To ask how people manage shift work and childcare?

[Jessmary94]

I work shifts, 2 early shift, 2 late shifts then 2 night shift followed by 3 days off then the cycle starts again. DH works 7.30 to 5 Mon to Fri. He can be flexible with his start and finish times either way.
Can possible have a little help of grandparents but not reliable as one works and other recently retired and wants to travel.
We are currently trying for our first but how we can manage childcare is a bit of a worry. If it came to it one of us would have to find another job and are willing to do this but we are hoping to figure out a way around it. I live my job and haven’t been doing it very long and DH is in line for a great promotion in the future.

Just wondering how you manage your childcare and shift work? Tia x

Sorry DH can be flexible about 15/20 mins starting/finishing early/late.

You get childcare that covers your DH’s hours. So make sure you factor in the cost of that. It’s basically a full time nursery place whether or not you require it.

I’m a shift worker and dh works similar hours to yours
I dropped my hours a bit and picked up extra at the weekends to supplement pay cut
As pp said you need childcare to cover your husband’s hours unless you can fix your days.
We also use occasionally ad hoc grandparent care post nights.
Good luck, it sounds doable in your situation

We managed by:

Flexible working request to make my shifts more predictable.

Dp also did a flexible working request to compress his hours.

Some support from gps.

Having a childminder before and after school some days.

Having a calendar where we very clearly planned who had the dc when.

I know there are childminders who cover nights (specifically for shift worker parents). That may be worth looking into as well.

With great bloody difficulty 😂

I’m a single parent and work for the ambulance service. Plan in advance who’s having the kids as soon as I get my shift, and pushing for set hours so things are a bit more routinely

I just had to work permanent nights in the end, it almost killed me (I couldn’t sleep in school holidays, had to be up to look after the kids so often didn’t sleep for over 48 hours at a time).

Even then, I didn’t finish until 8am and it was a hour commute home, luckily dh could start at 10am on those days, but I had to push for set shifts.

The easiest option is to pay for full-time childcare whether you need it or not.

So if DH can flex his hours, I would arrange it so he maybe works 8am-5.30pm and you find childcare that's open 7am-6pm so he can do pick-up and drop-off. If you're off work, you can either keep the DC in childcare as normal, or keep them home/pick them up early/drop them off late.

It's a pain but it's easier than finding a childcare provider that's available around shifts.

But we had no room at all to pay for childcare, which is why I worked nights. So a little different to some.

It's 10 years ago now but we had a flexible nursery that opened weekends and 6.30am until 10pm.you could also change days as long as booked 2 weeks in advance. It was a godsend (by the hospital so catered for hospital staff shifts I suppose). Eventually, I changed my shifts to permanent nights which fitted in around my husbands work. It meant we rarely had full weekends off together but needs must at the time.

We had a childminder.
I used to 12:00noon until 11.00pm sleep over and be on shift from 07:00hrs until 4.00pm and / or a few day shifts thrown in.

I would take the children to nursery/ school and the childminder would pick up. DH would pick up from child minder and do the normal household stuff , make tea, playtime, baths, story time and morning routine and take to school.
I did compressed hours so I got 3 days off a week.
My shifts all covered weekends, bank holiday including Christmas.
DH picked up what needed doing, in other words he parented.

I would start off my asking for flexible working conditions for you. Try to fix your working pattern.

If you're not in an area of high demand for childminders, you may get one who is able to be flexible.

Nurseries tend to be quietest on a Friday, so if nothing else works, you may get away with booking Monday-Thursday and then adding on an extra full/half day on a Friday as the need arises. They're often quiet on a Monday, so you may even manage Tues-Thurs. You could then use grandparents as a back up, but I'd also find someone who does ad hoc children care in your own home as another back up.

Thanks for all your replies .. definitely made me more confident about being able to keep my job and have a baby :) unable to change my shifts for a year until out of my probationary 3 years but hopefully won’t have much or any of that left when I go on maternity 🤞 thanks again!

We were both doing shifts and had no family help. We had to use a nanny.

More childcare than you need. We both did shifts so needed 2 days most weeks, but had to pay for 3. No family support. The person going onto nights rarely had childminder hours that day, sometimes coming off nights no childminder either but always in between! We also took s lot of toil instead of money for overtime hours. And childminders who were prepared to do the odd evening and regular weekends. I paid a higher rate for weekends.

I've 3 children now and used a nanny (live out) which is excellent but it's expensive for only one child. Well it's the same price as if you have 3 children, but hopefully you know what I mean!

Remember tax free childcare can help a bit too.

My friend works shifts just like yours - 2 early, 2 late, 2 night, break.

Early shift - her DH drops at school, she picks up.
Late shift - opposite to above.
Night and breaks - she does both.

So actually because her DH has enough flexibility, it works well for them. They can both work full time and don't need to use any childcare.

I ended up giving up the shifts and changing jobs to a part time contract with 9-5 hours, I make a lot less money but it would have all gone on paying nursery fees otherwise. Now we manage with shorter sessions at nursery and sometimes help from family.

The other option, which some of my colleagues have done is to pay for childcare to cover your partner's shifts. Full time nursery basically whether you end up working that day or not.

Honestly?
We tried with one child using a mixture of grandparent/friend help and me getting set days for shifts (although still a mix of early/late/nights).
It was stressful.
When I had DD2 I left that job and now work two set long days a week- a million times less stressful.