Night Shift-tips please

[pumba21]

Good Luck!!!
Most people get use to it, I actually prefer it. I like being able to sleep in the mornings or afternoons depending on what I have to do that day. Don't get me wrong on my first and last night I often stay up 24+ hours, but I sleep good when I do it to bed.

 

[dakcp2001]

I survived my first night shift! Now I have a few days off then back to it. I am trying to keep the schedukle on the off days until I adjust, but well being up all night when not at work is BORING. lol. And makes me want to go to sleep. My eating schedule is all weird too.

 

[ban26ana]

Congrats on your first night shift! I've been doing it on-and-off for 11 years, and I actually prefer it. I find that I need to stick to a fairly set schedule, and that helps me. I've also learned to eat anything at any time. Breakfast/lunch/dinner...it doesn't matter.

I have a very atypical schedule, but I've somehow become used to it. I work midnight till 8am. Then I stay up all day with my kids while dh works. It's not our ideal situation, but we can't afford childcare. Most days he works 8:30-4:30. By the time he gets home and changed, it is almost 6pm. Then we eat dinner as a family. I put the baby to bed around 7-7:30, and then I go to bed. I wake up around 11:20. I also nap during the day when the baby does. I just put my 3 year old in the playroom with a snack and a movie during that time. (The playroom is right across the hall from my bedroom.) Again, not my ideal situation, but I'm very used to it now.

 

[ReneeA]

Good luck! I work 12hr night shifts as a nurse. Most nights are so busy I don't have time to be tired. The slow nights...it's hardest around 2-4am. Here's my routine:

First night: wake up at a regular time (8-9am) but take a nap around 1-2pm for a couple of hours.
Consecutive nights: come home, take a shower, go straight to bed. I'm exhausted. Usually in bed by 9am, wake up at 3pm (I work 7p-7a)
First night off... sleep 9-1 (sometimes 2 ish). This is by far the worse day. I am tired all day, and sometimes take a nap about 6pm. However, I try to stay awake until about 10pm-11pm and start back on a regular schedule.

If you have the luxury of making your own schedule, or have any imput, try to work your days all in a row.

This is exactly my routine - I'm a 7p-7a RN as well. Maybe because we have kids this works for us? The young girls with no kids think I'm crazy and stay up late, sleep all day even on their days off. I schedule my shifts in a block of 3 or 4 so I can have a nice long stretch off to get back to a normal schedule.

Caffeine really affects me for a long stretch, so I stop drinking coffee or pop by 1am...otherwise I have restless sleep the next day. 6 hours is a great sleep for me during the day when I'm in the middle of a work stretch. My body actually requires more, and I sleep longer (9-10 hours a night) when I'm off...I guess to make up for it.

I love the shift, love the girls I work with, love the 8 - 13% shift differential, love that the schedule really works with my kid's life (they barely know I work - I'm gone just before their bedtime, and I sleep while they're in school), but I can see that I won't be able to do it forever. I'm at the 2 year mark on this shift, and it's wearing on me.