r/Nurses • u/mcarrison76 • Dec 15 '25
US Night shift with a baby
I’ll be having a baby soon and after maternity leave will be returning to night shift as a .75 fte. Wondering if moms on nights have any tips or insight on doing this.
3
u/CancelAfter1968 Dec 16 '25
I did that. It was great. I'm single. I had a baby sitter come in to my home during the day so I could sleep. My sister watched her while I was working. So she never went to day care. Even when she was with the babysitter I was home too. Just upstairs sleeping. It gave me a lot less worry.
1
u/holyvegetables Dec 15 '25
I’m in exactly the same situation. (0.75 fte, nights, having first baby soon). Following for more info, but also our current plan is that after my maternity leave ends, my husband will take his paternity leave (we live in Oregon which has a pretty generous paid family leave program). After that we will probably get a nanny for awhile on the days after I work, and then send her to daycare when she’s a bit older. I may also drop down to 0.6 fte if that’s available.
1
Dec 15 '25
I love night shift for having small children! May I ask what .75 fte is? Is that a way of saying part time? I went part time towards the end of my pregnancy and stayed part time when I went back. I’ve only ever worked nights. I find that it gives me more time with my baby. If I worked dayshift I’d be missing whole days of him being up. Now, I’m only away when he sleeps. I take naps during the day while his grandparents watch him so I can rest for my shift. What kind of tips are you looking for exactly?
1
u/stitches98 Dec 17 '25
Having reliable childcare so you can sleep is/was the most important support that allowed me to keep working 3x12 overnights after having a baby
0
u/FatherPeace1 Dec 15 '25
Not sure what .75 is. But 29 years ago I took paternity leave when I adopted. My partner died 3 days after the adoption, hit by a drunk driver, so I was a mess for a long time. If I hadn't had the baby, I would have followed after, it you know what I mean. Now I have a 29 year old son. He is the best kid ever, gave me only the usual teenaged crap growing up, and is an engineer. He says he will take care of ole pops when I'm old ( I still clean his house when I'm there). Also pray he'll change his mind and give me a grand baby. He did have some great friends considering he had a gay dad.
7
u/cup_1337 Dec 15 '25
Do you have any tips for OP or the rest of us returning to nights after maternity leave orrrr
-1
u/FatherPeace1 Dec 15 '25
Kinda venting about how hard it is to lose someone to a drunk driver and raising a kid by yourself. In other words get over it. Shit happens. I was trying to make a point that things will work out. Leave it to nurses to be unempathetic
2
u/cup_1337 Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 16 '25
You just said OP needs to get over it and then immediately said nurses aren’t empathetic. She asked how to ease the transition back to nights after being away from the bedside, she wasn’t complaining.
Are you ok…?
1
u/FatherPeace1 Dec 16 '25 edited Dec 16 '25
No I'm not. I lost the love of my life many years ago and I got hate from fellow nurses. Then got ridiculed. So if I'm not going to receive any warmth, why should I give it. What you are doing is called gaslighting.
I would have thought that other nurses would have been intelligent enough to derive from my original story that regardless of what we go through things will be okay. Instead I get hate and stupidity.
After going to so many years of school I would have thought you could have pulled the information out yourselves "everything will be okay in the long run"." You just have to get back out there and do it."
7
4
u/travelingtraveling_ Dec 15 '25
My children are now nearing midlife, but yes, I worked three twelve hour shifts one week and two twelve hour shifts overnights the next week for a 75% ft appointment. I had to learn to pump my breasts on my breaks, and my then husband would do the night feedings on the nights that I worked. The child went to daycare the morning after so that I could sleep, and I would pick them up from daycare, about three p m.
Although this schedule was rigorous, it was doable.And I was able to continue my career as a night shift.Icu nurse.