Anyone work nights? Bit of advise needed....

[GabrielOak]

I've got 4 children (13,11,4 and 1) and have been offered the opportunity to change my shift patterns to work regular nights.

I would be doing 3 x 10pm - 6am shifts per week.

On paper it sounds great as the kids would all be home and in bed (except maybe the 13 year old but at least he'd be home!) while I was at work and I would be home in time to get them up and off to school. The older 3 are all at school but I would need childcare for DC4 so I could sleep.
How many hours childcare do you think I need to factor in for sleep per day? Does anyone manage on the 6 hours that the kids are at school or less?
I have a live-out nanny share who could come to my house for 8.15am and could take the younger kids to school and then care for DC4 while I sleep. So if she had DC4 until 1.30pm (5 hours sleep!) would that be crazy? Or do you think I need to have her til 3pm (6.5 hours sleep!)

Keen to keep costs as low as I can which is why I'm suggesting only having childcare til 1.30pm but equally, I don't want to wear myself out!
By the way, nanny-share does work out a bit more expensive than nursery / childminder in term-time, but she still charges me the same hourly rate, yet has all 4 children, in the holidays so makes sense over the year (and she's rather lovely).....

Any comments from seasoned night-workers??

(oh, don't know whether it's relevent, but it will be waking / working night shifts - call handler, emergency services - rather than sleep-ins)

Or advice needed even......

Nights are a nightmare...they are very tiring , could you do a trial run to see how you fair?! For some people they aren't bad but for me I hate them and try to avoid wherever possible as I'm out of sorts for a few days after a night shift...hope someone comes along with some helpful advice, I've never done nights whilst having a lo to look after too

I know what you mean Yawner, I do the odd night shift at the moment (probably one per fortnight) and find them fine, but obviously it's only one so have time to 'recover' before the next one!

I work nights and have two DC (2.10 and 6 months). I work three 8-7.30 shifts a week, so about the same as you. I do get a three hour break to sleep in, though it's a noisy house so it's not the best sleep! If I have two shifts in a row I'll go home and sort the dc out and feed the baby, then get them to my mum's house who will have the two of them till DS1 gets dropped to nursery and Ds2 gets brought back to me a about 1.15. I probably get about another three hours of sleep in then. I only get childcare if I do two or three in a row, if it's only one shift then I make do and go to bed with the DC at seven. I'm pretty knackered, but tbh sometimes I get better sleep at work as DS2 still feeds a billion times a night! 5 hours sleep seems doable to me, as long as you get decent nights on the nights you are off. Good luck! I love night shifts, tiring, but I get a lot more time with the DC than if I was on days.

Oh, and I sometimes underestimate how much sleep I've had to DH so he cooks me a nice dinner and puts the kids to bed whilst I sit on the sofa

You've got to have some perks!

Expect to be very tired.
Milk it for all it's worth.
Catch up on sleep any chance you get.

I do a twelve hour night then morning school run then eat. I sleep ten til half two to do pm school run.

It's doable but I age four times faster.

DP does 11-7 and tends to sleep from when he gets home (well, he comes into bed for a cuddle/catch up and I take DS downstairs at 8ish) until 4 in the afternoon. He can manage on 6, but after a couple of days of this tends to go for naps in the early evening which he hates as it really eats into his time to do anything.

I can't manage on 6 at all, but am fine on 4 as a one off, weirdly! I think everyone has different circadian rhythms so what works for someone else might be irrelevant for you.

I think that it's more important to work in a decent amount of sleep when working nights is a long term thing. If it's going to be short term then it's easier to just manage on what you can and deal with the fallout later.

I'll second what Bertie said, I'm coping on very little sleep as I'm only on nights till I've stopped bf DS2, or until he's dropped to just morning and evening, then I'll be back on day shifts. If it's longer term you'd have to see how you go, and maybe up the childcare if you start feeling knackered. And it does age you, I'm 28 and have to dye my hair to cover the grey!

I work nights. I do two 11 hour shifts a week (9-8) I am also doing wake nights, I work on my own and get no breaks :(

I love the job but hate working nights and I am trying to find another job as I feel like I have aged 10 years in the 2 years I have done this job. Definately see if you can try it out for a week or 2 before you commit!

Thanks everyone. That's interesting...

Looking at my normal sleep pattern, I normally sleep 11pm - 5.30am so that is only 6.5 hours so I don't sleep a huge amount anyway...

Good idea to try it out. Going to ask if I can pull in a couple of extra night shifts for a couple of weeks running and see how i cope!

Not sure about the 'aging' - I'm 40 as it is so the last thing I need is something else to make me look older

What about eating? Do you eat a 'meal' during you night-time break? or do you stick to eating in the daytime as you usually would? (I don't want to find myself doing both )

I'm always ravenous by 1am so do eat - I work in a team of 5 (large residential home) and they are always grazing in between working.

Our is quite physical as once the residents are in bed we do have to clean communal areas / do laundry etc, so burn off a fair bit of energy.

I have porridge or a heavyish breakfast when I get in from work and that sees me through til I wake and then I have a snack and then dinner at the usual time.

I also work nights. About 3-4 night shifts a week, 14-15h shifts, so long ones!!
I have a 1 year old daughter, and husband looks after her.

I like doing nights!! I sometimes manage to sleep a few hours during my 14-15h shift, maybe 3 or 4h.
I always have a meal at around 10pm, and then breakfast around 6-7am.

When I get home I have breakfast again after a long shower. Sometimes I get a couple of hours sleep during the morning and/or a couple of hours after lunch. My daughter has a nap too so we have that together.

I like my sleep, so the night I´m not working I do sleep as much as possible :)

I love nights too, but, i only do them in 2wks x 5 nights stints every couple months. But, i find as long as i get a good long sleep after my first one (which is usually about 14hr shift) i find i'm fine on 8.30-2pm or 9.30 -2pm sleep the rest of the week. I dont think you can judge how you will be til you have tried it!
Only have 1 child so that will have a bearing. She goes to breakfast club a couple of the mornings and i ask someone to pick her up the first day so i can sleep til 4pm if i need it. Everyone is sooo different tho!