pregnancy and night shift

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Jul 23, 2008

Congrats - on achieving your RN & making the decision to become a Mom.

Just have a question for you - have you ever worked nights? I found it to be much easier and less stressful than days.... fewer 'road trips', visitors, physician rounds, etc. However, if you will be doing 12 hour nites - it may be a little rough when the ankles start to swell!

Every organization's HR policies are different. There are no federal mandates for maternity leave - just FMLA which 'guarantees' 12 weeks of (unpaid) leave. You need to talk with your HR/benefits person to get an accurate picture of what is offered to you. Perhaps you could arrange to take the usual 3 months off & return part time for the next 3 months.

It will probably all depend on how you work out as a new employee. Managers will go to great lengths to keep good staff --- mediocre staff, not so much.

beachbum3 · Jul 23, 2008

Congrats - on achieving your RN & making the decision to become a Mom.
Just have a question for you - have you ever worked nights? I found it to be much easier and less stressful than days.... fewer 'road trips', visitors, physician rounds, etc. However, if you will be doing 12 hour nites - it may be a little rough when the ankles start to swell!
Every organization's HR policies are different. There are no federal mandates for maternity leave - just FMLA which 'guarantees' 12 weeks of (unpaid) leave. You need to talk with your HR/benefits person to get an accurate picture of what is offered to you. Perhaps you could arrange to take the usual 3 months off & return part time for the next 3 months.
It will probably all depend on how you work out as a new employee. Managers will go to great lengths to keep good staff --- mediocre staff, not so much.

I've never worked nights before. But I have 3 kids now, so at least I know what pregnancy is like, I guess! I am doing 12 hour nights so I'm feeling it might get pretty tough, but who knows- it may be just the 12 hour shifts that make it tough, regardless of whether or days or nights. I would like to continue working nights if possible- I appreciate the nice shift diff!

SteveNNP, MSN, NP · Jul 23, 2008

Another side to the issue is that many nurses I have worked with have had a very hard time getting pregnant while working night shift. It's not even that they aren't

"home" at night. It does something to your hormones and stress level. Once they went to days, they usually had no problem getting pregnant.

My sister is a night shift nurse, and is expecting. Her morning sickness is reversed. She felt queasy when she woke up in the afternoon for work, although she says it wasn't too bad. She still plans on staying on nights after the baby is born.

Each facility is different. The places I have worked at, you are allowed to take up to a year off for "medical reasons." The catch is that you end up burning through all your sick, vacation, and personal days before being able to take short-term disability pay until you return. You have to be able to survive financially if you want 6 months off...

PMHNP10 · Jul 23, 2008

Hi all,
I'm planning a pregnancy (going to start trying in January) and am looking for thoughts/experiences with being pregnant and working nights. My initial thought is that I ought to try to get on days when I'm pregnant, as I know being up nights is hard on the body and throws things off a bit with hormones etc. I've never heard of outright adverse effects on the pregnancy, but my feeling is it may be much healthier and make for an easier pregnancy if I'm on days during that time.
Secondly- I'm a new nurse (start 1st job on Monday!!) starting on Tele. Part of the reason we are waiting until January is to give me some time to get settled in to the job, as I know these next few months will be very stressful, and also so that I will have been there over a year when the baby is born. (Would be an Oct due date if we get pregnant right away)
In your experience is a leave longer than 3 months possible? I would like 6 months minimum- was thinking I could take the standard 3 mos maternity leave, then see about applying for an extended leave of absence. Does that happen, or would I typically have to quit my job completely and start over with applying for jobs etc if I wanted longer than the 3 months? I know it probably depends on the facility, but was just looking for a general idea of if it happens or not.
Thanks for your thoughts and replies!

When I worked my first nursing job, which was on nights, one of my coworkers was pregnant and she did well working until about a week before the birth. My wife also works nights and she had some significant edema early on (quite possibly because she gets to sit for maybe 10 min. over the course of a 12 hr shift) and developed gestational diabetes...is this a consequence of working nights? possibly, but possibly not

as for FMLA, I believe I was told by my current employer that you must have 1 year of employment before allowing FMLA; I've been here for about 3, so I didn't research to verify the validity of that statement; point being...you definitely want to make 10000% sure you know the policy in your place of employment--i.e., read it yourself

owensmommy · Jul 23, 2008

I was preggo and worked 12 hour night shifts. I did just fine. I had a great pregnancy though. I gues it would depend if you had frequent nausea or other complications. But, you'll have the same problems whether you work days or nights. I found night shift to be a little less hectic and therefore, less stress on me and the baby.

My hospital allows for the 12 weeks FMLA leave. I took 10 weeks off. They work with nurses that want to stay on leave, but like a PP stated, it depends how great of an employee you are. And you have to wipe out all of your PTO bank in order to be off without pay. So, I am assuming you can handle it financially to be off for the 6 months.

Joe_Black · Jul 23, 2008

Great input!!!

futurecnm · Jul 23, 2008

Congrats on your job! I am also a new RN starting next week.

I am a mom, and have been pregnant 2 times. I have to say that every pregnancy is different and everyone handles it differently. I, for one, could have never worked nights (or probably 12 hr days) while pregnant. I had to take a medical leave from my office job when I was pregnant due to extreme nausea. It was horrible, worse with one pregnancy, but bad with both. I do not know if I could do nursing at all that first half. So, be prepared for the worst situation. Most are able to contineu with life as usual but there are extremes.

Also, have you had experience working nights before? I worked some nights last summer as an intern and it was really hard for me. I was not able to sleep well during the day and just got so exhausted. I can't imagine it pregnant. However, many people can sleep just fine during the day and have the energy to stay up all night just fine. So, you'll have to see how you like nights when you aren't pregnant.

I do believe you have to be at your job 12 months before you are elgible for FMLA. And yes, that is just the 12 weeks. Some employer will work with you and some will not want you to take that long of a leave. I guess it depends how short staffed they are. maybe you can go back very part time after 12 weeks.

good luck!

nurserynurse55 · Jul 23, 2008

Hello. I am pregnant now (23 weeks). I work fourty hours a week on the night shift (2 twelves and 2 eights). I had no problem getting pregnant on nights. My problem is not that I work nights, but the 12 hours shifts are too long for me now. I was never crazy about them in the first place. I am going to switch to 5 eight hours shifts. Most will be nights, but some will be afternoons. Our HR policy is much like everyone else's here.

Thanks and good luck.

RocketNurse · Jul 23, 2008

Hi there-

I worked the night shift in tele through my entire pregnancy. It wasn't too bad since nights at my hospital are way less stressful than days. I would snooze in the staff room during my 30 minute break and usually did okay for the rest of the shift. I worked until two weeks before my due date. I was also a new grad and had only been at my hospital for about six months. Unfortunately, since I hadn't been there a year, I wasn't eligible for the FMLA, and I only was able to take six weeks disablility (which the state pays in California). I would definitely recommend checking with your employer on their policies before you become pregnant.

All that being said, I am finding that it is harder to work nights now with a baby because I never get enough rest between shifts, even though someone else is here to watch her.

Congratulations on starting a family! It is by far the most rewarding thing I've ever done!

thinkin' about it · Jul 23, 2008

Congratulations, and welcome to nursing!!! I hope you enjoy your first job. Your question resonates with me quite a bit, as I have worked night-shift on my current unit for several years. Personality-wise, I am a good fit for night shift and did very well on it (with 2 12's and 2 8's a week, plus picking up extra)....until I had a baby. And it wasn't the pregnancy for me that was the tough part. I was more tired than usual, understandably, but had no morning sickness...only some nausea from heartburn, but I enjoyed being pregnant more than many women. Anyway, the problem I am currently having is coping with the bizarre sleeping patterns on night-shift while caring for my baby (who is a little over a year). In short, night shift was fine for me while pregnant, but it's the caring for a baby while keeping crazy hours that I find to be the problem. However, this was my first child, so you are going to have more experience and it may help you. I think you will discover quickly whether night shift is a good fit for you. I prefer night shift (had a brief stint on days late in my pregnancy) but can no longer cope with it the way I did before I had a baby and could therefore sleep whenever I wanted. Thus, I am switching to days a few months from now. Just my experience. Hope it helps.

nurseshepherd · Jul 24, 2008

I had my last two children working nights (almost exclusively 12 hour shifts and at the time I was pregnant we were short staffed so I almost always had overtime) and it was very doable. Like a PP stated, nights can be less hectic and allow some down time to prop feet up and get all the breaks allowed. With my last pregnancy there were 4 of us pregnant in our department, 2 on nights and 2 on days, and neither group fared better than the other (we all did okay but had mild LE edema, at least 1 UTI - probably from not voiding often enough, the usual aches and pains, etc., that was about it). Good luck and enjoy your new adventure!:)