Tips for Balancing Baby and Business
By: Jenna Sherman
Having a baby and starting a new business are two of life’s biggest events! Doing them simultaneously has the potential to be overwhelming, but with a bit of preplanning and some help, it can be a rewarding endeavor all-around. One area of critical importance for both you and your baby is ensuring appropriate nutrition. Consider Kabrita’s line of nutrient-dense goat milk food products that make those first feedings healthy ones.
Here’s some advice on how to balance parenthood and business ownership!
Advanced Business Planning
Do as much as you can – both for your business and for yourself - in advance of your baby’s arrival. Having your company on firm footing will position you well and reduce the potential for work-related stress and anxiety. Ensure your business and marketing strategy is in place, employees and contractors hired and trained, and your office up and running. Freelancers can be a real help, especially in areas you might not need full-timers, like photo editing. If you’ve already got clients on board, develop a strategy for managing workload and ensuring you have people in place who will pick up any slack that comes during your baby’s early weeks and months.
Developing a Parenting Agenda
While it’s next to impossible to anticipate all of your baby’s earliest needs, you can make educated guesses about some logistics around balancing work and family. Find a child care facility close to your office space, or hire a trusted sitter to be available as-needed, either in your office or home. Also plan to set up both a home office, as well as an office nursery, so you can still have your baby with you as necessary throughout the day — even when work calls. Having duplicate diaper bags and car seats will make it easier to hand-off child care to a spouse or caregiver at a moment’s notice.
Creating Routines
Routines are both a parent and a business owner’s best friend. While it won’t always go off like clockwork, establishing feeding and sleeping routines (for both yourself and your child) will give you at least a framework of order from which to work. Routine is also important for scheduling work and home responsibilities, as well as personal time for yourself. Break the day into 15-minute time slots if necessary. It might seem silly at first, but as a business-running parent, you’ll start to look forward to knowing you have all of your business and baby bases covered when you want to walk down the block for fresh air and a cup of coffee with no one requesting your time or attention.
Use Apps and Gadgets
There are a wealth of helpful apps and gadgets for both business owners and parents that can make life easier. For example, use a voice recorder and translator phone app to dictate emails and meeting notes, a video baby monitor to check in on baby while he’s sleeping, and have a handy medical reference guide on your phone for when your young one has the sniffles or you need a quick referral. Other baby products to consider include time-saving bottle sanitizers, wearable baby gear that lets you keep your little once in close contact, and travel cribs and play yards.
Reduce Stressors
It’s a juggling act, managing a business and new parenthood, and doing them simultaneously means you need to cut yourself some slack. Build downtime for yourself, your child, and your family. It’s important to get plenty of rest, eat right, don’t over-caffeinate, limit alcohol, and don’t feel you have to do everything, or do everything perfectly. There are always bumps in the road with kids and with companies, and adapting to ever-changing circumstances is part of what will make you a success at both “jobs” over time.
As you grow your business and grow your family, remind yourself of all the positives you have in your life. Your business ownership gives you flexibility for your family and ensures your child will grow up knowing their parent is a hard-working go-getter.
To ensure the best start for your baby’s nutritional needs, learn more about Kabrita’s Goat Milk products.
Kabrita Goat Milk Toddler Formula may be an option for little ones during feeding transitions, such as weaning and supplementing, or those with minor issues associated with cow milk sensitivity. We encourage parents to consult their little one’s healthcare provider before making a feeding change.
**Not suitable for children with confirmed cow milk protein allergy