night shift nurses with young children

[M610]

Im contemplating going to night shift 7p-7a. My twins are now in pre-k 8am_2pm M-F and my 19month old goes to a home daycare when needed. During the summer the older two will go to home daycare as well. Hubby works 24 hours on 48 off and if his shift falls on Friday he is off. I would be able to self schedule. Im hoping it would give me more time at home. How has or hasn't it workes out for you?

[Caffeine_IV]

I am not a nurse yet but know most likely when I do become an RN many job openings for new nurses are for night shift. What do y'all do when your school aged children are home from school during the summer? My kids would be in high school, middle school, and elementary by that time. Just curious.[/quote']

My 7yo does summer camp. They take up to age 14. I haven't though farther than that.

[friendlyjane]

Thanks. Great ideas.

[cassie77775]

During wkd and summer break and other breaks, my kids are usually outside or downstairs. I'm the sole provider while the hubby does the kid thing so he takes them out to play, the park, library, museum while I sleep. If I don't have to work that night then I sleep a few ors and then go with them.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

I worked either nights or 3a-11a. Kiddies went to daycare/preschool until 1pm (hubby dropped them off on his way to work. They didn't go until they were 3 and 4, we worked opposites until then). I'd go grab them, they were fed and nice and tired, ready to nap! When they were school age they went to before school care and in the summer I had a teenage neighbor watch them for a nice salary lol

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

My kids are 12, 9, 7, 3 (almost), and 8 months. I work PT 11-7. My husband works FT+ M-F, 9-whenever. On the weekends, he takes Daddy duty (usually after I've gotten the kids fed and ready for church, or anything happening on Saturdays). Weekdays, his mom watches them; sometimes if I'm off that night, he'll work from home as well as he can with the babies, I'll sleep shorter since I'm off that night, and then he'll go to the office.

Unfortunately the baby doesn't sleep through the night so he does what billions of moms do and wakes up to feed him. To make it easier we keep a bottle warmer and a small cooler with breast milk on the nightstand, that way he doesn't have to GET up, get up.

For the PP who wondered what parents do during the summer: yes my kids are loud. They spend a lot of time either fighting or running around squealing and laughing like they're on the playground. Back before I started working overnight, I made it clear to especially the 9- and 7-yr-olds that morning is Mama's bedtime, and their typical school times are Mama's night times. Mama and Daddy don't fight or run around outside their bedrooms at 3:00 a.m., and they shouldn't do these things during Mama's night time. And then I advised them that if they wake me up, there will be immediate consequences; in our case, a favorite thing gets confiscated, or they lose a privilege for a period of time. They caught on pretty quickly.