Juggling business with a baby means I often work after midnight

It's 1am and I'm wide awake, tapping away on the laptop in my home office, designing a new website for my client, while my baby and partner sleep soundly through the night. 

As a mum, the early hours are when I get to work, because I have dedicated time to focus on my graphic design and website business.

My 15-month-old daughter is a good night sleeper, so hopefully we can sleep in once I get a bit more work done, and have a slow morning, like we usually do.

The juggle never ends

It was an active choice to set up my life this way. I wanted to give my baby as much "mum time" as possible, but the guilt is real.

On any given week, I work about 30 hours, split across five days. I squeeze in two hours in the day when my daughter naps and four hours at night when she's gone to bed.

I can usually get at least six or seven hours of sleep each night, with my daughter waking up about 7:30 or 8 in the morning.

But I'm always battling and questioning my choices.

Most of the time I don't really have help with my baby. I'm just getting into a once-a-week routine with my mum or nanna babysitting.

Child care is an option in my local area, but I didn't want to rely on it right now as I try to dedicate my days to my daughter and we're still breastfeeding, which is tricky, as any working mum knows.

It's also so hard to secure childcare places and I don't want to take a spot from working parents who physically need to go to a workplace and don't have the flexibility I do.

I'm always tossing up between getting more help, so I can work more days a week, or sticking with our current routine, where daytime is time for my daughter and night-time is work time for me.

I've put her name on the childcare waitlist, but I'm not sure how I'll actually go when we get a spot. We'll see what it's like when the time comes, which could still be a while away.

'When's my next hour of work?'

My daughter and I start most days at our local coffee shop.

We spend lots of time at playgrounds, doing mums and bubs Pilates, walking or splashing in the beautiful River Murray. We like to explore our Riverland home, doing whatever the weather allows that day.

As we're often out, I embrace car naps. I always have my laptop with me ready to go; I try to fit in as much work as possible while she sleeps.

That first year of motherhood was rough, because my daughter was a cat-napper and would only sleep for half an hour.

I used to put so much pressure on myself that her daytime naps would be my work time.

I've had to let go of the fact there's no actual structure or routine, even though every cell in my body wants structure.

Finding the right balance

I'm lucky I have a partner who's working as well, because I wouldn't be able to do this without him.

But in our set-up, I also need to work, so we've got to get the balance right for our family.

I'm always tossing these questions around, but I keep reminding myself that this period is just one season of my life — and, even if it's hard sometimes, I can only enjoy this time once.

When my daughter wakes up from her nap, it's her time again. I feel like I'm always making food, feeding her and cleaning up after her — but there's fun and playtime in between.

How I learnt to set boundaries

On the days I can get help from my mum or nanna, I prioritise meetings with clients, as I can't expect people to jump on a meeting with me at 11:00pm.

I was a business owner before I was a mum, and the best advice I learnt was setting boundaries and running your own show — you don't have to do the same thing everyone else does.

Once I had set boundaries in my business, it made everything so much more enjoyable.

One change I made was removing my phone number from all my business communications, so I could have more control over when I replied and to who, and it meant I wasn't taking on too much.

I was working with people that were more aligned with me and they were more grateful for the work I did. I've carried that into motherhood as well.

It helps to hear from other mums in your situation

When my daughter was three months old, my maternity leave ran out, and it was a difficult time.

I couldn't get her off my boob; I couldn't find a second to get my hands on a keyboard. How was I meant to start making my own money again and have a creative outlet for my wellbeing?

I decided to start a podcast about other mums in Australian and New Zealand who run their own businesses.

It's been great, but it was taking away from my actual money-making hours, and I was putting pressure on myself and the mums I was interviewing to keep up with a regular schedule.

Now, I just do it spontaneously. I share an episode when I've got one, and I'm feeling good about it.

The biggest thing parenthood reminds you is you need to be present today, rather than worrying about the future.

I know I'm the best mum for my baby and my daughter is the best baby for me, so we're just making it work, one day at a time.

Ebony Forsyth is a 25-year-old graphic designer and website designer. She lives and works in South Australia's Riverland region.