Which Shift for Family Life: Nights or Days

[AlmostANurse321]

I'm looking for my first nursing job after graduating. I'm in a position where I can actually choose between nights and days, so I'm lucky. I have a spouse that works and 2 small children. I'm trying to decide which will be a better balance for family life: nights or days.

I'm leaning towards nights, because I think I'd actually see my children more. If I do days from 7a-7p, I'd leave the house at 6am and probably get home at 9pm. I'm assuming that no shift is actually 12 hours. So I'd leave before they get up and get home after they go to bed.

If I do nights, I'd leave at 6pm and get home after they've left for preschool. But I'd seem them some in the afternoon. I function well on 6 hours of sleep.

Also, the hospitals here are pretty notorious for doing mandated OT, so I figure I'll be doing 4 shifts per week.

Thoughts, suggestions, warnings, etc.?

[BabyFood26]

Hi there!

Assuming your wife works days, with 2 young ones, the best balance IMO would be to take the nights. Like you said, it'll feel better to be able to see your kids in the afternoon before going off to work, instead of pretty much not seeing them at all 4 days out of the week.

This is what my husband and I do. We both work. We have 2 kids, ages 6 and 8. One of us works days. One works nights. It works very well for us. I couldn't imagine how it would be for us all if we both worked during the day. We would both miss the kiddos and have to pay more for childcare.

Any who! I voted as well.

Congratulations to you and I wish you the best!

[Sour Lemon]

Different families have different lives and different needs. My husband and I both work nights and that works well for us. I only work per diem, 0-2 days weekly. He consistently works four ten-hour shifts weekly. We have 1-3 nights off together a week and someone is always home with the sprog.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I worked nights (11-7) when my kids were little. We accidentally discovered that they didn't realize that I worked. One day hubby was explaining to the pre-school teacher that I wouldn't be able to drop off goodies by 8 AM for a party because I wouldn't be home from work yet. Young one gave an astonished look and said "Mommy doesn't work". Turns out they thought I just liked to sleep late, so Daddy always got them up in the mornings. LOL. So, I guess it worked OK for family life, right?

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

I have found that working nights allows me to spend more time with the kids while they are awake. This means I get next to no sleep, but I have an 8month old so I wasn't getting a lot of sleep anyway. To me the trade off is worth it.

[Wheaties]

parents are nurses. One of my parent worked nights, while the other worked days when me and my sibling were little. It worked out because someone was always there. Working nights is exhausting, but my folks managed

[BeckyESRN]

My husband and I work opposite shifts-I'm daylight 8-4 5days a week and he's nightshift 7p-7a 3days a week. It works well for us; someone is always home with the kids. Some parts of it suck, like I don't ever get to take my littlest to preschool and my husband misses out on activities because he needs sleep. Some days it seems like we're more of a tag team, but overall it works really well for our family. Best of luck and congrats!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Working nights enables you to see more of your kids and reduces the need for paid child care.

[AllOfMyWat]

For our family: 7a-7p. Tried 11p-7a. It was awful. My days I work I may only see my husband for an hour and our son for 30 minutes, but every other week, I have four days with them as opposed to maybe one day after catching up on sleep.