Anyone with positive night shift stories with infants?

Published

:confused:Hi everyone--

I've been on nights 7p - 7a for almost 3 years now and love it. I am currently on maternity leave with our 1st baby and will be going back in about 6 weeks. My husband and I are planning to try to avoid daycare if possible which means I'll be watching the baby when I get off work. My NM is allowing me to temporarily return part time until we can get our schedules in order and I can add in that third shift. I AM TERRIFIED that I won't be able to do it! Doing part time for a few weeks, I'm planning on working one day during the week, and one weekend night. Our baby is only 6 weeks now and she's spending more and more time during the day awake....which means I'll be trying to sleep but she'll be awake!

Did anyone do this and do it successfully? We don't have any family who lives here to help out and most of my friends are nurses or have day jobs. Thanks for any input and suggestions as to how to make this work!! :confused:

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Its hard.....but i have done it with 2 babies. It can be done!!!

I would try and have a good nap before night shift whilst hubby fed, bathed baby, that would be their special time together.

Try and cat nap as much as you can!

Good luck!!!!

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Specializes in Geriatric Nursing.

Its hard....... but you will able to manage, I also tried it before. its a tough job at first

but you will adjust...... Goodlick

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Specializes in Neuro/Med-Surg/Oncology.

I was able to do it when we just had one. But when he got closer to two and the second one was born, it didn't work anymore. He figured out how to unlock and open the front door. I live in the city so the front door was about a sidewalk width plus 5 feet away. :eek: He could also undo the "child proof" locks. Even before that, I would doze off for a short while and wake-up with misc. objects piled on me. (With no memory of it happening . . . .btw)

My system when I had the first one was to nap when he did. The afternoon before the first night, we took a nap together. I may have been up by 4pm, but in the morning at least I hadn't been up for 20+ hours straight. I would come home, nurse the baby, hand him off to Daddy (I worked every weekend) so I could sleep. He would bring him up every so often to eat. We all took a nap in the afternoon. That day I would try to sleep until the last minute b/c I knew I couldn't go to bed right away the next day. The morning after that was usually Monday. I would pick him up from MIL, hang there for 30-45 minutes to get a second wind and be safe to drive home. We would just have an day spent eating and sleeping after that. His morning nap as a newborn was about an hour. Wake-up, feed him, get something to eat and drink. Fight to stay awake for another hour or so and put him down for the afternoon around noon. Usually his afternoon nap was between 1 and 2, but not on those days. Dh was working 05:30a-02:00p, so sometimes he would join us for an hour when he got home. Then he would get up with the baby while I slept for another hour or so. I made sure not to sleep later than that though or I would never sleep that night.

At about 6-8 months or so, his morning nap went by the wayside. Then I would just tough it out until 11 or 12 and just lay him down early for his afternoon nap. The one good thing about losing the morning nap was that he slept longer in the afternoon. I could usually get a solid three hours. Occasionally I couldn't wait until the afternoon and then Austin Powers: the Spy Who Shagged Me became my salvation. If I just couldn't stay awake, I would put him in his crib and put that on TV. For some reason he loved it. I think it was the music and all the wild colors. But that way if I dozed off, I knew he was safe and happy. That would get me an hour or so. Then I could hold him without feeling like I had a case of the dropsies.

There's no good way to do it. You always feel like you're behind the 8 ball, but at least for me, it's been worth it.

Now that I have two kids and the older one (the one who unlocks and opens doors) doesn't nap, I can't do any of that. They spend Monday mornings with my sil and their cousin. Dh drops them off before work. I come home eat breakfast and go to bed. I usually pick them up after lunch. We come home and I put dd down for a nap and ds in his room for some quiet time. Sometimes he falls asleep and I get to as well, but those days are rare. But at least I'm safe enough to take care them until dh gets home. I go to bed for the night after I put them down between 7 and 8. We pay sil approx $250 month. I consider it money well spent. My kids are safe and happy. I'm tired, but not a crazed lunatic. They get to grow-up close with their cousins. And I don't have to leave them with strangers. I know how she's raising her daughter and feel totally comfortable leaving my kids there.

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Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

I had a live-in nanny and it was worth it!!!

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Work the weekends and let hubby take care of the baby.I know lots of women who have done this and they love it

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Specializes in LTC.

The parents that survive night shift the best are those that drop their kids off at daycare for a few hours so they can get some sleep.

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Both my wife and I are RNs that work 8hr shifts. We overlap our schedules so that we only have to have an overnight baby sitter 3 days a week.

Worked out well so far, 4 month old.

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