Work – The downside of working from home:

I have been lucky enough to be able to carry on with my job from home. But I am finding it really hard to keep my self esteem up. I miss the office banter, and oddly enough, the office politics. When I find myself at lunch time and I am still in my pyjamas, and the shoulders are full of baby throw-up, I just feel disgusted with myself. I feel annoyed that I am so ungrateful because I do realise how lucky I am to be able to work from home. Any suggestions?
Don’t be so hard on yourself. It is hard to remember who you are when you haven’t slept well and you are trying to be everything to everyone. There is no doubt that working from home is not easy. There is no clear cut division between work and home, and so you find yourself torn between the work you are completing and the washing which is waiting to be hung out!
Perhaps what you need is to schedule regular work meetings, say once or twice a week. Find a suitable carer for your child for a couple of hours, and go to the office. It will help to get some routine into your day and motivate you to actually brush your hair!

Other than that you have to be a bit firmer with yourself. You will look back at this time and long for the days when you could still be in your pyjamas at lunch time. But if it makes you feel horrible, then you will have to get your routine a bit tighter and include shower time for the mommy, so that you are dressed and at the computer like a normal working person.

Walking- Helping the process

The first thing you can do is stop putting pressure on baby. The baby will walk when he is ready, and if you try to speed that process up you can actually end us making baby anxious, and then he will take longer to walk as he will have to recover his confidence. This is especially the case if you try and speed him up and he has a nasty fall.

The speed at which you baby takes to walking is related to his genetics, his build and his personality. A plump and quiet little chap is unlikely to walk before a lively bouncy handful of a baby with a thin build. Some babies are willing to explore and risk more easily than others. The other interesting thing is that babies who are accomplished crawlers can take longer to learn to walk, as they may be perfectly content to crawl as it gets them around so well. There are babies that never really enjoy crawling or don’t quite master it. For these babies, the urge to walk may be stronger.

What you can do is make sure that baby has all the opportunities he needs to progress at his own pace. Make your home safe for crawling and for cruising – the furniture walking that babies love so much. Loose rugs, wobbly or delicate furniture and breakables will all have to be put away temporarily. Make your home as easy as possible for baby to thrive in. Let baby go barefoot as much as possible – it helps him to grip and balance without slippery socks or chunky shoes to hinder him. Have study furniture for him to hold onto, and have some pieces of furniture close enough together that he can move across the gaps easily. This is an aid to balance skills.
Sometimes parents rely on things like play pens and walking rings too much, without realising that this can interfere with baby’s progress. Make sure that you baby does not spend more than a little time in each of these every day.

If you baby isn’t walking by the time he is eighteen months old, it is worth having him checked out. The fact is, many babies do not walk till they are close to two, but for your own peace of mind it is a good idea. If there is a problem, picking it early can be a bonus in addressing it.