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anyone with a LO work overnights? what do you do about daycare?

just kitajust kita member
in Working Moms

I'm interviewing tomorrow for an overnight position, which I've never done before. I have been working part time nights and weekend and staying home with my 1 year old during the week since he was born.

An overnight shift is appealing to me because I *think* we may be able to save some money by enrolling LO part-time. Does anyone else do this? When do you work, sleep, and send LO to daycare? Would a center or home based be a better choice? 

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Re: anyone with a LO work overnights? what do you do about daycare?

  • SunidazeSunidaze member
    DH does third shift 4 on/2 off while I do a typical M-F 8-5.  Even though DH is typically home before I go to work, it just makes more sense to put LO in daycare - and she's there full time (in a center).  We pretty much treat it the same as if DH and I were both on the same schedule for work.  I know another couple with our exact same schedule and they don't do that.  He works thirds, comes home and takes care of LO while she goes to work during the day.  I don't know how he does it...however, he also calls in a lot - I don't know if the two are related.
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  • just kitajust kita member

    imageSunidaze:
    DH does third shift 4 on/2 off while I do a typical M-F 8-5.  Even though DH is typically home before I go to work, it just makes more sense to put LO in daycare - and she's there full time (in a center).  We pretty much treat it the same as if DH and I were both on the same schedule for work.  I know another couple with our exact same schedule and they don't do that.  He works thirds, comes home and takes care of LO while she goes to work during the day.  I don't know how he does it...however, he also calls in a lot - I don't know if the two are related.

    I don't think I want to attempt what he does. While I might be able to get enough sleep when DH is home, and when LO is napping, it doesn't seem worth it. I'd rather be able to sleep while DH is working and be awake when he is home.

    ETA - How does your DH schedule work for you? Do you think you spend enough time together as a family?  

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  • SunidazeSunidaze member
    imagejust kita:

    imageSunidaze:
    DH does third shift 4 on/2 off while I do a typical M-F 8-5.  Even though DH is typically home before I go to work, it just makes more sense to put LO in daycare - and she's there full time (in a center).  We pretty much treat it the same as if DH and I were both on the same schedule for work.  I know another couple with our exact same schedule and they don't do that.  He works thirds, comes home and takes care of LO while she goes to work during the day.  I don't know how he does it...however, he also calls in a lot - I don't know if the two are related.

    I don't think I want to attempt what he does. While I might be able to get enough sleep when DH is home, and when LO is napping, it doesn't seem worth it. I'd rather be able to sleep while DH is working and be awake when he is home.

    ETA - How does your DH schedule work for you? Do you think you spend enough time together as a family?  

    Honestly, I am not overly thrilled with his schedule.  As a matter of fact, it sucks.  I don't feel that we get enough time together as a family nor as a couple.  Even the nights he is home, we rarely go to bed at the same time becuase his body isn't used to that schedule.  He picks up LO from daycare every day and allows me a couple of nights a week to go to the gym while he handles all child-related duties.  But nights that I don't and he works, he gets her hangs out with her until I get home from work and take over while he goes and lays down before going into work.  Before she started STTN on the a regular basis, it was killing me since it was just me most nights...no help. 

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  • ASmallWonderASmallWonder member
    What's your magic number of hours of sleep that makes you function as a decent human?  That's how many hours she needs to be in daycare.  My SIL works nights and a babysitter comes to the house in the morning before her DH leaves for work and stays for a few hours so my SIL can sleep and it is NOT working.  She doesn't give herself anywhere enough hours of sleep and is constantly run down and feels horrible.  IMO your number of work and sleep hours should be the same as if you had traditional work hours.  For some reason people think that if they're supposed to be sleeping during the day, they should be able to do with less and take care of their kid.  No one who sleeps at night does that :)
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  • LuluP82LuluP82
    I don't work overnights, but I work from home part-time and I couldn't find daycare that would do part time for me. I ended up hiring a babysitter to come to my home. It's tough though, because I need a sitter like 4 hours a day...I finally found a SAHM in my neighborhood with school-aged children who is happy with those hours.
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  • MKE6115MKE6115

    When I worked nights (I worked 3 12 hour shifts a week), my kids went to DC the days after I worked so I could sleep. Especially if I had to work back to back I needed my sleep. Sometimes on the days I was going into work I would keep them home with me, but then I was not always able to nap before work. 

    Everyone is different, I need my sleep to function and do not do well on nights. Plenty of girls I work with who have young families work nights, but all of them who work full time have someone to watch their LOs so they can sleep after work. My kids go to a center but most of the other girls I work with use a family member or an in home daycare. I have always found that in home are better for part time care. 

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  • jf198400jf198400 member
    My best friend is a nurse and works nights 7p-7a.  She manages, but honestly it seems like she's a mess.  It doesn't help that her husband has a changing work schedule and sometimes work nights too.  They mainly use her SIL to watch the 2 kids.  Sometimes she even keeps them overnight.  I think generally her DH drops the kids off with SIL in the morning so my friend can go home and sleep for a few hours, then she picks them up and tries to get another nap in when the kids nap.  But she is always rundown.  It also doesn't help that her SIL is unreliable and flakes on her alot, but thats a whole other issue...
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  • mrsseguinmrsseguin member
    I work 3 12 hour night shifts a week. It is random days.  I obviously need to sleep during the day.  If I don't work a second night in a row, DD goes to DC (a center) for 5 hours.  I get about 4 hours of sleep.  I try to work around DS's school schedule, so he doesn't have to go to DC.  If I do work the second night in a row and DS doesn't have school, they both go to DC for a full day.  DH works M-F days.  I think it works out good.  If I worked days, I'd get less time with the kids and they would both need to go to DC FT when I work.  We like them being in a center for many reasons...we don't have to worry if a worker is sick, more accountability etc.
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  • just kitajust kita member
    Well, it turns out the job is only part time, and only 6 hour shifts, which seems easier than full time 8+hr shifts, but I'm not sure I will take it if offered.
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  • MammaBear81MammaBear81 member

    I think it depends on the shifts.  Right now I work days, and DH works nights (only has one job at the moment, but that is changing soon).  We have an au pair so our childcare expense is set whether we use 20 hours or 45. 

    But hypothetically, if we had one child (and didn't use an au pair) we could get away with having child care for 1/2 the day (7-12) three days a week,  DH can get 5 hours of sleep in and then get a nap in the evening before going to work and he works weekends, so two weekdays he doesn't work at all.

    Overall working opposite shifts can "work" but it's not optimal (at least not with our current shifts, if DH was more 9:00pm-5:00am it would work much better). I don't see DH much right now and he feels like he's missing a lot because he's sleeping during the day (he sleeps until about 2:00 now because we do have the coverage).  I think it will be different when the kids are school age though, he won't be "missing" anything when they are in school.

    To end on a positive note, he gets to be more active in the Dr appointments, parent/teacher conferences and other "daytime activities" since he is technically "free" during the day, and I know he does enjoy that time very much.

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  • kristenndkristennd member
    I work a regular shift but DH has overnights. Before LO was STTN, it was horrible. Neither one of us got enough sleep. And we still rarely see each other. DH did cut back from five overnights to two after the first month or so, but even that leaves him wiped out for several days.
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