Childcare Options for Student Nurse Working Shift work

[gentlemansfamily]

I am thinking of applying to nursing this year. I have 2 DC aged 3 and 5 who attend a Day Nursery during business hours. The problem is, I have absolutely no family support and my placements on my nursing course would involve working shifts.

I have heard it said that as and when babysitters/nannies could pick them up from nursery and take them home, or look after them on a weekend for a full day if I was on placement. They may even do an overnight to accommodate any night shift I may have to work.

My question is has anyone used a service like this and if so, how easy is it to get a few good quality babysitters? It will be fine when I am in uni, as the DC will be in nursery, its the shift work part I am worried about.

Thanks in advance for any advice/guidance.

I know around us there are a few nannies who do ad hoc work, but it is not cheap. Nanny agencies are £££ on fees but I have always found ours on childcare.co.uk which I think is a good place for you to start, you can search by your postcode. I would discuss with some child minders (council will have a list of registered childminders) as well to see if they are interested.

Also speak to staff at the nursery as many will do babysitting and might be happy for a regular arrangement!

I think your best option would be a nanny at least that way your children will be in there own home and can go to bed if you are on a night shift. Night time / Weekend childminders are few and far between as they have usually worked all week as well and will usually charge a premium for weekend care and may only offer 1 day for this reason. You should be entitled for a childcare grant from uni to help with costs. have you considered only using a nanny or childminder to eliminate the need for collection from nursery?

Hi, thank you both for your advice. @starsinyourpies, I have tried childcare.co.uk and there are some nannies and babysitters in my area, there are even some who do emergency childcare. I have also tried 2 Nanny agencies. They offer adhoc nanny services, but like you say, they are expensive. @Apple40, there are a couple of childminders in this area who do occasional weekends, but will have to look into that.

I am going to contact the childrens nursery tomorrow to see if any of the staff want a babysitting job.

I was a nurse as a single parent and it's difficult - I had a childminder who did overnight /weekends etc but at a cost (quite rightly but expensive). My neighbour uses a nursery then out of hours she employs one of the nursery nurses.
I think that the training will be difficult as you'll have no control over where you'll be placed and can't negotiate your hours the same as when you have a contract (I was often used as cheap unsocial hours labour).
Once I had dc I quickly opted for a job with no weekends /unsocial hours as it became difficult and expensive.
I'd investigate lots, talk to the university about expectations and also consider other careers with slightly less unsociable hours and compare the pros and cons, if after that you think it's worth while and practably doable go for it).