Right off the bat, if you're serious about working from home with a baby you're going to have to realize that you are truly juggling 2 diametrically opposed full-time careers at the same time!
Many people forget this because they're so happy to not pay for daycare, and are truly jaded by the time their experience is over. I personally think it can be done. But I'd be lying if I said it was easy. If this is what you're thinking about, you need to carefully think many things through to see if this can work for you.
You need patience deluxe! You need to realize that even though you are home with the baby, baby will always have to come first before the job. You need to be ready to deal with the child having a tantrum while you're on the phone for one. And this is really big, as most home-jobs are phone oriented. If the phone is going to be a big part of your work, this might not be a good idea for you.
A breastfed infant is a lot easier to handle than a bottlefed baby with a stay-at-home job. They can rest on your lap and feed at will without little disruption to you and your work. Unfortunately, this is not an option for men who will have to schedule time for feedings, changes etc.
Employers know this, and that's why so many are relunctant to this arrangement. They know your attention will be divided. If the baby is hungry, hurt or sick, the baby's needs will always trump the company conference call etc.
This leads to my next criteria to consider. Do you have a tolerant employer or if you're self-employed, is the nature of your work flexible enough to take care of a young child?
In order for this to work, you have to have the kind of at-home job that is truly flexible, has flexible clients and co-workers (if you have them or even a boss/supervisor), and expect longer hours than if you didn't have a child at home.
I worked as a consultant after my 1st was born. I spun this out of the full-time job I had prior to his birth. I had an established reputation in the field that I worked in, and as a result had built a client base of people who knew me and circumstances well. I had a niche, so people were willing to work with me under unconventional means because there aren't alot of people trained in my area of expertise. Despite these positives in my favor, I faced real challenges in getting my work done to a level that would keep big clients on board.
Early on when the baby was under about 6 months or so, it was very doable for me because I was able to breastfeed while working at my desk. Or I'd work on a laptop in bed while breastfeeding with a headset on so I could talk on the phone. The rest of the time the baby would sleep.
By the time my son reached about 6 months and was more mobile (crawling) it was a little more challenging. Safety was the overwhelming issue, as I had my attention divided. The pack n'play was my best friend, and I did a circuit of moving him periodically from his doorway jumper, to his exersaucer, to his electric swing. I had to purposefully schedule appointments with my son to ensure providing more interactive time with him. It would be easy to get over involved and ignore him until he cried. I quickly found you can't do that, you have to take more time to talk with and interact with the baby.
Though I tried to gear serious conference calls during times he'd be napping, it never failed that I'd be on the phone with some important clients, on a tight deadline, or an unexpected drop-in by a client, and junior would decide to have MAJOR tantrum. Or worse, the whole house would have the stomach flu, or I'd be swimming dirty laundry, an overflowing diaper genie, and yogurt spills, but would have a major project due. I was very harried. But I managed to get things done.
I still had to secure some type of daycare for him even though I worked from home. I had to still go to various businesses for on-site meetings and I still had to have in person meetings with clients.
As I had mentioned earlier, I was fortunate enough to have very patient clients, who were fully aware that they could be interupted at any moment by a screaming child. But even there, I had to try to make this a rare ocassion, because people don't want to feel that their needs aren't being met, or that they are playing second fiddle to your children.
Currently, I'm no longer working. The nature of my work was such that my hours began to run long into the night because what I did not finish during the day (watching the kids) I pushed to the night hours. Interestingly, now my husband works out of the house, and is using what used to be my home-office.
Even with me home full-time with out small ones, he's still facing many of the same challenges I did working at home. Granted he doesn't have to worry about finding daycare if he has meetings, he does have to deal with screaming/tantruming children while he's on the phone. Even if he locks his office door, the children will slip past me and pound on it to see him. The small ones still don't understand that "daddy's working". Most of his clients are very good about it. Some even think its a hoot. But there is always the serious non-child friendly person who thinks its unprofessional, and my poor husband has to bend over backwards to appease them.
I guess, in the big picture, I'd start gearing your husband toward the same resources SAHM's would use. Look into finding a nanny to come in during limited hours so he can schedule phonecalls or meetings etc.
I'd also help out by preparing lunches and meals ahead of time for him so he doesn't have to worry about bottle prep, and lunch for himself.
Also check out playgroups and moms groups in the area, and see if you can swap out daycare or playdate times too. Also, if you haven't found work yet, perhaps look for a job scheduled in the evenings so you can watch the little one during the day, and he can pick up in the evenings.
I know this might not be quite what you're looking for, but perhaps my shared experiences will help in your decisions.
