I’m thinking about starting to work overnights at my job and I was wondering for all the moms that work overnights and have toddlers how do you balance family time and sleep and work? I’m thinking I’d work 9 pm to 5 am then I’d get off work and take my kids to a sitter for maybe a few hours so I can sleep? Then pick them up and have the rest of my day until I work again. Does that seem realistic? I’m also 20 weeks pregnant with my third of that makes any difference
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Help a mama out and respond anonymously on our forum. How do you balance family if you work nights? - Mamas Uncut
Been working graveyard shift for 6yrs now. And still have yet to find balance. I’m usually a walking zombie.
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I work 10pm to 7am and I hate it. It sounds nice until your are constantly tired and no energy and you sleep all day or most of the day away
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Girl nights are hard you will need more sleep than that especially if you are pregnant. You should put the toddlers in day care sleep the day pick them up about 5ish do supper and bath and bed then go to work. I’ve done nights for many years and you get cranky with out enough sleep
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Who would they be with while you are at work? I work 6pm-4am. I am usually at home in bed by 5-530. I typically go straight to bed, my husband takes the older ones to school and my younger one sleeps until about 10. It gets exhausting trying to sleep/nap while also getting them to a sitter and back and still have time to do much of anything before work. My youngest is 4, I imagine at first with a newborn sleeping would be a struggle just because babies don’t have the best sleep schedules but it’s possible. definitely takes a lot of adjusting and just realizing what works for you guys. A lot of days we end up watching movies while mommy naps but hey I’m there and they enjoy it lol
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It’s hard! (Thurs, fri & sat)
I have a 4 yo and 11 month old and have been working 3 nights a week at a servo (11pm - 6am)
But I manage to get things done. Luckily my eldest son goes to school to school friday and my youngest goes to daycare. So I get some sleep on the Friday.
And then Saturday day I sleep for a bit whilst my partner watched them or they say with grandparents. Same with Sunday. Normally up between 11/12 to spend time with them and if I get time in the late arvo I’ll have another nap.
Let me start off by saying. I am not a mom. Lol.
I work 3p to 1a 4 days a week
One week of the month I work 5pm to 5am.
There is no true balance. I’m missing time with my kids I’d rather have as opposed to money.
The way I try to make up for it. I spend my Friday off with them, doing everything with them. Shopping, dinner, cleaning to help my wife. It isn’t enough, and as soon as I can switch I will.
I’d recommend not going to nights.
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30 years nights both sons grown worked great for me but yes I was tired
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After working 6 years overnight. My whole last pregnancy. And half of my oldests life.
Its been hell.
My mental health got so bad I had no choice but to stop. I could go into detail but Im honestly still embarrassed I pushed so long living in such a state.
Not sleeping at night is bad on any normal person. Even with regular normal sleep scheduled hours.
To do it as a mother. So much harder. So draining.
I cant even think of where to begin.
I dont really comment on this page. I mainly observe. But reading this, it struck my hard.
And although my opinion may differ from others. I had to give my most honest answer.
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I have a 3 and 4 yr old, and 21 weeks pregnant with my third also. I was working 4pm to midnight before I got pregnant, now I just work 4pm-8pm. I get a goodnights sleep ans get to spend time with them before bedtime, wake up at 6am and put my 4yr old on the bus, hangout and watch TV with my 3yr old til about noon , then we both take a nap til 2pm, I get dressed for work and we get big sissy off the bus @3pm then they go to the sitters til I get off work. Find a schedule that fits you and your family, took me a couple of weeks to find a schedule that worked for us!
I work nights alot and it is harder than working every days . Always tired always even if I sleep all day ima get very sleepy sometime through the night .
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I’ve been doing it for years. I’m horrible at it and always tired and crabby but it kind of works for us.
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Working nights is HORRIBLE on your Bio clock.
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I work third. 930pm -8am with an hour commute and five kids. My husband works 1st shift so it just works for us. My sitter lives close and watches my youngest that isn’t in school yet until I get home in the morning. I then make breakfast and stay up until after lunch then we nap together. My youngest gets up when everyone is back home and I continue to sleep until it’s time for me to go into work. In the mornings I’ll cook dinner or preset dinner for them. You can do it. They switch my schedule from straight overnights to swing at the drop of a dime. Been doing it for three years and I still go to ball games, plays, family days. Believe in yourself momma; no one know the strength is mothers have.
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I did it the whole time my kids were small. But they were also in elementary. So I would get off get home and get them ready for school and get them on the school bus. Then sleep and be ready to get them from the bus. Then homework ,dinner, sports. Relax and start all over.
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You might find it easier to come home and do kid’s stuff until midday-2pm then sleep until dinner and go off to work… Might be a bit of trial and error re which sleep routine works best for you and the kids.
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I’ve been doing permanent nights for the past 8yrs… 8pm to 8am but I could never of done it with toddlers… Your idea seems fine on paper but a few months of that and you’ll be exhausted, you are also pregnant which will make you even more tired
People who don’t work nights don’t realise just how gruelling they can be… I have vitiam B12 and vitamin D deficiency because I hardly ever see daylight and my sleep pattern is really messed up so I really wouldn’t advice it in your condition
Hats of to you for considering it though x
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My SO worked 7am-3pm and I worked 4pm-12am for the longest time. It was the best. Now i do 5pm-1030pm. Trying to get more hours though.
I work overnights
I work from 11pm to 7am
I have a 3yr old boy
Plus my bonus kids
I love it because I have the days to us and myself and I can get appointments etc done
I may loose sleep some days though
Roughly I get an hour nap if that once I get home and depends on my mood I get 5-8 hours once dad is home he takes over and I get sleep before I go in
All in all I wouldn’t change it for anything
However once my son goes into preschool or whatnot if I feel I’m missing too much of his day once he starts school then I may switch to day but I highly doubt it
We shall see
I have worked the majority of my adult life on nightshift. The issue for me was not could I stay awake to do xyz and spend time with family. You will find as a night shift worker that the rest of the world doesn’t seen to understand that you need sleep, and you won’t either. You will forgo sleep to stay up for special functions, to answer the phone with your mother, father, sister, brother, friend call because they have zero concept of daytime sleeping. You will stay up sometimes 24 hours for mothers day, Xmas, etc. But EVEN if you do not do that you will lose a day a week. If you work 5…you will lose 6. If you work 3 you will lose 4. Because you always have to come home and sleep when others are awake.
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Good luck I did and I was always tied broking sleep is hard
I have two kids,I work Thursday-Saturday nights from 6:30 pm -7am ,I work ,go home and sleep til 2pm and spend time and take care of them from 2-4:30 which is when I have to leave fir work ,while I’m sleeping they are either with their dad(we’re split) or a sitter then when I get off sundays I switch to the girls day schedule and don’t go to bed til they nap or go to bed Sunday night .during my days off I’m on their schedule and if I need a break to breathe from work and kids then i hire a sitter for just a couple hours at night time to go out .then come thrusday I stay up all day with them but take a good 2/3 hour nap at soem point so that way I’m energized for my shift Thursday noght .
I deliver newspapers and sleep while mine are in school. It is hard to do the afternoon and evening thing sometimes, but I just take a nap whenever I can before work.
Very sorry to hear about your grandma. I’m sure you will miss her. But your mama and her are together now. Hope you’re doing well sweetheart. Love you
My husband works 3rd shift. He’s home by 630ish and will sleep until about 1pm. Then nap for an hour before work. But, while he’s asleep I have our toddler unless I work and he’s at the sitter and dad picks him up when he gets up. So it’s definitely important to have time to sleep but also need someone to care for your kid/s if you don’t have a partner.
I just switched from nights 6p to 6a. It is hard to work nights with kids. I never had enough time to do everything and was always missing sleep due to appointments the next day and still having to go back to work,It finally ran me to the ground. Good luck hun.
If you have a choice, don’t do it. I was always tired and my children did not get the attention they deserved.
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I work from 10pm-6am
I get off take my kids tk school and come home i have a 2-4 yr old eich are up by the time i get back home so i clean wash cook makes time for my 17 yr old to off school i get him and he helps so i can sleep somewhat its hard 
but we got this
Don’t do it. As a former night shifter who wasn’t pregnant with a toddler, but older kids, it was a nightmare. I was exhausted all the time, I never felt like I got enough sleep. It was terrible. I was having trouble staying awake on the job. Please don’t do it. I was young at the time too. In my 20s.
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Midnight shift is atrocious and shouldn’t exist outside of essential jobs.
Youre just perpetually tired.
Honestly my friends have all said it was hell to do this
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Night shift is hard AF, even not being pregnant.
I did it, and all my kids were school age.
It’s SO hard to sleep during the day, even with black out curtains.
Then, if you have chores/errands/appts, you have to decide if you’re gonna do them when you get off( and you wanna do is sleep) or if you’re gonna get up earlier than necessary to get things done.
It can be done, but it’s absolutely no fun.
I get paid over $150+ per hour w0rking from home. I never thought l’d be able to do it but my colleague makes over $ 20489 a month doing this and she convinced me to try. The possibility with this is endless.
For me I couldn’t balance while working overnights.
I get paid over $ 126 per hour w0rking from home. I never th0ught l’d be able to do it but my colleague makes over $ 21808 a month doing this and she convinced me to try. The possibility with this is limitless.
M0re lnf0… https://Works217.netlify.app
My husband works 10p-6am and it’s absolutely horrible. It wasn’t bad before kids but since having kids it sucks.
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My husband works 12 hours nights and I work the regular bankers hours, as mentioned about before kids it wasn’t a big deal but now us hardly seeing him but a handful of times a month affects her moods and behaviors. She’s a huge daddy’s girl
I work midnights and it is NOT good for my family what so ever ! But I’m at a hospital 12 hr shifts. Our bodies are not made to be up all night. No matter how Hard I try I can not sleep well during the day. I am exhausted all the time. Don’t even have energy to clean. We need more than a couple hrs sleep. You have little ones, absolutely not. You will be so tired you will not be able to do anything.
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Only way I would recommend that is if it puts you in a whole different tax bracket lol. Otherwise, no.
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I have family that watches my kids overnight from 6pm-6am then I get them to school/daycare at 7am
Working overnights when my daughter was a toddler changed my personality (for the worse) and wrecked my health. I was not a pleasant person to be around, never got enough rest, hated life, gained weight due to bad eating habits, and even put my daughter in danger because I was constantly dozing off during the day while she was awake and playing. Not worth any amount of money!
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I worked 30 years at a Rest Home but mostly a hospital. 14 years from 11 PM to 7 AM as a nurse aid then unit sec. and raised 4 children. BUT I did not atart working until our youngest was about 5 years old! My husband was there for them at night and would come home from his farm job for dinner at noon. helped the kids cook meals during the day while I TRIED to sleep during the day!
Now I am almost 90 years old and looking back, I was not there emotionally for my growing kids and they resented it—I ruined my health by forcing my body to keep trying to sleep, kept a clean house, had to pump and carry all of my wash water and even tho I felt it was necessary to help provide for our family, I am afraid that it was not worth the tole that it took on our family and me! I still can’t sleep, but our family did survive and learned valuable lessond the hard way----I still feel guilty about a lot of things. But maybe I would have anyway band all 4 kids are hard workers, loving and dependable so it is up to you as to what is most important to you and yours as you have to live with yourself!
Good Luck and God Bless your decision!!
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I worked nights 12hr shifts from when my son was about 8mo to 15mo and it was horrible I mean if you have a sitter that would help you out a lot. I barely slept trying to take care of my son and was eating like 1 time a day it was awful. I was always tired.
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It was doable up until I saw the pregnant part. It will be hard and you’ll be exhausted all the time. I tried doing it a year ago and i couldn’t.
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It will throw everything and everyone off. Something will always come up to interrupt your day sleep. It will probably be harder to try and work it all out rather than get different hours. Good luck!!
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I worked from late nights to early morning. I was able to balance with the help of my husband and this was before my daughter was in school. We would work out when chores were done so that I could care of our kid. My shifts ranged from 8-9pm to 4-5am working at Taco Bell to midnight-8am working at a gas station and I loved both jobs and working those shifts. Not everyone can handle it but after having our 2nd daughter in a month when school starts up again I might start looking for an overnight shift again.
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been there done that, don’t do it unless you can do nothing else… you will get no sleep because everyone thinks well she is home and this will only take a few min. … just does not work out
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As a single mom I use to work nights and it was so hard to get the sleep I needed and trying to spend time with my kids. I know some people can do it but it wasnt for me. Good luck!
l ended up on hospital very ill , Dr. asked Len are you trying to kill her quit spending all your money on cars and she dont have to work with 4 little boys
I’ve worked nights for 4 years, when I started my son was 8 and my daughter was 5. I only slept when they were at school which gave me about 5 hrs sleep a day. It was hard, sometimes extremely hard (especially shen your neighbours are decorating etc) it’s doable although I would never do it if I was pregnant. It drains you and you can never get use to it.
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Your health is more important than any money you could make in this self defeating plan!
I work 4pm to 1am and have a 5 year old and a 2 month old. U do what u gotta do. My 5 year old dosnt take naps anymore but is very good at playing in her room when I want to when the baby is. I would rather lose sleep than pay ridiculous daycare prices.
No, it’s not. You need more than “a few hours” of sleep. As you get more pregnant you’ll need even more.
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I am 47 and still blame my mom for not being there in my formative years
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Working overnight was honestly harder - I didn’t think I’d be that tired and constantly trying to catch up on sleep. Made me more miserable feeling like I was missing out even more now with my kid. I feel so sad. I finally get time off work to be with her all the time now but i missed 3 years of her life when it came to doing holidays and most family planned things…
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I did this for a year, got maybe 3 to 5(if I was lucky) hours of sleep, was ill, tired, and miserable all the time.
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Don’t do it night time shift will ruin your health mentally and everything else
That’s all I have ever worked I have 5 kids and it works best for them not so much for myself as I sacrifice sleep most days however I pick to work longer hours like 12 and 16 hour shifts so I have more days off with them.
Nights are all good but I did it with a toddler and it’s wasn’t easy at all even with my Hubby’s help nights aren’t just physically tiring but also mentally draining as it’s not natural to be awake all night u will find that only a few hours between shifts will make u really ill in the long wrong xx
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If you have to chose second or third I would pick third. Yes it sucks and will take a bit to get used to but if kids can go somewhere during day and you can actually sleep it’s doable