L&D ladies who work nights...

Treasure30 · Nov 14, 2007

Hello New Grad,

I'm not sure what you are experiencing. I am trying to think of some words to encourage you, but right now it's hard.

I am a traveling L & D nurse, mainly because I didn't like the politic of the hospitals. I just left an assignment, nights, on L&D because they didn't believe in giving lunch breaks or any breaks. She told me to go get some cracker & orange juice from the pantry, while 7 RN & 1 tech sat at the nurses' station & look at a board of 7 admitted pt & 2 in triage. my pt was ambulating, on a monitor & all my charting was completed. Not one of these pt were active & only one had a deceleration after an epidural. These 2-6 yrs know it all, insecure, low self esteem nurses, drive me,.... No, No, No, Mama said, 'If you can't say nothing nice, don't say nothing'.

Anyway, asked for your breaks & lunches. JACHO said, 'You can't eat at the desk, yet the last 3 places I worked at night, didn't take breaks or lunches, they eat at the desk, on the floor & any where you think you may want to eat, :angryfire. Some times the board (pts' status) don't permit a break, but it is a labor guideline & maybe even a law, after every 2.5 - 4 hours, an employee should be given a break.

My nurse manager told me 20 years ago, stay calm, no matter what everyone else is doing, 'STAY CALM'. If you are a passager on a plane & the pilot acted like some of the L&D nurses, you would look for some reason to sue, too. STAY CALM. God brought you through nursing school & place you in L&D, 'STAY CALM'.

Find someone who seasoned & don't mind teaching you obstetric. Be careful, some of these preceptor get intimadated. Stay confident on the nursing that you do know. Listen, Listen, Listen, some of the doctors don't mind teaching.

Good Luck,

Treasure

Oh, I worked in the Bronx, NY, the board was busy, sometime short of nurses core, yet 98% of the time, we got lunches & breaks.

nursejohio, ASN, RN · Nov 15, 2007

Totally OT, I had a stretch in the BX over the summer, where did you work?

OP, start off a week or so before you start, gradually switching yourself around. I don't have kids, so I have no advice to offer you for dealing over the summer, but during the school year when they're gone during the day? Don't try to switch your schedule around. You'll work while they sleep, get home and do breakfast, then sleep all day while they're at school. The nurses I work with who try to flip back and forth on their nights off always look like death warmed over and and freely admit they're always exhausted

NurseNora, BSN, RN · Nov 15, 2007

I do choose to sleep at night on my days off. I take a nap from 12-4 PM on the first day I work, then sleep all the next day (I almost always work two days in a row), go to work, stay up till noon or so, sleep 3 or 4 hours, awake for the evening, bed at night. I've always pretty much been able to sleep whenever I laid down in bed, so switching around wasn't too hard for me.

In order to stay asleep, I have to sleep in the dark. I've found that a high quality sleep mask works better for me than trying to get the room dark enough with darkening curtains etc. Having some kind of routine helps me too. I shower with lavender and have a cup of chamomille tea before going to bed. I happen to sleep better with background noise, so I turn the radio on to a talk station (one that doesn't get me all riled up) just loud enough to hear if I listen, but quiet enough that the words just run into on another if I don't listen closely.

Night workers often eat to stay awake. If that helps you, bring healthy snacks. It's common for new night nurses to put on weight. Bring cereal pieces, carrot sticks, fruit, cheese cubes. Protien doesn't make me as sleepy as charbohydrates (except for turkey, of course)

I do use some caffein when I work, but only early in the shift. Don't have any after about 3am, or you'll have trouble sleeping when you get home. Three to 5 am seems to be the worst time for most people. Once you get past that hard time, the rest of the shift flies by.

Good luck. You'll learn a lot. Hope you enjoy L&D as much as I have.

allthingsbright · Nov 15, 2007

Thanks so much for the imput! :)

nurseynightnight · Nov 16, 2007

I have been working nights for almost 6 years now. I have 3 children with #4 on the way.

I have been doing a weekend option for the past 17 months. So switching is easy on my 5 days off.

Now before that I worked 2-4 days in a row (6 or 7 days in a 2 week period). I tend to come home from work, go to bed around 9am and sleep until 5pm. I can do this b/c my husband stays home so I don't have to worry about getting kids from daycare/school. I consider myself lucky!!! But others I work with don't have that luxury. Most tend to go to bed as soon as the kids are off to school and sleep until 3pm when they have to pick them back up. Then there husbands take over when they go to work at 6:45 pm.

Now I take a nap on my first day back to work or sleep in late that morning, then sleep the full day the next. When I am off I will try to sleep some that day and then attempt to go back to sleep that night so I can be normal for my days off.

I think that is how most of the nurses do it. I have only known 2 nurses that stay on a night schedule even on their days off. That is not feasible for most people though. These 2 were single and had no children so they could do what they wanted.

You will need daycare during the summer that is for sure. I don't know how old your children are (did I miss that?) but it is impossible to try to nap while your kids are home and still feel rested while at work that night. Plus your children won't get much interaction out of you while you are a walking zombie!! So do everyone a favor and use child care.

And just for the record. I am more rested working night shift then I ever would be working on days. I get 8 hours of sleep which would NEVER happen if I worked days.

And I also agree that 4-5 am is the worst time...

Caffeine doesn't bother me so I can drink that anytime. I also tend to eat more on slow nights so be careful about that. I think the previous posters ideas about healthy snacks is a great one!!! The vending machines are not your friend!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to nights! I hope you love your new job!!

allthingsbright · Nov 18, 2007

Thanks nurseynightnight (love the name!). My kids are 10 and 8--this summer they will be 11 and 9. I'll have to check into some summer programs for them. Your post was excellent! :)

alianeco · Nov 23, 2007

L&D is one of those special areas where the staffing doesn't go down at nights, so I think we get good and used to turning around and living our lives when everyone else is sleeping.

In my rotation I do two weeks of nights and two weeks of days. I find nights pretty hard, but definitely easier than when I first started nursing.

One thing that I find helpful is to have my room PITCH black when I'm sleeping during the day.

I go to bed as soon as I get home, because my best sleep is before noon.

I nap on my break if I get a chance, so I don't get a case of the stupids at 4:30am.

Recently I've started taking 0.5mg of melatonin (a hormone that you release at night time) on my way home from work. It helps make me feel sleepy if I'm wired from a 7am emergency. Also, night workers tend to be deficient in melatonin, and that's linked to getting sick more.

Since I only do two weeks of nights in a row, I try not to completely turn around on my days off. I'll sleep as late as I can and try to stay up to midnight.

I've never tried this, but a nurse I work with suggested having shreddies with bananas when you get home from work. Apparently Shreddies, bananas, and milk all have tryptophan in them and they make you sleepy too.

Even though it's hard to get used to nights (and you'll probably hate it initially), a lot of people grow to really love night shifts. I really like the atmosphere on the unit over night. Even though it can be busier than days (most spontaneous deliveries are over night), management is fast asleep at home and staff can be a bit sillier than usual.

Oh - and night shift snacks are so great!

Good luck and sweet dreams!

MamaMadge, ADN, BSN · Nov 26, 2007

Alianeco, I completely agree with you! The atmosphere at night is wonderful! No managers, no doctors hanging around, no meal trays! Heaven! I had a really tough time adjusting to nights at first. I could not sleep during the day! I finally have it worked out.....I come straight home from dropping my kids at home, turn on my white noise machine, pull the blinds and turn off the phone. The kids have my husband's cell in case of emergencies! I usually sleep from about 8:30 am until about 2:30 or 3:00 pm. Pick up the kids, come home start dinner, help with homework, do a few loads of laundry, shower and get ready to go back to work at 6:45. I work 3 nights one week and 2 the next. Somehow, after 2.5 years my family is getting in the groove of me sleeping during the day when I work. Don't feel discouraged if it takes you several months to get used to it....you will and then you will LOVE your job! GOOD LUCK!

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Nov 29, 2007

I love nights too...but I agree c all who say that 0300-0500 is the 'witching hour', if you're going to have one.

It takes some family working-together to make nights work, but if you can sleep in the day and have your kiddos taken care of, I can't think of a better schedule!! :)

bagladyrn, RN · Dec 2, 2007

Nights in OB for 19 years now ( and nights for 6 years before that). They couldn't pay me enough to go to days!

I found it actually worked well when my son was young as I could sleep while he was in school and be up to interact with him and let him participate in after school activities. Then he didn't miss me as much as he was sleeping most of the time I was at work.

For summers I enrolled him in a local day camp, dropped him off and went home to bed.

joeb1, ASN, BSN, RN · Dec 29, 2007

I guess i can forgive the assumption not many of us guys are here in ob- its quite true most of ya are ladies. well, at my hospital, I work 12 hour 3p-3a. I love it. I get off when its(usually) least busy, and get home before the sun comes up so I can get to sleep. Believe me, its easier to stay up until 3am than it is to be our day nurses getting up at 0130 to go to work, then trying to go to bed before most normal people are eating supper. Of course, I can work any 12 hour shift hours as long as I have my 4 days totally off a week. :lol2: