2nd shifter possibly moving to 3rd shift

[Jocee82]

Currently I work 2nd shift. Our unit is going to 12 hour shifts in October. Due to seniority I got put on days 7am-7pm. But right now my husband is in school for another year or so and is not working. we have a toddler and currently have no daycare. If I move to days it's less pay and I would have to pay for daycare which is about $800-1000 a month. If I got to nights I won't need daycare, but might get less sleep. This would only be for 5 years then I probably would go to days after that.

What would you do? Is working nights that bad?

[chulada77, ADN, BSN, MSN, APRN]

No, working nights is not that bad. I work nights so that my kids don't have to do childcare and they don't even know that I am at work since they are sleeping while I'm working. We do what we gotta do to pay the bills and keep the kids happy! Gotta love a good working mom!

The first few days of nights I was tired and struggled a bit but that is long past. I don't feel tired and have learned how much sleep I need to continue functioning:)

Good Luck! You can do it!!

[SweetNSpicyLpn_01]

:redbeatheTry to the night shift see if tht wrks out for you n the family.If it doesnt wrk do the other one.Now its about survival and convience

Good luck always

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

only 5 years? Good luck.

Like others say, you have to do what is best for you and your family...

[bill4745, RN]

It all depends on how you adapt to it. I did 7p-7a for several years. I loved being in the hospital at night-fewer administrators, fewer new orders, transporting to CT, etc. I found that I formed closer relationships with my co-workers, perhaps because of the lack of everything I mentioned. My big problem was sleep. I tried everything ("eat starches when you get home, eat protein, try Benadryl, use a fan near the bed to block out noise", etc) but no matter what I did I could never sleep more than 4.5 hours, which made the second shift a bit tough. I never did three in a row (I also had a 50mile each-way commute). All you can do is try it out.

[babyktchr, BSN, RN]

I have worked nights for 14 years and don't mind it at all. It started out that I did it so I did not have to use daycare also. In the end however, I did send my child to daycare because working every other, or whatever made me crazy with the up and down, and just ended up being exhausted. Nights worked for me as my child got older. You do what you have to. I remember many days going on field trips or attending plays or field day after working all night the night before. Your body will get used to working nights and you will find it is just a different culture there. As the other folks said, try it. See what you think.

[CNM 26.2]

I worked nights for many years and for various reasons. I never realized how little sleep I actually got until I stopped working nights-I was amazed at how great I felt! Having said that-I did like the atmosphere of night shift much better so it was a trade off.

We did self scheduling and I found I actually did better if I never scheduled more than one night in a row-unless it was the weekend in which case I had to work both Fri and Sat night, plus my husband was home so I didn't have to worry about childcare and I could sleep. I know some people hate breaking up the nights but when I had little kids I KNEW I would get NO sleep during the day so knowing that I could at least sleep the next night was a relief.

Best of luck to you!

[MKS8806]

I work nights currenlty and LOVE it for several reasons. It works well for my personal life, but also, I like the different ... mentality on nights. I cant speak for everyone, but for me, I feel that our day shift is very scheduled, very controlled. On nights, I enjoy the unknown, unscheduled stuff. There's an element of surprise that I like!