them get your full attention. I got angry with my baby. A baby. Just 13 months old. Still learning what the world even is.
And of course, it wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t being naughty. He was being… a baby. But I was trying to do too much, and when my husband got home, I was already in a foul mood. Tense, snappy. We ended up arguing. The energy in the house shifted, and not in a good way. It trickled into the next morning, with him running late and me waking up exhausted and still carrying the emotional residue from the day before.
But here’s the thing: something had to change.
My Simple Morning Decision
Before 6AM (yup, my husband leaves at 5:30AM for work), I told myself: “I can’t afford to go two days in a row without writing a blog post.”
Still half-asleep, I whispered a voice note into ChatGPT, listing everything I wanted to say. We started outlining. Writing. Restructuring. Polishing. Slowly, momentum kicked in.
Then I thought, “I’m already in the flow. Let me get the pins done too.”
By the time my son woke up, I had already finished seven pins. While he was eating breakfast (independently, like a little pro), I finished the rest on my phone.
By 8:40AM, I had a finished blog post and all 20 pins scheduled.
And then, the most important part, I was able to sit on the floor and actually play with him. Not half-present. Not multitasking. Just there. Fully.
That’s when it hit me:
The problem isn’t always the phone.
For a long time, I blamed my phone, especially social media, for stealing my productivity.
And truthfully, Instagram was draining hours of my day. That’s why I began this digital detox. I thought if I just eliminated the phone, the problem would disappear.
But even now, without social media, the distractions haven’t vanished, they’ve just changed form.
Distraction now wears a disguise.
It pretends to be productivity. On my computer, I don’t scroll Instagram anymore… but I still drift.
I convince myself I need to redo my brand colors. Or organize my ClickUp again. I brainstorm product ideas. I start researching tech for a course I haven’t even outlined yet.
It’s not that these ideas are bad. It’s that they don’t belong to this moment.
They give me the illusion that I’m building something, when I’m actually just avoiding the real work that needs to get done today.
Then came the second lightbulb moment:
When you try to do everything at once, no one wins.
Not your kid. Not your spouse. Not your work. Not your peace.
But when you focus on what matters most, everything flows.
I write better. I get things done. I enjoy my baby. The mood in the house lifts.
So I created something for myself: A little emergency manual, something to hold onto when the day starts slipping and I feel the tension rise.
My Emergency Manual (For When Everything Feels Like Too Much)
1. Protect the Morning at All Costs
My mornings are sacred. No tabs open. No chasing shiny new ideas. Not even a quick “just five minutes” distraction. Only two things matter: write the blog post. create the pins.
Even if it’s just 15 minutes. Even if the house is still messy. That small window creates momentum. And that momentum carries me through the day.
If you want to learn how to work from home with a baby without losing your mind, this is where it starts: win your morning, and the rest flows.
2. Capture the Ideas — But Don’t Chase Them (Yet)
I get ideas all the time. Sometimes genius. Sometimes just noise. Either way, they’re tempting.
But during the week, I don’t follow any of them. I just write them down in a ClickUp notepad, in a doc, wherever. On the weekend, when things are calmer and my husband is around, I review.
Some will still feel golden. Others won’t. But I decide then, not in the middle of my deep work.
Because not every idea needs to be acted on. Some just need to wait their turn.
3. A Simple Emergency Button for Hard Days
For those mornings when the baby’s melting down, I’m stretched thin, and guilt creeps in… I follow this plan:
- Grab the phone.
- Open the editorial calendar.
- Do the absolute minimum: 1 blog post (I keep a list of easy ideas with no deadlines just for days like this) + 3 pins.
- Turn on rain sounds for 25 minutes (I use Momentum).
- Close the laptop. Sit on the floor. Play. Reset.
That alone gives me a win for the day. No guilt. No pressure.
This simple fallback plan has helped me learn how to work from home with a baby while protecting my peace.
4. Design the Environment for Focus
Some days, I can’t rely on willpower. So I build my environment to work for me, not against me:
- The laptop stays in the kitchen, not the living room.
- The phone is a tool, not a toy.
- Alexa sets my timers.
- Rain noise signals my brain: time to focus.
It’s not about discipline — it’s about strategy.
One More Thing I Realized…
There’s something else I learned that day, and it almost feels counterintuitive.
The more intentional attention I gave my son early in the day, the less attention he demanded from me later.
As moms, we tend to do the opposite. On our busiest days, the days when we’re overwhelmed with tasks, we hope our child will need us less. We set them up with toys, encourage independent play, and rush through breakfast and diaper changes just to get to the to-do list.
But it backfires.
Because they can feel when we’re rushing. When we’re half-there. When we’re mentally checked out.
And that’s when the clinginess begins. The meltdowns. The chaos.
But yesterday, when I had already finished my post and my pins before he woke up, I was calm. I sat on the floor. We played for 15, maybe 20 minutes, fully present. That short window of true connection nourished him.
The rest of the day? Peaceful. He played well. Took his nap. I worked during his nap block. In the afternoon, we played outside, then went on a walk with my husband. It was one of the most balanced days we’ve had in a while.
And I truly believe it started with those few minutes of intentional connection. It filled his little cup, and gave me the freedom to fill mine too.
That’s another reason why learning how to work from home with a baby isn’t just about strategy, it’s about presence.
What It All Comes Down To
Today, I wrote a blog post. Scheduled 20 pins. And played with my son, with peace in my heart.
No magic. Just clarity. Priorities. Boundaries. Focus.
If I keep this up, those ideas I jot down each week will have their moment. I’ll launch products, courses, whatever’s meant to come. But not now.
Right now, the ROI is in writing and Pinterest. And that’s exactly where I’ll stay.
Because this path, slow, steady, intentional, is the one that’s going to get me there.
And I will get there.
