To do a nursing degree with a child

[bunnyhops1]

I’ve been offered a place on a mental health nursing masters degree, it’s a career which I really want to pursue, but I am now wondering how feasible it is to study with DC (will be age 6 when I start.)

I am a single parent but DC father is involved and does his share.

I know placements will be demanding, but I feel like I have put my career on hold since DC was born years ago and I really want to get back into working in a trained profession now.

Does anyone know how demanding placements are, and if it’s possible to juggle the workload with parenting? I’m presuming I will need lots of family support - DC school do wraparound care which covers 7.30am - 6pm, and luckily my parents and siblings live nearby and will be more than happy to chip in! The uni have mentioned how many hours of placements I need to do over the length of my course, and mentioned it will be a variety of shift patterns - is it likely I will for example, need to work 12 hour shifts Monday-Friday or anything like that?

thanks in advance

I'm a student midwife.

My shifts range from 7:30am-8:30pm and 7:30pm-8am 7 days a week.

Thanks for sharing - do you mean you work seven days per week?

It’ll be across seven days, you won’t work 7 days straight and it will be unsocial hours and long shifts.

Hi OP, I’m a nurse. The degree is very difficult to do with a family, there were many parents on my course and they struggled. I didn’t have a child when I trained but I do now and I don’t know how feasible it is as a single parent, honestly.
Shifts are usually 07:30-20:00 in most trusts, plus factor in travel time. I was based in Telford and they sent me to placements as far as Oswestry and Stoke. Unless you have someone able to do drop-offs and pick ups from the wraparound care you will struggle.
Also, you don’t get to request set shifts as you can once qualified. You will be given a rota based on the ward’s staffing and commitments to other students. So this can vary. You’ll also be expected to work some night shifts.
I don’t mean to put a dampener on things, but just to give you some realistic expectations

The shifts in my trust are:
7:30-21:00 3 days a week
or a mix of earlys 7:30-15:30 and lates 13:00-21:00 5 days a week

You will need to work some weekends.

You will also have to do a certain amount of night shifts, in my trust these are 20:45-07:45 3 nights a week.

I had to do a mixture of all these for my training.
I don’t think I could of done it if I had children but there were many people on my course who did have children and they managed. I’ve also met plenty of students who have children so it’s definitely possible.

My main concerns would be childcare and also can you afford it?

Thanks for replying, dc father collects them from school 2-3 times per week and luckily I have family nearby who can do school runs and stay overnight if needed, so I think for the two years it would be possible to juggle with lots of support but I suppose I’m worried that it could be really stressful or I would end up feeling really bad from not spending much time with DC if it is long shifts for days on end. I’ll definitely weigh things up before accepting the place, I don’t want to rush into it but also want a proper career now.

Moneywise we are ok as we are in a housing association properly and DC dad pays a reasonable amount of maintenance, but for our future I want to have a better income myself as since DC has been back at school I have been bouncing around minimum wage jobs.

I started my nursing degree with 1 child, had my second between placements in my second year (no break just 4 weeks leave to recover) and completed my degree within the 3 years.
I completed my masters with 3 children.
It is possible, I'm not saying it's easy but it's definitely possible if you're determined.
I wouldn't say I struggled at all, good time management is key, which will be a must to be a nurse anyway so winner winner.
Good luck, don't let anybody make you believe you can't do anything just because you're a mum.

I do 3 long days a week as a student midwife but that does include nights and weekends as above! I also, have 3 under 3. Have no family support and DC dad is basically non existent. I manage with excellent childcare and wrap around support from nursery and childminders.

It's a bloody huge struggle but it'll be worth it. And weirdly I spend more time with the DC now than when I was working full time

Hi, thanks for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it!

Luckily dc dad is consistent with pick ups and I have lots of family support- but I know the course is a huge commitment and shifts are pretty much whatever the university dictates. Do you know how many of the 7.30-20.00 shifts students generally do per week in your trust?

From what I’ve read placements will last a few weeks/months each so if it’s a case of being really organised and relying on childcare/family help I would love to make it work and progress career-wise. But don’t want to bite off more than I can chew or end up leaving the course if it’s too much, so it’s really helpful to hear from nurses/student nurses about what I can expect the lifestyle to be like.

thanks again

Well done on your achievements - you must be really proud!

Looking back are you happy that you persevered, or would you have changed anything or studied when your children were older?

Thank you and I hope I have a similar tale of success as you do in a few years time!

How do you do nights and weekends? I don’t think most people would find childminders that wound do that.

@Coffeeandchocs I have a childminder who does the emergency childcare of weekends, nights when needed. Costs a lot but I'm lucky that I save a lot in flexible childcare fees when I'm not on placement x

That’s impressive- how do you manage with night shift / evening childcare, if you don’t mind me asking? Well done and good luck with the rest of your course!

Cross posted, Just saw your reply to @Coffeeandchocs @Onefellfromtheappletree 😊

It depends on how the university works. At mine, we had blocks of university lectures only for 4-6 weeks, then blocks of either 4,8 or 12 weeks placements. During the placements blocks we would do 37.5 hours a week, this usually worked out doing three 12 hour shifts a week, with one week a month working four shifts.
My friend is a student at another university currently and they run lectures alongside placements so they do 2 days of uni plus 2/3 shifts a week.
It may be worth contacting the university and asking for a copy of a previous years’ timetable so you can see what it’s like there.
I really hope you can figure it out and go for it. Good luck

@bunnyhops1 childcare.co.uk is really helpful in finding the kind of childcare you need. I do believe I am really fortunate in my childcare options. My nursery is open 7:30-6:30 and as I'm close to a major hospital the wrap around care is probably more available than other places x

Ours is a 'blended approach' which makes things easier. So 2 days on placement 2 days at uni 👍

My mum has offered to do pick ups when I have placements and weekends when needed - so it’s mostly the number of days per week which I’m slightly worried about - does anyone know if it’s likely to do the long shifts more than 3-4 times per week?

Also will the placements be for the entire academic year, or are there some weeks where you aren’t on placements?

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to reply - hugely appreciated!

This is so helpful. Thank you. I am going to email the university tomorrow morning and ask for a copy of the previous years timetable as you suggested, that’s a brilliant idea and will help me weigh things up. I’m just quite worried that if I don’t take some steps to enter a profession now, I will be in ‘dead end’ low paid / unskilled work for many more years and I really want to work towards having a career to be proud of and a decent income to support myself and DC.

thanks again

Also to add, nursing students don’t get the same time off as other students. You don’t get “half-terms” or a summer break in the same way. Sometimes they ran a reading week over half terms but other times not. So you have to factor in that you may be on placement during your children’s school holidays. We also only got three weeks off in summer before our next academic year started. And in second year I had a placement that ran over Christmas (I think they were trying to break us!!) where we were only entitled to Xmas eve, Xmas day and Boxing Day off.

Good point!

This year I'm on placement over Easter and get a 2 week holiday in May instead. I never get half terms off.

You do get the long course loan for SFE because of the extra weeks though.

"Looking back are you happy that you persevered, or would you have changed anything or studied when your children were older?

Thank you and I hope I have a similar tale of success as you do in a few years time!"

Yes 100% my children know mum works as a nurse, yeah I work shifts, weekends, bank holidays (luckily not nights anymore, phew) and I sometimes miss out on things. On the flip side I also get to drop them at school and pick up on the days I'm not working which I wouldn't be able to do if I worked 9-5, so there are benefits.

No you aren't guaranteed shift patterns when you qualify but you can request family friendly shifts (these are like have fixed shifts) you request to work shifts that fit around your needs to look after your children.

Having a family and being a nurse/midwife is much easier these days.

Speak to the uni about your family situation and ask if they can guarantee a local placement or flexibility with shifts etc. Placements are long shifts including nights from what I can remember - my DSis retrained as a nurse three years ago.

She was single with a DS, but my DPs are very hands on and had my DNephew to stay at theirs a lot.

It’s A LOT of work/not family friendly hours. I think you study during school summer holidays too. Think what damage it might do to your confidence if you had to drop out part way through.

It’s a great option - but only if you have trustworthy childcare for every night, weekend and school holiday.

I also agree with this - my practice supervisors all say it actually gets easier once qualified as you can request flexibility to an extent or even work bank

It is much easier once qualified. I work set shifts through an informal agreement with my manager, we only have to pay for childcare for two days a week as I work 34 hours a week and my third shift is on the weekend when my husband is home. I feel like I spend much more time at home with my child than my friends who work normal 9-5 Monday to Friday.
Working nights is a good way to boost your monthly pay, as is working Sundays. I feel like I have a pretty good work/life balance. Shift work is more family friendly than you’d think if you have a reasonable employer. And if you don’t, the good news is it’s fairly easy to move around as there are so many nurse vacancies, you’re almost guaranteed to find one to suit you.