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Working Moms
Any other graveyard shift mommies?
Hello, all! This is my first time on this board. I just went back to work last week. DD is 9 weeks old now and it was torture leaving her but she's in good hands with either daddy or grandma.
I'm curious how you ladies handle working nights with a baby who wants to be awake all day. I try to sleep when she does but lately she'll only sleep for 20-30 minutes at a time. DH helps where he can, but he works nights also and goes to school full time on top of it so I'm usually the only one home with her.
Sometimes I feel like a parental freak of nature for working nights. Lol. I guess it would be nice to hear from some fellow freaks. 
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Re: Any other graveyard shift mommies?
I work 10p-7a 4 nights a week. Hubby and I both work weekends so she goes to grandma's but during the week she's with one of us. I love that I get to be with her during the day spending time together and getting errands and appointments done with her, but I guess I'm still adjusting to my new sleeping arrangements. Hubby will take the bulk of the time with her Monday evenings and Tuesdays so I can get some sleep or at least out of the house for a few minutes. I get home around 7:30 Wednesday mornings just before he has to leave for class and that day she's all mine since by the time he gets home from school he only has a few hours to catch some sleep before leaving for work. My MIL (who watches her on the weekends) has offered to keep her part of the day on Sundays so we can get some quality sleep in and I try to go over to my mom's once a week and she'll watch her so I can nap.
I'm a FTM so I'm still trying to figure out my new routine. Once her naps are more predictable I'm sure it'll get easier. I'm still giving myself the guilt trip that she's my child and I should be the one taking care of her and having someone else babysit means I'm neglecting my "duties" and a bad mom. Along with living on less sleep, I need to learn to let someone else be in charge of DD for a while so I can take care of me. I'm no good to my daughter if I run myself into the ground.
Thanks so much! It's nice to know that I can still be a good mom and work my midnights and that things will get easier.
Now we just have to get through the next year and a half until DH is done with school! Haha!
I mostly work super early mornings (3am-11:30am), but I get the occasional overnight (8pm-4:30am). I like the morning shifts better because I get to sleep 9pm-1:30am (with a couple feeding wake ups), then join in on DS's afternoon nap if I need to when I get home.
The overnights are a bit rougher...I KNOW I should try to sleep before going in but I never do, so I crawl into bed at 5am absolutely exhausted and DS is up for the day no later than 7:30am. I have found that if we stay in the bedroom (we co-sleep) instead of moving to the living room he will go back to sleep after an hour of play...and stay asleep longer than when he naps in the PnP in the livingroom. We're usually up for the day for real by 10 or 11am. so I've had about 4 hours of sleep. If I only worked overnights I'd have to find other tricks to grab some more sleep.
When your LO gets a little older it may get easier to do things while she's awake. DS (almost 4 months) is just getting good at manipulating some of his toys so I can leave him in his swing with them while I clean, shower, or nap nearby.