Parenting: 3-Year-Olds Community

I don't have anything on working overnights, but I have sympathy for you. I'm going through a different change, transition from working in an office to working from home. Same job, just company forcing its employees to work from home to save money on real estate expenses. Sucks because my day and my daughter's is structured around me working from that office. Instead of eliminating my commute, it is actually going to double my commute to take her to daycare in the morning, drive all the way back home to work, then back up there to pick her up and get back home for supper. 120 miles a day all together. It's nuts, but there isn't anything for daycare in the rural area where I live, so she always commuted with me to a daycare near my office. She can't stay home with me - I wouldn't get any work done and she'd be bored out of her mind sitting here at home. She loves her daycare (with pre-k program), so taking her out is really not an option.

My family thinks I ought to start looking for a different job, but this is one of the few really good paying jobs in the area without having a medical degree, so I'm reluctant to start job hunting until I at least give this a good try. I've got 10 years in with the company. I'm giving it at least 6 months before I make a decision about whether I want to keep this job or look for something else.

My advice would be to give it your very best try for a period like 6 months and then evaluate how you feel about it, how it is working (or not) for your family, and then decide if it's worth it or not.

I worked the night shift for a year when I only had DS. I worked Sunday night thru Thursday night from 10 pm - 630 am. I had an hour commute too. My DH worked 2nd shift (330 pm-11 pm), it worked out great for us, DS stayed at my grandmas, I was able to put him to bed and I was usually back home before he woke up. Got him up at gma's then drove home. Woke DH up and then I went to bed. DH was home with DS all day and woke me up when he left for work. It worked great but sleep deprived I was. I wasnt able to fall straight asleep when i got home, i tried. So i only got between 4-5 hours of sleep a day and by the end of the week I was drained. I would sleep Friday when i got home, and then go back to sleep again Friday night and try to get on a "normal" schedule for the weekend. And then Sunday I would sleep in (or lay in bed) as long as I could to get ready for the week to come.

Working 3rds is rough-trust me, i wont lie. But it is doable. But if you need to put DD in daycare so you can sleep-that might be a good option.

My mom worked 4p to whenever they sent her home for years. My dad worked days so we only needed a babysitter for an hour or two between the time my mom left for work and my dad came home. There were many mornings the only reason they let my mom leave was because she had to take us to school. She was able to drive for field trips, was room mother a number of times, and did crafts for both our classrooms. She started that when I was 5 and my brother was 2. She loved being able to pick us up from school because we'd tell her about our days and she was available to pick us up if we got sick at school. You can sleep when you get home untils he wakes up and take naps when she does.