Conference moira::parenting

    My husband worked second shift for three years.  You have to realize
    that shift changing takes its toll on the human body.  Trying to sleep
    during the day does have its effects on people.  Tehre have been amny
    studies done on this.
    
    You will also have to keep in mind that if you change the schedule now,
    you will probably be "stuck" with it for awhile.  What happens when
    your child decides she doesn't need to nap anymore?  She will probably
    change her schedule within the next year.  It is unusual for a child
    over two to sleep long periods in the afternoon (more than 2 hours). 
    Once my kids turned 3 - a on hour nap was all I could squeeze out and
    as soon as they hit 4 naps became a thing of the past.
    
    Personally, I would stick with the second shift.  My friend's husband
    works third and he HATES it.  Even though his wife is home during the
    day with the kids it is very difficult on them (although their "love
    life" doesn't seem to suffer - they have 5 kids - two from a previous
    marriage and are very happily married).
    
    Think of what your child's schedule will be like in the near future.
    
    -sandy
    

I'm just trying to remember how.  He was raising his daughter by himself from
the time she was 2 years old.  He worked the third shift.  I think my niece
slept at the sitters while Jim was working and then he came home and got his 
sleep.  He then picked up Mindi, had her for 8 hours or so (evening meal, etc.)
and then dropped her off before going to work.  Remember, he was a single
parent.

This situation latest about 3 or 4 years as I remember.  Then he remarried and 
changed jobs.  But it worked out ok.

ccb

    One thing to consider is how "heavy" or "light" of a sleeper is your 
    husband??  My husband and I tried it for about six months - except I 
    was working the full 40 hours per week - but he is a light sleeper -
    the baby and or the tv or the dog kept him awake once I got home - It
    got so we were going out just to keep the noise down - Needless to say 
    we were all much better off when there was a second shift opening.
Kim
    
    

Use earplugs.  My wife, who's a light sleeper, swears by the foam kind.

    Mike worked 3rd shift on a job he was doing in Boston shortly
    before Hollis was born.  He absolutely HATED it.  No matter
    what I did -- spend the entire day with James in the park
    (and deprive him of *his* nap), tiptoe around, give Mike
    ear plugs, etc., etc., nothing was good enough and Mike could
    not sleep.  It was the longest two weeks of my life.  
    
    I agree with the noter who said to plan for the future.  My 
    son is now 4 and is very unusual in that he sstill sleeps
    for a couple of hours in the middle of the day.  I know of
    a lot of kids who gave up naps altogether at 2.5 or 3, and
    a couple of kids who gave the nap up at 20 months.  
    
    You've got to do what is best for your family -- third shift
    often involves a "shift differential" (i.e., extra money),
    but if you end up spending that on a sitter so your husband
    can sleep, you're not much further ahead and in fact may wind
    up a little bit behind.  Look at the big picture!

    I really agree with the previous noters.  I spent one year on 3rd shift
    and I didn't have children.  It was the most miserable year I ever
    spent in my life.  I could not SLEEP during the day at all.   I covered
    my windows with dark curtains and my room would be dark, but my body
    just would not relax and go to sleep.  I was lucky to get 15 hours of
    sleep a week.  I couldn't even think of going to sleep until it was
    dusk (6-7 at night) and then would have to get up at 10-11 to be ready
    for work.  I missed more work because of illness that year, than I have
    ever missed in my life.  My suggestion would be to pass this by if you
    value your health.......   Job advancement and recognition just isn't
    worth it, if you aren't able to work due to illness......
    
    
    Just my 2 cents..
    
    Sarah

	RE:  last few replies

	I mentioned to my husband to think about what our daughter's (and 
	possibly a future addition's) schedules would be like with third shift
	and he reasoned that worst case he would be up from the time he woke
	up in the evening till ~3 in the afternoon which is when I would get
	home.  That would calculate out to about 6 hours of sleep.  I'm not
	sure that I could do that, even thought I occassionally get up at 6AM
	and don't go to sleep till 12.  At least I have the last 3 hours or so
	to myself!

	RE: .3 and .4

	I consider myself a heavier sleeper than my husband, with the execption
	of when my daughter coughs or other similar noises.  I think ear plugs
	would definately be in order.  Of course, sometimes I think he's going
	deaf, or is that the y chromosome selectively tuning out what they 
	don't want to hear???  ;-)

	RE: .5

	We're both "old fashioned" in that we want to be the ones to raise our
	kids.  But, we're also "contemporary" in that if I want to work, I can.
	The reason my husband is considering 3rd shift is career-based, not
	monetary.

	Thanks for the input so far.

    Just in case, a few things to try when sleeping during the day.  Since
    my friend's husband would come home just as the older ones were going
    to school (my dad always hated getting oatmeal for supper and casserole 
    for breakfast).  He always sleeps with the air conditioner on (cold air in
    summer/fan in winter) to give him the white noise.  When my husband
    needed to sleep during the day, we used the fan method.  It was still
    hard to keep the noisy kids quiet.
    
    Believe me, I symapthize with wanting to keep the kids with a parent. 
    That is why we ended up with second shift work in the first place.  I
    am glad to say that when the promotion came for my husband to work days
    (and get a good job) we went with it because we knew the boys would be
    in school this year!
    
    Good luck in sorting this out!!!
    
    -sandy
    
    

>    my friend's husband would come home just as the older ones were going
>    to school (my dad always hated getting oatmeal for supper and casserole 
>    for breakfast).  He always sleeps with the air conditioner on (cold air in

I used to work at CERN where the operators of the accelerator take turns
working different shifts.  The ones who have been doing this for years said that
they never change their eating schedule.  They have breakfast at the "normal"
time in the morning, etc.  It is easier to keep the body functioning regularly
if it gets fed regularly :-)

ccb

My husband does third shift every other week (as cargo airline pilot).  Some
details about sleep:

you can't just fall asleep when it is convenient.  It is most difficult to fall
asleep late in the afternoon, as that's when our bodies peak.  (I'm not talking
night/day people here, just that we are the most awake then).

It will take several weeks, possibly months, to adjust to the daytime sleeping 
schedule.  Even if he has enough clock time to sleep 6 hours, he should expect 
that he will actually be asleep only 4 of those hours.

Daytime/evenings are noisy in all neighborhoods.  He needs to take some
extraordinary actions to block the noise, etc.  Some suggestions:  ear plugs,
blackout curtains, a television set to a non-broadcasting station, eating lightly
before going to bed (warm milk actually works).

One final, depressing fact - people who work third shift are sick more often,
have more general health problems, and more marital problems.

(My source for all this - a study done by the airline industry.  The results
are presented to the pilots as part of their yearly training).

Pat