Anyone work 12s?

VitaLuna

First off, hi, new here! I'm an RN and going back to work in a couple weeks. DD will be a little over 4 mos. The daycare we wanted to send her to is full, so my mom will be modifying her work schedule to watch her. I will be gone from home from 6am-8:30pm. I feel so anxious and sick to my stomach about leaving her that long Anyone else in the same boat? How do you manage being away from LO for so many hours?

I know it doesn't help that I haven't left LO with anyone since she's been born. I know we need to do at least a several hour trial run, but I just feel so panicky about it. I also showed my mom paced bottle feeds, and I think she'll do it, but I'm worried that LO won't want to BF when I'm home at night. Ugh.. I just feel horrible about this whole thing. Also, how do you manage pumping being away for that long? I'm definitely worried about supply (I don't get much when I pump right now). My mom has been gracious enough to offer to bring LO to my work once a day to BF in the beginning, which is a big offer, considering it's 60 miles round trip.

VitaLuna

Yikes.. that turned into a big tl;dr dear diary. Sorry guys, I'm not normally that annoying

djm31012

being away that many hrs does stink. i am gone 6am to 6pm...5 days a week so at least u only have 3 days a week! and see LO during the day to nurse should definitely help. you are so fortunate to have your mom there to help that takes a huge load off. just know that she is in safe, loving hands and that you are doing this for her benefit. give yourself a solid few mos to get used to it and get into a routine because its hard in the beginning and uw ill want to quit but it def gets easier! good luck to you. I cant help in regards to pumping bc i stopped when i came back to work, but i know alot of women pump every 3 hours to keep up their supply and it works out fine.  you shoudl make sure she is ok with bottles tho before you go back

emberlee3

I worked 30 hour shifts every 3rd or 4th night when DS was a baby. I was able to pump plenty of milk and DS nursed well when we were together. I liked bed sharing to catch up on time together. Many nurses with young children choose to work nights, but even working 3 days/week everything will work out fine.

jf198400

I was gone from LO 10hrs/day 5days/week with my mom watching her. It's hard in the beginning but baby will get used to the bottle. I would Not ask your mom to bring LO to you that far away. She will obviously need to eat more than once so she's going to have to take a bottle either way. Definitely start practicing now (my baby would never take a bottle from me at that age so DH or my mom had to do it). I would not worry about her rejecting BFing, that happens more if you intro the bottle very young. In fact she will likely reverse cycle and nurse a lot overnight. I coslept with my LOs to make it easier to get enough sleep.

Pumping does kinda suck, but at least you won't have to do it as many days per week. I was always fine with pumping every 4hrs. My BFF is a nurse and I know she had trouble pumping b/c she couldn't take breaks frequently enough. So you will need to make it a priority, you can eat and chart while pumping. Talk to your coworkers, hopefully they will be supportive and cover for you.

Good luck!

VitaLuna

She won't bring her for all feeds or anything. My LC recommended her coming up one of the days if I'm working a long stretch for one feed (to help with supply, and to ease the transition for both of us... but maybe mostly me . I think my mom will probably only do it the first month, and it will probably end up once or twice a week.

She's doing better with the bottle than she was (although we haven't tried recently.. we really need to). She has recently taken to screaming bloody murder and not calming down unless I'm holding her. I'm really hoping that's just because she knows I'm there and available, and it won't turn into screamfest 2014 when I'm away.

Thank you all for the encouragement! I love my job, and I really didn't think it would be this hard to go back.

nursebride2be

I work that same schedule with my first. It was definitely hard as he got older and slept through the night cause he would be asleep when I left and already in bed when I got home. So if I worked multiple days in a row I would go awhile not seeing him awake ( or nursing). I would pump in the morning before leaving, then at like 10, 1 and 5 then again before bed. My supply held up okay for close to a year. The nice thing was I got to be home and nurse the other 4 days of the week.

Good luck

daisy662

You are fortunate. I would love to have that schedule. Those 3 days will be tough at first, but you have 4 days off.

mrsseguin

I work 3 12's as an RN, but on nights.  I don't like working nights, but it works way better for our family.  I''m gone from 5pm-7am.  Once you get into a routine, I think it'll be fine.  Good luck!

jasminelorraine20

daisy662 said:

You are fortunate. I would love to have that schedule. Those 3 days will be tough at first, but you have 4 days off.

I agree with this. Right now my shift is 7:30-4:30 M-F, but there are many days when we have to work later hours and even sacrifice some weekends. I would trade that in for your schedule in a heartbeat.

VitaLuna

Im definitely glad to only work 3 days a week and still be FT. I used to like it better when the days off were my sleep in days but I'm worried DD will start thinking that 5am is the time to get up every day since that's when she'll have to get up on work days. What can you do, I guess.

Meery82

I'm also a RN and I work 11a-11p three days a week. It was scary going back to work, but you will get used to it. It does suck being away for that long, but it is nice having 4 days at home with DS. My milk dried up right before I went back to work, so I didn't have any experience pumping at work, but I do know several other nurses who do it. It can be hard for them to get away to pump sometimes, but I think you've just got to delegate and pump when you need to pump. And that's great that LO gets to be with Grandma. I would've preferred that, but both of DS's grandmas still work.