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Are you expecting a baby and job hunting for flexible work? Are you wondering how you’re going to hustle for an income when you’re busy growing an entirely new human being? I’m here to tell you that it can be done. And there’s no better place for a job seeker to turn when looking for jobs for pregnant women than online. You won’t have to worry about illegal pregnancy discrimination from a potential employer or even have to negotiate maternity leave.
Dive into my guide and recommendations below as seriously as you’re reading those baby books and you’ll be prepared to be a home-based pregnant worker in no time.
Finding the Right Job as a Pregnant Woman
Depending on which trimester you’re in, just finding a comfortable position to work in can be frustrating. Whatever type of work you do, comfort is key – it lets you focus on the job at hand.
Get creative with finding the best position to work in. If sitting in a regular office chair doesn’t let you get close enough to your desk to work, try using an exercise ball. It allows you to sit lower and helps you strengthen your core, which is great for everyone but can also help you prepare for delivery. If you’re trying to work from the couch, embrace pillows. Use pillows to support your lower back and elbows, and put your laptop on a TV tray or rolling table. You can even use a breastfeeding pillow (like My Brest Friend) as makeshift laptop support. (If you’re worried about laptop radiation, get a product like DefenderPad, which shields you from EMF radiation.)
Most comfortable on the couch but don’t have a laptop? Try hooking your computer up to your TV and making it a big-screen monitor. Then you can work from the couch with a wireless keyboard (if you get one with a trackpad, you won’t have to worry about a wireless mouse as well).
Tools for Success
Having the right tools is instrumental in making you comfortable and ensuring you can work with efficiency and minimal interruption – as I outlined in finding the right position above. Here are some things that can really help you get settled in for your remote work while you’re pregnant:
- The right desk. If you want to invest in new furniture, get an adjustable-height desk or an Air Desk to make things easier.
- The right place to sit. Exercise balls are great, as mentioned above. Use one to fit under your desk, strengthen your abdominal and back muscles, and keep your pelvis tilted downward in a comfortable position.
- Be sure you have a healthy selection of snacks within reach once you sit down to work, so the only thing you have to get up for is to go to the bathroom.
- Hydration is key, so be sure you have an enormous water bottle at hand.
- A partner. If your partner (or another family member) is home while you’re working, ask him or her to fetch your snacks if you run out or lend a hand if you need a reference book from a bookshelf. Bonus points if he or she refills your water bottle before you ask.
Online Jobs for Pregnant Women
1. Writer
Writing is an online job that gives you the ultimate flexibility in your schedule. You don’t have to be on a clock, anchored in place until your shift ends. Instead, as a work-at-home mom, you can be a freelance writer where and when you want, as long as you make your deadlines. There are several different paths to making money as a writer, including writing website content and social media posts. You can sell your services to a content-generation company (such as Scripted), pitch and write articles for various publications (here’s my 101 on freelance writing), or even write your own books (whether you have a traditional publishing deal or plan to self-publish on Amazon Kindle).
2. Blogger
This is another job with fantastic flexibility. As a blogger, you set your own deadlines, too. One of the best things about blogging is that you get to choose whatever you’re passionate about and make it the focus of your blog posts. (Note: Some subjects will be more likely to succeed and provide an income than others, so do your research.) While you build your audience and mailing list, you can start monetizing your blog through affiliate marketing and ads. Check out this post on how to start a blog.
3. Short-Burst Customer Service
Customer service jobs are available for work-at-home folks, but you probably don’t want to be tied to your desk for multi-hour shifts as a pregnant mom or after your bundle of joy arrives. Look for customer service gigs that schedule you in short blocks or include regular opportunities for breaks. Consider Liveops (which offers scheduling in 30-minute blocks) or chat jobs such as Apple at Home, which may be more lenient in giving you a break between chat sessions – long enough to get to the bathroom, anyway. There are positions available that only require a high school diploma or GED, a dedicated phone line, and a reliable computer with an internet connection. You will want a quiet space that is free from too many distractions.
4. Transcription
If your home is quiet (i.e., you don’t have other kids underfoot all day) and you can type fast, transcription can be a great remote job for an expectant mother. The pay tends to be low at the start, but it’s a career that offers specialization areas (such as medical and legal transcription) to increase your earnings. Check out my 23 Transcription Jobs post for jobs where work-at-home beginners are welcome.
5. Virtual Assistant
This job’s great because you can either start it as your own independent business or work for an established VA company. It’s easy to do this one part-time, or take on just as many clients as you can handle – giving you enough time to cope with frequent bathroom breaks or pregnancy brain. Visit my post on how to become a virtual assistant.
6. Editor/Proofreader
Did you major in English in college? A bachelor’s degree in journalism? Are you the friend everyone asks to proofread their résumé? That could translate into a remote gig. As with writing, you can provide editing and proofreading services at your own pace as long as you meet your deadlines. This is another job you can do as a freelancer directly with your own clients, or you can become an independent contractor with a service like Scribendi. Learn more about these positions in my posts “How Can I Get an Editing Job from Home?” and “Online Proofreading Jobs for Beginners .”
7. Social Media Moderators
These folks help keep the Internet a more civil place, and it’s a work-from-home gig that shouldn’t be incompatible with needing frequent breaks. You can work with companies like ModSquad, choose the projects you work on and set your own hours. Be aware that work can be inconsistent, though. Learn more about becoming an online community manager or social media management here.
8. Search Engine Evaluator
Like social media moderation, search engine evaluator jobs don’t demand that you be anchored to your desk for large, uninterrupted portions of time. You have the freedom of time management, as long as you fulfill the objectives of the work you’re given as directed. These positions are intermittently available, and contracts don’t always renew, so they may be best combined with other work-from-home gigs, such as transcription and website testing.
9. Website Testing
There are several companies out there that will pay you to test websites, apps, and even UI (that’s User Interface, which means the look and mechanics of how you interact with a program). You can’t make full-time money here, but you can make $10 for 20 minutes of your time, and it’s effortless. You just complete a series of tasks on a website or app and record your thoughts by either speaking as your screen is recorded or writing a brief report when you’re done. Work is intermittent, and the availability of tests depends on your demographics.
10. Teaching/Tutoring
Do you have something to teach? Whether you’d love to teach English as a Second Language or have in-demand skills that you can turn into a paid online class, you can either create your own schedule or have semi-flexibility within a set time frame. If you’re teaching kids English through a service like Cambly, you have to be available when the kids are there to learn. But if you create a Udemy course, for example, it’s up to you when to record your lessons and get them up to earn you money. You can tutor students in a variety of subjects, like math, and science. Online tutors often have flexible work hours. Visit my post on everything you need to know about Online Teaching Jobs.
Build Passive Income
In order to earn passive income, you develop materials or products that you can set up and then leave alone. They continue to make you income without your active participation.
If you’re able, building passive income early in your pregnancy is great because it’ll take some pressure off of you when you’re closer to term and if you’re having a rough go of it in your third trimester. It’ll also help provide for you when the baby has arrived and you’re sleep-deprived. A work-from-home job can be fulfilling and financially beneficial.
As a writer, you can create passive income by writing books – fiction and nonfiction – and having them up for sale via your website or on a service like Amazon Kindle. As a blogger, you can create materials or courses for your readers to purchase according to your topic – so maybe you’re a mommy blogger and you write a short guide to work with kids at home. Or you’ve created a teaching course that you’re selling through Skillshare – once you’ve created all the videos and lessons, you can reap a passive financial reward. If you have a background in graphic design, you can create logos or other marketing content through websites like Fiverr.
Need more ideas for building passive income streams? Here are 25 of them.
Feel more confident about working from home while pregnant? I hope you do. Drop into the comments with any questions you might have or just share with pregnant workers your own experiences working while expecting. Everyone needs a little help sometimes.
