can I do a nursing degree with 4 young children?!

[Rochel4]

I really want to study nursing but cant see how i would manage to fit it all in around 4 young children. Has anyone done this before, and what tips can you give me for making it work?

I don't have any children, started my degree in sept 2007 and had to leave as I broke my wrist, but it was VERY time consuming.
hopefully someone will come along and help! how young is young?

7, 5, 3, 8mons
maybe i'm crazy??

I have 3 dc - 7, 2 and 1. I've just started a medicine degree, and tbh whilst I am busy, it is not as time consuming as I imagined.

It is bloody hard work but managable if you have lots of help at home.
It's not so much for the academic stuff which you can do in the evenings (early bedtimes are v important here) and weekends but more for placements which will be 50% of th time. You will be expected to work earlys, lates and nights and you won't be able to use childcare as an excuse to pick and choose your hours.

I did mine (first one) when the DDs were 4 and 6, had to work part time to pay the bills and managed OK with lots of help from DH and family.

It has to be said this time around it is feeling like much harder work. I think mostly because they are older (11 and 13) and I don't get the few hours every evening to study. They're not in bed before 9 now and I can't bring mself to start working then.

I am a nurse but trained many moons ago.

From my current experience (I regularly mentor students) I would say that obviously it would be easier as a single person, but you can hardly remove your dcs for the next 3 years!

You would potentially be doing study 50% of the time and placements for the other 50%. The university side of things should be straightforward to organise (if you are fairly organised).

Whilst on placement, you will need watertight childcare arrangements to cover evening/weekend shifts. You are only "allowed" a very small amount of time off sick without having to make the time up later in your training. I am fortunate in that my dh works very regular hours and is always able to leave work by 5ish.

The other day I was out til 1am with a patient (I work in the community) and should have finished at 10pm. Thankfully my dh is used to this and just let me sleep in a bit the next day. dd2 gets up very early some mornings!

So I would say that it depends on your support network and your own lifestyle. If you find it hard to be organised then I think this would make it more stressful. Good luck.

It is possible as long as you have a huge amount of support - nursing shifts as you know don't fit around school or nursery easily, so you will need family support and/or very accommodating friends, childminder etc.

You'll also need to be very motivated and determined as you will have deadlines for academic work, portfolios etc. Nurses don't really get the long student vacs that other courses do as you will have placements, some of which may well not be local to you.

If you do choose to do it be prepared for 3-4 years of hard slog and hard work, but the result can be a really rewarding career.

thanks for the advice everyone! not sure about the great support network though, will have to discuss with dh.

I'm in my second year of nurse training and daughter is 18months (had time out after she was born and started again when she was a year old).

I'm finding it manageable as DD is in bed by 8pm at the latest. The course is quite demanding and I find the hardest bit is finding time to study. I tend to make time for DD during days when I'm off and fit in studying in evenings. We do 3months at uni then 3 months on placement and I occasionally book an extra days childcare when at uni (as often only in 3 or 4 day) so I can catch up.

With regards to actually going to uni and working shifts as long as your DH and childcare provider can look after DC any hour you should be ok. (You will have to work shifts starting before 7am or until 9pm or nightshift including weekends - maybe not every placement but it is expected you work the shifts your mentor does on placement)