Anyone work full time- third shift?

[pinkxray]

There may be a full time job opening up this spring at my hospital for the over night shift.(12-8am)

I am just looking for some feedback from any one who works full time 3rd shift,especially with young kids. Do you like it? How long did it take to adjust to doing the shift?

I currently work part time day shift but between the daycare cost eating up a good majority of my income and the stress of what to do with 2 kids for sick/snow days I am really considering making the switch to overnights.

Before I worked part time I worked on on casual status and did many many overnights and get along great with the two people I would be working with each night. I have so many pros to the job, the only con I really have is that it is so hard on the body, but have heard after a few months you get used to it?

 

[WDWJDS]

Work night shift for over 25 years and wouldn't work any other shift. It took my body about three months to get used to it. After that, I could sleep anytime day or night. Our daughter didn't need daycare because my husband was home in the evenings. There were some days where I got less sleep because of whatever she was up to at the time, but nothing too bad. After getting off in the morning I could either stay up for a while and then sleep in the afternoon or go right to bed for a few hours and then get up in the middle of the day and go back for a quick nap at night.

 

[mom2grace]

I worked 7p-7a for a year (I'm a nurse). It's been a year since I quit. At about the 9 month mark I moved from 3 shifts/week to 2 shifts/week and it didn't help! I mostly worked the nights in a row.

IMO, those who like it are lying. I know 11p-7a is a little different from 7p-7a but essentially you lose the whole next day 'catching up' to flip back to a days schedule. My kids are school aged so I could sleep while they were at school, but I still had to be up by 2:30-3.

The only way I would do it again is when my kids are grown & I could just stay on a nights schedule all the time. But then you miss most of normal life…so maybe not, LOL!

The scientific research is pretty clear that it impacts your health in a very negative way.

Could you work weekends until they are in school full time? I have lots of friends who do that, even though in most situations 'weekend option' is no longer offered, they still work weekends to have the week off with their kids.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

I work part-time nights (24hrs/wk) and have done it the past 7 1/2 years. Honestly you never really get used to it. I am tired a lot but I work in stretches and am off for long stretches. I love the flexibility and at the end of the day it is the perfect balance with young kiddos. I like being home more and take comfort knowing I am around while they are in school. Just make sure you still have adequate daycare to sleep. If you don't you will be miserable!

 

[tvguy]

25 years of 11 pm to 7 am for me. DW worked 930 am to 630 pm. It was wonderful with kids, one parent always available. DW and I had a little bit of time together each morning, then several hours in the evening.

Switched jobs and had to work 9 am to 530 pm on an off, that was the pits.

Work 3 am to 1130 am now, kids are grown, so DW works 430 am to 1 pm. Love it. Most of our day there are managers in the way, we can just go in and do our jobs.

 

[tvguy]

IMO, those who like it are lying. I know 11p-7a is a little different from 7p-7a but essentially you lose the whole next day 'catching up' to flip back to a days schedule.

No, not lying, it was great, My wife understood because before we had kids she worked that shift with me for 3 years.

Every weekend was like having a 3 day weekend. Come home on Friday, sleep from 9 am to 1 pm. Go out and have fun or do chores, go to bed again at 11 pm Friday night, sleep to 7 or 8 Saturday morning. All day Saturday like a normal person. Another great nights sleep Saturday night. 2 or 3 hour nap from 3 pm to 6 pm. Up to do stuff, off to work at 10:40 pm

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

If you take the job, will you be able to work, watch the kids, and get adequate sleep? If your kids are in daycare, that means they aren't independent and will need you to be awake when they are.

 

[WDWJDS]

IMO, those who like it are lying. I know 11p-7a is a little different from 7p-7a but essentially you lose the whole next day 'catching up' to flip back to a days schedule. My kids are school aged so I could sleep while they were at school, but I still had to be up by 2:30-3. The only way I would do it again is when my kids are grown & I could just stay on a nights schedule all the time. But then you miss most of normal life….

I'm not lying either! . Let's see... When I started, I was young and single, dated, partied, traveled a great deal, met DH, got married, traveled, had my daughter, traveled, sent her off to college and I'm having a great time still! All while working night shift!

I am aware of the health risks of working night shift. As I got older I am definitely more tired, but so are my co-workers who work day shift and got older. I love having days free to shop empty stores, schedule doctor visits, catch a matinee, etc. I have no plans to change my shift anytime soon.

 

[tinkerbee]

I worked 10 pm-7am for about 2 years and I never got use to it even being a night person after 4am it was difficult. If you don't need much sleep it works out great but personally I have always needed a solid 7 hours of sleep and never seemed to get that working 3rds. Others I know could go home sleep an hour or two, get up go about their day and then sleep two-3 hours before work. It was to much for me.

 

[crayon3448]

I worked 11p-7am for years before I had kids and I was right out of college. I would work, sleep immediately after, get up in the afternoon and then be up in the evening with my DH. I loved it for the first few years while my husband was in grad school because he would stay up late with me and we'd sleep in together. I was able to keep the same sleeping schedule every day of the week. When he got a 9-5 job, it was a lot harder for me. I had a very hard time keeping the same schedule- he would get up early on weekends, so I would want to get up then so we could be together and it started to really throw me off. It was very hard to switch back and forth for my days off. I started to put on weight because I was always tired and never wanted to cook so we ate out quite a bit. And vacations were challenging because I would have to switch my sleep schedule. I was just...always tired. I didn't even realize how much so until I quit to SAH with my daughter.

I did think about going back to do nights again but decided not to do it. It just was never easy for me to switch back into day mode for the weekends and DH and I really enjoy that family time. And I still would have put DD in daycare so I could sleep during the day during the week.

 

[DisneyWalle]

I have worked 3rd shift for 5 years now. Started when my son was 9 yrs old, he is now 14. Below is my schedule:

Every Friday:
Wake-up at 7am: Take care of farm animals
Leave for work at 1pm
Work a double from 2:00pm til 6:00am

Every Saturday:
Arrive home around 7am
Care for farm animals
Sleep from 830am til 2pm
Fix lunch and spend time with family
Nap from 6pm til 730pm
Leave for work at 8pm
Work from 9pm til 6am

Every Sunday:
Arrive home around 7am
Care for farm animals
Sleep from 830am til 2pm
Fix lunch and spend time with family
Nap from 6pm til 730pm
Leave for work at 8pm
Work from 9pm til 6am

Every Monday:
Arrive home around 7am
Care for farm animals
Sleep from 830am til 2pm
Fix lunch and spend time with family
Try to reset so I go to sleep around 10pm

My weekend is from Monday (after I wake up) til Thursday. I love the schedule but I'm always exhausted til about Tuesday. However, I enjoy my time off so I wouldn't even consider changing. With that said, I don't think I could work this schedule with small children at home.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

In my experience, people on 3rd shift get no sleep.
People on 2nd shift get nothing accomplished outside of work

 

[njmom47]

Dh worked third shift (11p-730 a) for a couple of years (as well as a part time job immediately afterwards a few days a week). He would get home from 2nd job around 230, eat, and go right to bed (if not working 2nd job, he would hang out, eat, and still head to sleep around 2:30). I would wake him at 10:15 or so, he'd be out the door by 10:30. Weekends were difficult; sometimes he would stay up when he got home from work and be up all day and sometimes he would sleep most of the day and all of the night. The kids were old enough to be self-sufficient (all but the youngest were driving) but he said he wouldn't want to do it again.

 

[tvguy]

In my experience, people on 3rd shift get no sleep.
People on 2nd shift get nothing accomplished outside of work

I got 8 hours straight sleep on graveyard shift. That's an hour or 2 more a night than when I worked a 9 am to 530 pm shift. My mindset on graveyard shift was, sleep was a top priority. When I worked days, the temptation was to go out in the evening, or stay up late watching TV.

 

[Vernie822]

My fiancé used to work 6p to 6a. 3 on 3 off, 2 on 2 off. He hated it when he had a weekend off because then he was always exhausted. If he would sleep all day Friday after working Thursday night, he wouldn't be tired Friday night. Just messed with his sleep cycle. Didn't matter too much since we don't have kids, but it was annoying that we were on opposite schedules! Although now he works 8-430 and weekends every other month (he works in a prison, just got a promotion) so his schedule is a lot better.

 

[low-key]

I did years ago in the Navy, work was great, relaxed and left alone (thats how I work best) but my personal life I felt like a Vampire, the sun would come up, go back to my loft, try to close up all light and sleep until dusk

 

[Fire14]

I personally loved it. When I got married hubs worked nights also so we both came home and crashed got up around 2p and took nap around 7p. When my hubs went to days I stayed on nights and slept during day in peace from neighborhood noises. I miss it dearly now.

 

[design_mom]

I don't have personal experience, but my sister-in-law (a nurse) worked night shift for about 5 years. She worked it when she first got out of school till her oldest started preschool.

She originally worked nights because she didn't have enough seniority to get a day shift at the hospital. She also liked the extra money (shift differential) for working nights. Her husband was a paramedic (three 24 hour days). On his days off he was able to adapt to her schedule. The only bad part for them was when other people would have get togethers because they were often "off schedule" for them, but as long as it was just them, they thought it was fine.

When their kids were babies and toddlers it was also okay. The kids kind of followed their schedule as well. (They stayed up way later than any other little kids I'd known.) My retired in-laws would keep the kids overnight when they both had to work.

When the kids got into actual school, they found it a lot more difficult because the kids couldn't stay on their 3rd-shift schedule, and there were also more times that SIL was expected to be/wanted to be available at a more traditional time.

She got offered a day job and she took it. She said there was a lot to like about night-shift (more relaxed atmosphere, better money, etc.)... but she doesn't think she could go back.

 

[tvguy]

I did years ago in the Navy, work was great, relaxed and left alone (thats how I work best) but my personal life I felt like a Vampire, the sun would come up, go back to my loft, try to close up all light and sleep until dusk

My FIL was career Air Force, and he always said he could work any shift and sleep any time because of the conditioning he got in the Air Force. He said that conditioning was, if you were in the barracks and were supposed to be asleep and were caught awake, you got rousted to clean toilets or other duty. He says you learned quickly, when it was time to sleep, you slept. His wife says she swore he always fell asleep the second his head hit the pillow.

 

[Holly Quinlan]

I've been working full time 40 hours a week night shifts for almost 10 years in nursing homes and now home health. The past 2 months I've been working 50 hours that's been a little difficult but I couldn't imagine ever working a day shift. I never had a hard time adjusting. I have a 4 year old and I think its great that I get to drop him off at school and be home when he gets home. I don't have to worry about holidays/birthdays/appointments since I have the days off. DH works days so we hardly ever need a babysitter unless we work the same day then our shift overlaps by 30 minutes people are much more willing to watch my DS if its only 30 minutes VS 8 hours.