As a remote worker, I know there’s misguided judgment from in-person workers thinking that people working from home aren’t actually doing anything. In reality, it’s just like working in an office, but with a shorter commute. Some days have heavier workloads than others, but so do days worked in an office environment.

Having the flexibility to work in the same location that your new child is eating, sleeping, playing, and pooping can keep the bonding going throughout every day, giving Baby a chance to see your face all the time and associate it with being well-taken-care-of. Here are some tips to help make working remotely with your baby possible.

Pencil Baby In

If you can control your work calendar to an extent, carve out time for feeding and putting down for naps (with the understanding that your baby will never completely stick to that schedule). That way, meetings you do have will coincide more often with independent play time or nap time.

Start by figuring out the best schedule for Baby’s wake windows, nap lengths, and feed times. If your baby is still in the first couple months of life, they’re going to be napping for more hours of the day than a 9-month-old. As your baby grows, their schedule will need to adjust, and you’ll need to adjust your calendar blocks as well.

Keep Your Partner’s Schedule in Mind

If you aren’t the only parent working from home in your house, you’ve got an amazing resource on your side. Whenever possible, don’t schedule a meeting that you know overlaps something important on your partner’s calendar (keep in mind, it can’t always be avoided). If you’ve got a big presentation at 10:30 and your partner’s calendar is free, they can take lead watching Baby during that time and allow you more focus. Conversely, if you know there’s a major meeting coming up on your partner’s calendar, make sure you block time in your schedule to be available for baby help, should it be needed.

Strategize Webcams and Muting

Different companies and different individual teams have varying expectations around having a webcam on during meetings. I’ve personally worked with people who I’ve never seen on camera, and I’ve had coworkers who never turn their camera off even if no one else has theirs on.

If you need to be on camera frequently, try to either (1) normalize having your baby on screen but not front and center (high chair or jumper), or (2) keep them off screen in their own safe play space. You don’t want every meeting to start with everyone gawking over your little angel (though you can’t blame them), because that will get old fast, and sometimes you just want to get to the point of the meeting and hang up ASAP. Having Baby be an integrated part of your workspace will take any extra focus on your spontaneous distractions. Because you will get distracted by Baby, but if Janet from payroll can play on her phone all day, she can’t judge you for being an attentive parent.

If you don’t need to be on camera, obviously you won’t need to worry about where specifically Baby’s play area is. But to make sure their laughs, coos, and cries aren’t disruptive, really mind that Mute button. It’s perfectly normal for play time to get loud with lots of musical toys and wonderful baby sounds, but not everyone on a conference call appreciates it as much as me. Make sure to mute yourself whenever you aren’t talking, and it sort of goes without saying, but remember to unmute when you are talking.

An overarching theme you may have noticed is that coworkers will think what they want to think about your work ethic and capabilities when you have a baby at home. No one will truly understand how hard you’re working to get your work done AND keep your child healthy and happy. You can’t control how they judge you, but you can control what and when they see and hear from you.

Don’t let the fear of judgment keep you from doing what’s right for your family. If you don’t want to send your kid to daycare and instead want to be able to spend more time with them and give them the most optimal sleep and play environment, balancing work and baby at home is going to be worth all of the effort.