Any Mom's work Full time overnight??

[ThreeMusketeers]

Our lives are changing a lot right now and i am going to be going back to work full time. I would like to still be available if needed during the day, so I was thinking of working a 10p-6am job. Anyone out there do it. What type of work do you do?

I have seen some call center jobs overnight and some stocking. Any thoughts..ideas??

 

[Bren's Mom]

I worked for years as a 911 dispatcher, much of it on the midnight (11p-7a) shift. Have you ever worked overnights before? It takes alot of stamina to work those hours, your body will have all kinds of side effects and the longer you do it the more long term the consequences may be. I don't mean to be a downer...just wanted you to consider the 'down' side of it. I stopped working mids when I had my son...I work M-F days now and I have no problem being available to my son when he needs me.

Good luck!

 

[patsfaninpa5]

I don't want to be a downer either but I worked 7 pm - 7 am for 6 months and it just was not for me. I thought I could be available during the day but in reality I needed to sleep so that I could get up and go back to work the next night. I had a really hard time sleeping during the day. At first I tried Tylenol PM and that seemed to work for a while. Maybe night shift would work for you though. You never know until you try it. I took day shift as soon as a position opened.
Good Luck.
Jen

 

[momtostitchandbuzz]

I'm a RN, and I work three 12 hour shifts a week on the night shift, and I just want to say that yes you would be available during the day, but your body and mind will be so tired the day after, so don't expect to be able to do a whole lot that next day. I do like working nights as a nurse, but the day after I work I sleep almost the entire day and if I don't I am super cranky. Anyways, to make my point I worked last night and right now I can barely write this and have it make sense! I don't know if I helped you at all, but if it is what is best for your family right now then do it. Try it out, you might like it, you can always change later. I have done it for two years, and I have no intentions of switching to days because it is the best thing for my family right now. Plus I make more money working nights than I would if I worked days!!

 

[extremesoccermom]

My sister has worked nights for years and she loves it. Ofcourse she always was a night owl so it fits her schedule. I babysit her kids and have really enjoyed it as well. She only works 3 days 6pm to 6am Sat, Sun, Mon. She homeschools her kids and takes on alot of volunteer work.
I don't put her kids to bed until 10:00pm or sometimes a little later on Sat. That way when she gets home they go back to bed and sleep a little more while she does.
As I said she has done it for close to 15 years and is very happy with the night shift.

 

[pperfectmom]

I don't work full time nights but I do work 2 nights a week from 7:00 pm till 3:30 am on Tues. and 7 til ? on Wednesdays most weeks. And let me tell you it is HARD!!!! Of course I am home with two preschoolers who could care less that mommy got 3 hours sleep last night. I also have a 45 minute drive each way to get there. I work Saturdays during the day as well and average about 20 hours a week or a little less. I have been there almost 2 years and still haven't got used to working nights. The main reason I stay with it is it is good pay for PT and I get about 85 hours of paid leave a year and a good insurance plan. If you live near a good sized newspaper you can see if they ever have openings in packaging. I pretty much just put ad inserts into a machine that stick them into the Sunday comics. The job itself isn't bad at all, it's just the hours that are crummy, but being a SAHM the only time I can work is when DH is home to take care of the kids.

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

I have always been a SAHM as well. DH got a new job, we are moving to a new area and I am very nervous about trusting someone with DD right off. (she is 6 by the way, so will be in school all day)
I am naturally a night owl, and have always found it hard to sleep before 4 am anyway. My plan was to work 10p-6am come home, do whatever i needed to do around the house, and make breakfast for the family (since i figure i will be tired and need to stay awake to take dd to school at 8am) Take her to school, come home, by 8:30am get my full 5 hours be up by 1:30pm. (i usually only sleep 5 hours, so this isn't a new thing) relax, get some things done for an hour before dd gets home from school. Then the day will go on as normal until i have to go to work again. The only part that would get hard would be when dd was on summer break, or was off school for some reason, then i would be sol. Don't live near family, so couldn't ask them. May have to hire someone to sit in the house for a few hours while i catch some zzzz's. Those days???
Sorry just thinking out loud. DH has always worked nights will now be switching back to days, he can't wait. But only b/c he can't get to sleep in the am when he gets home from work, and ends up staying up until noon and then missing all the sunlight of the day. I have no problems sleeping during the day!! LOL

For those of you that found it didn't work for you, what day time job hours did you find? I am finding it hard to find something 9a-2p, Noone wants to be that flexable.
Thanks again for all your replys..i love hearing the flip side of things, i would never think about.

 

[Bren's Mom]

If you decide to go the night route, camp would be a perfect solution to the summer weekdays! Lots of cities and towns offer low cost, 9a-2p type camps so it wouldn't necessarily take alot from the budget but would give you your sleep time! Ours are held at the local playgrounds so they're very nearby.

Another option for days only would be almost anything in the school system...lunch lady, school store, etc. I know some offices near me hire part time clerical staff with the weekday school hour type schedule.

Good luck! Oh...and I wish I could live on 5 hours of sleep...I need 8, and even that isn't always enough! LOL I'd get SOOOOO much more done if I only needed 5...you're lucky!

 

[CTdiznymom]

When I was a lot younger I worked as the admission clerk in the Emergency Room at the hospital 11pm to 7am. It was a great job, very interesting and never boring. I learned a ton. After that I waitressed in a 24/7 diner. I worked the "bar shift". I made a ton of money at the time. Working nights really does a number on your biological clock. I was eating a full dinner meal at 7am, and then having dinner again before I went to work. I would sleep from maybe 11-4pm. and then nap from 8-10pm. My now DH would come over and watch tv while I slept on the couch.

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

interesting...eating..i had thought of that conundrum(sp).

Let me see...??? If i were trying to keep it semi normal, i would be eating lunch at work...(overnight) come home, maybe have a bite of cereal or something with the fam before school in the am, and then have the big dinner meal around 6pm with everyone else???
Thats a tough one. I wouldn't want to gain 50lbs, b/c my body couldn't figure out how to eat.

 

[I_believe]

My husband works 6pm to 6 am on a rotating schedule. So he is on for 3 days off for 2 days on for 2 days and off for 3 days. He has been on this schedule for eight years. We have been married for ten years but together for almost fourteen now. We have dd7 and ds5. The shift he is on works out well for us. DH gets home at 6:30 just as we are all getting up. He feeds the kids and gets them ready for school while I get ready for work. We leave around 8:00 and he goes to bed. If he has to work that night he will sleep until 2 and then pick up the kids from school at 2:50. If he is off he generally gets up around noon and does things around the house. I get home around 4 and we make dinner together or if the kids have an activity that night we will head out. On the nights he works he will leave the house around 5:20pm. We usually try to eat dinner together if we can. The nice thing about this schedule has been how active my husband can be in my kid’s school and activity life. Yes he does miss out on a lot and holidays tend to suck, but after all of these years my kids think it is normal and they aren’t disappointed. Now the major down side, this schedule has taken a toll on my husband. He has gained a lot of weight, he is constantly tired, he doesn’t sleep well and his personality can really get nasty. We have learned to deal with it but it has definitely taken its toll.
Sorry for such a long winded response. I guess in the end only you can decide what will work best for your family. Good luck in whatever you decide.


Erin

 

[rdevine10]

I also work as an Er Clerk (In CT, how funny!), and I have 2 young children (ages 2 and 4). Typically I work the 3 pm to 11 pm shift, although there are a couple times I have stayed later. Even working the evening shift can really mess with your sleep.... and It ALWAYS takes me a good hour and a half to 2 hours to "wind down" before I can fall asleep at home. I only do this 16 to 24 hours a week, and working 3 days in a row and Im a BEAR becuase my sleep is so disturbed (FYI Im a night owl too). Some people like it, but you could not pay me enough to work that shift! It just not for me!

 

[imsayin]

Hospitals have various night shift jobs. My mom did this full time for 30+ years while raising 8 kids! My dad worked regular 9-5 hours. Mom would come home around 7:30 am, get us off to school, sleep during the day. She would be up when we came home, cooked dinner every night!, then slept for a few hours after dinner. She never complained and even when she had the chance to work days, she stayed on the night shift. It works for certain people.

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

Hospitals have various night shift jobs. My mom did this full time for 30+ years while raising 8 kids! My dad worked regular 9-5 hours. Mom would come home around 7:30 am, get us off to school, sleep during the day. She would be up when we came home, cooked dinner every night!, then slept for a few hours after dinner. She never complained and even when she had the chance to work days, she stayed on the night shift. It works for certain people.

Thanks for the positive insight!!

 

[Jeninindy]

I have worked nights for the past 14 out of 15 years as a RN. Right now, I work tuesday, wednesday and thursday nights from 7p to 7:30am. When I get home from work, dh has the two youngest (7,9) all ready for school, lunches made and all ready to go - I get home normally at 8am, the bus come shortly thereafter and I head to bed. I sleep for 6 hours a day when I work.

It can work, but I won't tell you that I feel great all of the time. Sometimes I would love a nice day job......

Good Luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[MaMa3Princess]

Have you ever thought of working the 5am-9am shift at Starbucks? I have a few SAHM friends who do this shift and love it they say the tips are great too.

 

[disneynan]

I am also an RN. I worked 7pm-7am for 8 years and they were the worst years of my life! My oldest was a baby at the time and it worked for the family (but not for me). I constantly craved sleep and was soooo cranky. I would find myself yelling at the kids all of the time. There were times that I honestly thought they would have been better off in daycare than home with a cranky, sleep-deprived mother.

I changed my shift at the hospital and actually quit that job three years ago and now work as a school nurse. I am not in the same district as my children, but the hours compliment their hours enough for me to see them off on the bus and meet the bus at the end of the day. We are not eating as well as when I was home all day, but somehow my house is cleaner and I know that everyone is happier. Just being able to wake up at the same time everyday and eat breakfast with my family has become precious.

I say try it and see if it will work for you. Be prepared to feel ill by around 2am for the first month or so. I used to get a headache and feel nauseated. Also, be very careful on your drive home.

Have you considered looking for a job in a school? The hours are great and you will have all vacations, holidays and snow days off with your children. I hope to retire from the job that I currently have and consider myself blessed to have been hired.

Good luck.

 

[Luv2trav]

I say try it and see if it will work for you. Be prepared to feel ill by around 2am for the first month or so. I used to get a headache and feel nauseated. Also, be very careful on your drive home.

I just started working 7:30pm-6 am 4 days a week. I found this comment interesting because I did feel sick but it was around 3-4 am time. Prior to working this shift I worked 4pm-1am so it wasn't much of a stretch to stay up additional 5 hours. However, I am sleep deprived but adjusting very well. I don't work more than 2 days at a time. I work M, Tue, Thu, Fri so I try to regain some sleep on Wednesdays. So far this is working for my better for my children now that they are older and going to school. I couldn't have done this with babies... I imagine I will stay on this for a couple more years who knows... I get a lot of perks working this shift as well. Extra days off through out the year, paid 1/2 lunch etc... Works for my family.

 

[cnids00]

I've worked 10PM-6AM for several years, I chose this shift to be available for my DD if sick, snowdays, summerbreak etc. That way I wouldn't have to call in, have babysitter and I would know I would be home in the day time and my DH at night. I work Sun-Thur, off Fri & Sat, which gives me the weekend "off" to be with my family. It's hard some days to sleep properly, I get home around 6:30am, get my DD off to school at 7:20am and I'm off to sleep until she gets home from school. I can't stay up and totally turn my days around as some people I work with, they stay up until 2PM or so and then sleep until it's time to go back to work.

At work we eat lunch 2AM-3AM which is really strange to start out with but now it's just the way it is, I'll eat breakfast before I go to bed in the morning.

I won't do this forever but for now it works well, though my DH would love having me sleep beside him at night, he snores pretty bad and I enjoy sleeping better in the daytime

 

[louey]

I did 3rd shift for one year, hopefully never again. You never feel rested always tired. It was in a pharmaceutical packing plant. You are meant to sleep when it is dark out, I don't know how people enjoy it