I work 2 days a week while my mom watches my 2 kids. Recently she accepted a job that is full time. She desperately needed to get health insurance for herself and my dad. He has recently retired, but too young for medicare. I totally understand why they needed to make the change and have my mom work again. I don't want to pay a lot for child care. We have a few options. I work at a hospital and can go to night shift (still only 2 days). When I get home, I can put my daughter on the bus, and my son can either go to preschool or with my dad for a few hours so I can nap and get the edge off. (I wouldn't need to sleep 8 hours, since I would be going to bed with my family the following night, as I never do 2 work days in a row. This would make me available for anything that the kids need on any given day, and I wouldn't pay a sitter, or before and after child care for my oldest. This option for me seems like the clear answer, just makes me nervous.
Have you ever worked 3rd shift? Why or why not would you? Since it's not 5 nights a week, would you just go for it? I should add that this would give me extra money on the hour also.
I did it! I am officially done September 7th on days. Will be working 2 nights a week starting September 13th. It became very clear that this was the obvious answer for me and my family. Everyone will benefit from this decision. Yes, I may feel tired, but I will make do!
Do it... if you can handle that sort of sleep/work times.
Some people can't function late at night, some can.
And it is only for 2 nights a week.
I know lots of RN's and CNA's who request this shift for exactly the same reasons.
They wouldn't have it any other way. It makes sense for them and all the family things they juggle.
They say their body clocks adjusting at first is the hardest, but it doesn't take long to work that out.
I'd give it a whirl.
Best wishes.
This is exactly what I do, except I do occasionally work 2 in a row, or even 3 shifts per week if I have full day childcare lined up for that week. If not I just split up the 2 nights and take a nap. I've been working nights for 10 years and love it, but it's not for everyone. Some people have a hard time eating at night while they're at work because they get nausea. Others have a hard time driving home in the morning. It sounds like this would be a terrific option for you. You're lucky to have the opportunity to switch to nights. Do you think your employer would be flexible enough to allow you to switch back to days if the night shift doesn't work out for you? If so, I say GO FOR IT!
My neighbor's daughter in law just got a job working 3rd shift 3 nights a week. It's an adjustment but she love it. Gets to be home with her boys during the day and her hubby watches the boys the evenings she works so they don't have daycare expenses. I'd say to go for it.
Go for it! My husband works 3rd shift and we love it. He's home when I need him to be,and helps with the kids in the mornings before school. He sleeps while they are at school and then is up for the rest of the day. He can function on very little sleep and on days that he's off, he just naps for an hour or two when he gets home until it's bed time. I think it's the way to go for you, if you think you can make it through the day a little groggy.
If it's worth it to you and your family, then do it. This is a values judgment, so look to your values for guidance.
If you think this will work for you and your family then go for it! If I were in your shoes I probably would :)
I think it sounds like a good option for your family. You'll never know unless you give it a try. Do you have a back up plan just in case?
Note: My girlfriend is a nurse and tried 3rd shift for 3 days in a row. It didn't work, as she was always tired and hubby was irritable because he always had to keep the kids quiet while she slept. However, if you don't work 2 days in a row, I'm sure it will work.
I routinely did overnights working as an emergency vet - at one place I started our being on for 3 nights in a row at the most and that was tough. Then they started screwing around with my schedule, as well as my pay, and had me doing a week-on-week-off schedule. I stuck it out for a little while but it was hell, and when they were not willing to work out something else I quit. I eventually found another ER position doing 3 overnights a week, but none were back to back (except for 1 weekend out of 3 when I did 2 overnights in a row). Now I do relief work and sometimes still pull an overnight doing emergency if needed. I was able to make it work but I also had my husband at home to take care of our daughter so I could sleep the next day. If your kids will be taken care of so you can catch up on some sleep, I don't see why you couldn't make it work. It can be hard going back and forth, but you get kinda used to it after a while. I would just be careful about being too tired in the morning when your shift ends and being able to drive home safely. I often had the problem too where I had things to finish up before I could leave so I ended working past the end of my shift.
Third shift sounds ideal to me if that means graveyard. It will take some time to get your sleep adjusted. It would actually be better if the two days were in a row. It helps to keep your sleeping hours fairly consistent, tho I know of some who can go back and forth as you describe.
I've worked all shifts and loved the shift that works from 6 to 4. I I could sleep pretty normal hours. I didn't have a child then. My next favorite was graveyard, 10-6. But then I'm a night person. I still prefer staying up late and sleeping in.
I have actually been seriously considering a night shift position, just haven't found one yet. I'm a night owl, so I'm fairly confident it would work. So I do not think you are crazy, and if it is a good option for you and you can handle it, try it out. If it doesn't work out, I'm sure you could switch back.
I plan on working the night shift, when I finally graduate from nursing school, for those same reasons!
I currently work 2 overnights in a row (Sat and Sun), and it works out perfect for our family. I have 3 kids under 4 yrs old, so daycare would be way too expensive for us to have it any other way. I pretty much treat Saturday like any other day, maybe lay down for a couple hours, and then go to work for the night. I come home on Sunday and play with the kids, and lay down when they do around 1pm for a "night's sleep". My husband makes sure not to wake me up during this time unless it's an emergency. Mondays are long, as I don't get to sleep until the kids go to bed, but I make it through. It's not the most ideal situation, but it's what works best for us right now. I am able to have insurance through the hospital for me and the kids, which is awesome. I had never done anything like this before, and was nervous too, but it's really been great.
I worked 3rd shift on the weekends and loved it. I was a night owl anyways and it was great. This was before I had a child, but if I had to do it again, I would. My mom also worked 3rd shift through most of my childhood and I didn't notice a difference. She would sleep while I was at school and would be awake in the evenings. My dad would handle stuff during the day. I'm sure you would be fine, especially since this will save you on daycare.
I worked the 3rd shift in Belgium...I found out the hard way - I am not a "night person" and it wasn't for me...but I wasn't working only 2 days a week - ours was a 5 day shift - 1 as 1st, 2 as 2nd and 2 as 3rd...
if you can do it - go for it!!!
My mom worked night shift as a nurse for almost 20 years, and she liked it (mainly because it pays a lot more). I also talked to someone in one of my pre-nursing class who is an LVN, and he said he prefers nights not only for more money, but also because it's much calmer compared to the day shift (patients are mostly sleeping, no family members or other visitors to deal with). I would say go for it, especially since it's only for two days a week. Good luck!
Most nurses I know that have school aged children work overnights and that is what I will be doing once my younger is in kindergarten.
It can work great wit the right set up. It sounds like you have that.
Gota agree with the posts I read. For only 2 nights a week it would almost be like you are a stay at home mom as far as the children know. :-)
LOVE night shift, it's what I've worked most of my working life. Right now it kind of sucks because Isaac's 3 and a half and I'm single so I pay daycare while I work AND while I sleep. BUT I LOVE my job and if you work 3-11s and have a kid in school you NEVER see them and since someone has to literally almost die before there's an opening on 3rd shift I took it when I could. (I can NOT work day shift-- makes me MISERABLE!) So we'll be daycare poor until he starts school-- a year and half of sacrifice so hopefully things will run smooth for the next 12!
I did (hospital) but I worked 4 or 5 nights, and had my son all day. I only got about 3 hours of sleep a night for a year and was "on" the other 21. I'd often have to pull 36's or 48's and then still only have 3 hours. HARD. ((My husband keeps wanting me to go back to that, but it's not worth my sanity)).
2 nights a week and not next to each other would be cake.
((BUT it comes with it's own pitfalls, as you'll be sleep deprived for 2 days... it's more like working 4 days. Plan big stuff on your 3 nights of good sleep!))
To know: if you're sleeping in the morning be prepared to get a LOT of flack from other parents.
"What? You're still asleep at 9am??? We have to be up at 6 in MY house."
"I work nights."
Just sorta falls on deaf ears. Over and over and over again you'll get the "lazy" look from people. Sometimes teachers may be calling (Your child says you sleep all morning/ are still asleep), and other busy bodies get all "concerned" about how much you're "oversleeping". Because people will see you up and about in the daytime, and people will want to set things up during the time you get to sleep. No matter how many times you tell people, they will forget. Just a head's up!
I'm an adult and my mom worked a graveyard or evening shift at a hosp. I HATED it. I hated coming home in the afternoon and her being asleep or her not being there at night. I was a teen at the time but I remember it as if it was yesterday. In my opinion, if you want to be unavailable to your kids, take it. I personally think that a swing shift is very h*** o* a person - which is why they pay extra. Good-luck.
I worked the 11-7 shift 4 days a week - also with the intentions of getting off at 7am in time to get my daughter ready and to school by 8am. More than half the time, my shift ran over and I wasn't ab;e to get her ready (thank goodness Daddy could) and about 25% of the time I couldn't even get home in time to take her to school.
Overnight generally has a skeleton crew, tends to have to start and finish all the paperwork for the 24 hours shift, etc... Most peole think the overnight is so easy, but it's generally not. I had on average 39-42 patients a night when the day shift usually had 28-30 patients and just THEIR own notes to do, not to finish up everyone's daytime notes and start the next day's, chart checks (making sure all orders were placed in the MARS and TARS, etc), changing all lines and flushing all feeding tubes, etc.
