Rotating Shiftwork + Family Life = ?

[nrlien]

I'm not sure if this is the right area to post this question, but I'm wondering how those of us that are married/married with kids/or maybe just have kids are handling shiftwork. I am married, and my wife and I want to have our first child sometime next year. I recently accepted a job as an Aux Operator. I just want to know what I'm getting into and what my options are (if any). Thanks! 


ps. I realize I should've researched this more before hopping back into the nuke field (I was single and in the navy when I did it before), but any info I get now is still useful.

[Already Gone]

For you, the schedule won't be a big problem for a few years.

But when you have toddlers or school-age children, there are some challenges.  Working a rotating shift will mean that you will be sleeping or working at unusual times.  In order to manage your sleep properly, you'll need a quiet house during the days that you are working nights.  You'll have to resist missing sleep to do things with the kids.  Your wife will have to make sure that she keeps them quietly occupied.  She will also have to maintain self-discipline to prevent her from asking you to do things around the house when you should be sleeping.  Have a quiet, dark, cool place to sleep during the day.

When you are working a swing shift, you won't see your children and you won't make it to evening soccer games or school events.

Those long weekends won't usually include both weekend days.  You'll work at least one shift on more weekends than not.  The weekdays that you get off in return will not seem like such  a benefit since your kids will be in school.  So, don't think of them as mini-vacations.

When you rotate back to dayshift, you might find yourself nodding off right after dinner for the first few days.  Actually, the way to avoid this, as well as many other problems is to always sleep before work.  This will be very difficult because it will seem more natural to sleep at night after a swing shift and in the morning after a night shift.  That is what most people do, but if you think about it, it is the reverse of what you should do.  But most shifts rotate backwards because somebody did a study that showed that circadian rhythms are on a 25 hour clock.  Therefore, the normal rotation is swings, nights, days.  It assumes that you will always sleep after work and go to bed one hour later each day.  The only way that will work is if you sleep after work on dayshift also and continue the pattern on your days off.  Nobody does that.  If they went days, nights, swings, you could sleep before work, while going to bed and rising one hour earlier each day.  You probably wouldn't do that either - especially on your days off.
Wednesdays will probably be the best times to schedule appointments, because you will either be off,  or working a backshift. Actually, it could be another day, depending on your actual rotation.  No matter what your rotation is, the rotating shift schedule is an abnormal lifestyle that many people handle well and others not at all.  Days, evenings, nights, and weekends will be totally different for you than for the rest of society - including your immediate family.  You'll have to make it clear that the clock and calendar work differently in your household than from all others.  And you will have to have a firm commitment to that from yourself and your family, or it's going to ruin your health and/or drive you insane.

It is also important to cut way down on your intake of alcohol, caffeine, and all the other stuff that makes life fun.  Eat smaller meals at regular intervals.  Exercise.  Get a hobby.  Good luck.

[vokeysand]

Twelve hour days can be difficult for a wife with a newborn but, the quantity of days off together more than makes up for the long hours at work. Just my opinion. Good luck.

[slattmandu]

I utilize the basement in my house for sleeping after getting off of nightshift. It helps to assist getting to sleep when the weather is nice. As for having a quiet house and minimizing caffeine and alcohol intake. Those are all text book answers to cope with shift work. But given a bad shift at work or dealing with some persistent salesman pounding on your door to try and sell you some replacement windows or siding.  A drink to calm you down or decompress you after work or a cold mountain dew to wake you up after broken sleep has always helped me. Now of my 3 kids my youngest is going to be 16. So it will take some cooperation between you and your wife to split responsibilities with the kids. You may opt to assist with taking the kids to school in the morning. Or pick them up and run them to whatever practice in the afternoon. This all depends on when your shifts start and end and how long a drive you have to and from work. I did endure working rotating shifts when my oldest was preschool age. And my wife babysat in our home for 3-4 other preschool kids. I used the sleep in the basement technique but you would have to adjust to changing noise levels. I say find your own system that works for you. And do your best to adjust to working these shifts!