I'm an RN, moved from another career to do my training. As others have said, it's a full on course, with placements (following the shift pattern wherever you are placed). There were parents on my course, but they had really reliable family childcare who could support with the shift pattern demands
My first question would be have you ever done any care work? I know those who had in my cohort found it a bit easier - because it can be a bit of a shock to be dealing with adults bodily fluids / personal care / death and dying - we had a fair few drop out in the first few months because they had never done care work before and it was a struggle for some. I know not every area of healthcare has those challenges, but it would be something you deal with in training (unless you chose paediatric).
As a PP said, there are also now apprenticeship routes - these often take longer, but it does mean you are getting a salary and your education paid for. Nursing associate apprenticeship is a good way in - those who did that in my team are now doing an RN top up, on band 4 salary (part time, so work as normal a certain percentage and study the rest).
Nursing also has the benefit that it's reasonably common to have mature students in the cohort, so you wouldn't be the only mature student in a cohort of 18/19 year olds. I was 29 when I finished, I've employed newly qualified RNs in their 40s and 50s (often they have a long back ground in care and did RN training once their children were older, for example).
For me, I love being a nurse, the trust I work for has given me opportunity for development, education and is currently funding an MSc, so I think the opportunities are good if you want to progress. It's equally fine if you want to stay at band 5 for your career and be an excellent RN without the management responsibilities and develop your clinical skills. There are also options to do mental health / learning disability / paediatric - places on those courses tend to be fewer, but I think sometimes we forget that not all nurses are adult nurses, there are other options for training too.