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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
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Does anyone or their spouse work an offshift vs. daycare?

*LrCg**LrCg* member
in Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
My husband has the option to work either days, afternoons or midnights.  We currently have a 1 year old in daycare now with a baby on the way.  For various reasons, we'd like to change sitters or perhaps have him switch shifts so we don't have to use a sitter.  If he worked midnights we could eliminate a sitter all together.  If he worked afternoons we would still need one for 3-4 hours a day (however, we're having difficulties even finding sitters).  Just curious does anyone/their spouse work midnights?  If so, what is your routine?  How difficult is it?  Do you find your at a constant lack of sleep?
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Re: Does anyone or their spouse work an offshift vs. daycare?

  • mel41gmel41g
    My gf and her husband do this.  He works days and goes in early, she works 2nd shift.  So he comes home from work at 3 and she goes to work at 4.  They let their DD stay up late with her H so that she will sleep in in the mornings letting mommy get some rest too.  It works well for them, although they only see each other on the weekends.  Her DD is 3 and she is pg again now, so I hope it continues to work well for them with the new baby.
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  • KeepingItLowKeyKeepingItLowKey

    I do, but my husband has his own business and works from home which makes it easier. When Lydia was first born, I worked 2am-10am which was nice because I got to be with her all day but I never got enough sleep. In June I switched to 2pm-11pm and get less time with her but we have the mornings together. When I leave for work, I put her down for her nap so she is either napping or in bed for the night for a lot of the time I am gone.?

    Even when I wasn't getting sleep, it seemed so worth it to not have to put her in daycare and always have one of us with her.?


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  • kathya-hkathya-h member
    When I first went back to work when DD was 8 weeks, DH was home with her 3 days a week and I worked from home 2 days and just worked when she was napping.  It was really hard on DH b/c DD was never as good for him as she was for me.  Also, we had to have a sitter about 6 hours a week.  Individual sitters charge more by the hour than daycare does so it only saved us about 30-40% of what we paid for daycare.  It worked for about 3 months, then the scheduling was a nightmare and DH was very unhappy.
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  • tmp-336341562506044tmp-336341562506044
    DH doesn't work O/N, but we did work opposite shifts. He works days and I work evenings. He comes home at 5pm and I go into work at 5:30-11pm. We usually only need sitters on the weekends. Since we work opposite we make sure that we have every Thursday off together.
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  • anls520anls520
    My husband works the night shift.  He works Friday night thru Monday night (10hrs/day) and has 3 days off.  This really works well for us because we only need a sitter on Monday and Tuesday, since I'm home on the weekends and his "weekend" falls during the week.  My husband goes to sleep as soon as he gets home and is up by the time I get home from work.  We spend the evening together and he leaves by the time I'm ready for bed.  He has been working the 3rd shift for about 7 years so he's very used to it and actually enjoys it.  It's very hard to say how your husband will react to the time shift and if he'll have the energy to stay up and take care of a toddler, I know my husband wouldn't be able to.     
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  • caymanbridecaymanbride
    DH and I work opposite schedules and always have. I'm a teacher, so I'm at work till 7-3 ish. DH goes to work when I get home, and works till midnight or so. DS is always with one of us, so no daycare ever. It works out perfectly for us and we would never change it! DH is a little tired in the morning, but DS gets up at 8, so it's not too bad.
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  • SuperCuteBenzSuperCuteBenz member

    Dh currently works M/W/F from 8-5 and Tues/Thurs from 8-1. He comes home on Tues/Thurs, so that I can go in and work 3-11. We used to take DD to daycare at 1:30, but DH's job is slow, so they allow him to come home right now. It is nice to not pay daycare, but DH makes 3X what I make, so it would be better to have that extra income from his job.

    I did switch to overnights for a while, but it really took a lot out of me. I would get off at 7 am on Monday morning, and then stay up with DD all day. I "might" get a 2 hour nap while she napped but that didn't always happen. I was getting an average of 6 hours of sleep in 36 hours, and I was a total ***. I switched back to evenings and things are MUCH better.

    The downside for us is that once DH's job picks up (assuming that it will), it is really hard to find drop in daycare here.

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