Daycare when you have a 12 hr shift?

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I don't have children and am not yet a nurse, but I can't help but wonder what people do for daycare when they work these long hours. Even our hospital daycare operate 6:30-6:30, most others have similar hours of operation and are not open on weekends. Our first shift begins at 6. Many of my coworkers with families have in-laws or parents that provide daycare, but this wouldn't be an option for me.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, IM, OB/GYN, neuro, GI.

I know where I live there is ONE daycare that is open 24 hrs a day. It's down the street from one of the hospitals so that's where they get the majority of their business from. It's two stories and the upstairs is where most of the "bed rooms" are which are basically rooms with three sets of bunk beds in them. They feed the children, help with homework, and put them to bed for the night. If the parents have to work late they'll also take them to school in the morning. The price is only $10-$15 more than regular daycare.

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Specializes in ICU/ER.

One of the reasons I went into nursing was the flexible hours. I work 3rd shift. 7p-7a. That way my little one can go to daycare in the day while I sleep and if one of my school age children is sick or has a dentist/dr appointment or a field trip, I can adjust my sleep so I can go with them.

Granted I have a husband who is home at night a single mom does not have that option, but I know in the town I live in, some day cares open at 5:30am, but I think all close by 6pm.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

Day care has haunted me since I ecame a nurse and continues as I went on to have another child 6 yrs ago. My new problem is I need to work some weekends and my dh has now got to work all weekends so problem now is what to do with my little dd. We have a fantastic community where I live, small and very supportive so I have advertised locally for a 'sunday sitter' and I am still waiting for a good hit.

During the week it is not a problem because our local community centre has kids from 6am until late. So I take her there and dh picks her up. Fortunatly I only do that one day a week. I wont kid you it is a nightmare.

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I am a single mom and have little family support. I am having a terrible time trying to find a new job (currently only work prn and need more steady income) simply because I do not have child care available other than the preschool my child attends which is opened Mon-Fri 6:30-6:00. I cannot work weekends or holidays. I tried finding a RELIABLE sitter in the past and was unsuccessful. It is really difficult being in this profession and trying to be a mom at the same time.

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I've been SO lucky! Our daycare is willing to provide 24-hour care for parents that have to go out of town, and I can take Moocher over as early as I need to in the morning. She will be kept until someone (Hubs or one of the teens) picks her up in the evening. Usually she's there about 10 hours but it's good to know that longer is not a problem if there is a glitch. I haven't had to use the daycare on weekends more than a couple of times, but that's available to me too. I just leave Moocher's corificeat so the family can take her along if they go shopping or whatever.

Cost: $20 a day

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I've been SO lucky! Our daycare is willing to provide 24-hour care for parents that have to go out of town, and I can take Moocher over as early as I need to in the morning. She will be kept until someone (Hubs or one of the teens) picks her up in the evening. Usually she's there about 10 hours but it's good to know that longer is not a problem if there is a glitch. I haven't had to use the daycare on weekends more than a couple of times, but that's available to me too. I just leave Moocher's corificeat so the family can take her along if they go shopping or whatever.

Cost: $20 a day

That sounds to good to be true....does she get good care there?

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Child care is the reason I an where I am. I was origonally a tele nurse at a level 2 trama center, with plans to move to the ER. However DH is in PA school and leaves too early in the morning for me to work 7p-7a and there's no daycares in our area that are open late enough for me to work 7a-7p. DH commutes 2 hours to school and sometimes doesn't get in until 8 or 9pm. So we have in home care, but the cost to pay for 12 hour days was too much and the hospital doesn't have set schedules. Every week is different and I could not find anyone willing to work flexable days. So I ended up going to LTC. I work 3-11pm. Child care comes at 2p and leaves when DH gets home. My schedule is set and I make $5 more an hour (base pay) plus $3 diff pay. I miss the hospital and LTC is a far cry from the ER, but you do what you have to.:p:p

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That sounds to good to be true....does she get good care there?

She gets wonderful care. I drop her off in the morning and she sails on in, I don't even get a "Bye, Mama!". She's licensed and popular, and has the longest waiting list in town. She came to Moocher's birthday party and all the kids ignored their parents and hung around her! Of the school aged kids she has, she is the emergency contact for several of them during the school day.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Cardiac, ICU.

I have an in home daycare center in my neighborhood that is open til 8:00 pm and opens at 6:00 am. If anything happens to her, then there is another one in the same neighborhood that is open 6 am til 12 midnite. In addition to that, there is a sitter service that send sitter to your house, but they are more expensive. It's actually better to work nights if you use them because they take into consideration that they will be sleeping so they charge less ( not much though). The daycare I use now is $100 a week for two children and the sittter service is $8.50 an hour. I only use the sitter service on weekends.

Oh yeah, my hospital has sick childcare too for $3.00 and hr but they close at 5:00 so I really don't know how that helps anyone if you work 12 hours.

I have been blessed as far as daycare goes because I have no family in the area and I needed all the help I could get.

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She gets wonderful care. I drop her off in the morning and she sails on in, I don't even get a "Bye, Mama!". She's licensed and popular, and has the longest waiting list in town. She came to Moocher's birthday party and all the kids ignored their parents and hung around her! Of the school aged kids she has, she is the emergency contact for several of them during the school day.

That is good. It just seemed like that daycare center would be to good to be true. That is such a good thing to have around you. It is cool that she is willing to be an emergency contact for the school kids, it is sometimes hard to find people you will know will be around if needed.

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Specializes in LTC, med-surg, critial care.

The hospital I work at has daycare that is open from 0530 to 0700, Mon-Fri. Nurses start their shift at 6 AM/PM. The nice thing is even if you work nights you can drop your kid off after work so you can sleep. The bad thing is there is a waiting list to get in. I'm three months pregnant and I should get my name on the list now if I hope on getting this kid in.

I'm pushing for the man to take a job at a small clinic in a small town 15 min away. Currently he works in the ED as a PA. The clinic would be Mon-Fri, 8-5, no holidays and he'd get paid more. That way I can work Sat & Sun and the kid wouldn't have to go to daycare at all. But, he thinks he'd get bored in the clinic so it may not happen.

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