coping with a baby and a shift working partner

any one who looks this up is obviously in the same boat and having trouble. if there is any advice out there please let us know

I know how you feel my partner works 12hr days 4 on 4 off and 2 of those are all nighters, I guess I lucky though I have my parents and his parents close by if I get lonely or want to go out as we have only got 1 car and he uses it most of the time.
It is hard though trying to keep baby quiet while he sleeps during the day or night,
During the day I try to go out for walks or visiting and some nights during the school holidays I get younger family members to come and stay the night with me and they usually want to play with Aimee and do everything for her so I get a break that way too.
My Partner doesnt get to spend much time with Aimee cos when he gets home hes too tired and on his days off he just wants to relax so we usually just stay home and I make him lunch or something while he plays with Aimee and it gives me a break from playing with her.
We are lucky Aimee goes to bed at 8am so it gives us quality time at night.

hi
i'm karen mum to jesse who is 6 months old boy, my husband shane does 12hr shifts and trying to keep jesse quite while he sleeps is near impossible, so when shane goes to sleep he not only turns the air conditionor on and shuts the door he will put in ear plugs and he gets a great day sleep and jesse can play and giggle and squeal. the hardest part is when he has to go to work on night shift because he then sleeps through the day and jesse misses out on his play time with daddy! but he does love it when it is time to wake daddy up because i always take jesse in with me to play in be with daddy while he is waking up and they always have some time together alone then.

thankyou for your replies
its like reading a story about myself
although its not often dan turns down overtime and has a day off
its comforting to know that i am not alone although my question is do you fight alot because your partners dont spend enough time with the children? and are they always cranky?
ohh and yes dan turns the fan up and uses ear plugs too my family is around but they have gone on holidays for a month (my mum and dad)

Hi,

My husband is a nurse and works shift work! He mainly does afternoon shifts and doesn't get home till around 11pm! He works 6 days on and 2 days off, ocassionally 7 days on and 2 days off...sometimes I feel like he is constantly working!! He works pretty much every public holiday including Christmas day and hardly ever gets a weekend off! I would like my kids to be in a routine but with hours like his it's hard! In the end I would much rather see them playing with their father and just let them go to sleep later! Dads need their time with their kids...especially after a hard day...or should I say nights work!!

does this help anyone by getting it off your chest i hope so it helps me

Hi, it is tough at times that's for sure! My husband works mostly afternoons 4pm-midnight but then is on call most nights and often also gets called in on days off... its not too bad sometimes because if he's not too tired we get most of the day together so he plays with Ella (7months) then but getting call outs at 3 in the morning and days off drives me nuts!!!!!!!! especially the 3am calls, cause then the whole house is a wake!

Bel

Hi Mummyto 1

My partner does the exact same shifts!
I only have one car too.
My boy n.o. 2 is born the 28/1/03. Is that somewhere around Aimee?
It would be great to email each other and talk about how we cope with this shift work.
My email address is markandpauline@dodo.com.au
Bye
Hope to hear from you soon.
Pauline

Hi Pauline

What are your kids names?
Aimee is born on 29/01/03-pretty close, she was 1 month early!!!
It is good to hear your in the same boat and it is hard work but my partner will maybe be going back to 5 days on 2 off in a couple of weeks but I think that will be harder cos he will spend less time with us as I work all day on 1 of his days off but then he might get to spend some quality time alone with Aimee.

Hi to all the shift workinging mums &patners.

my husband was doing 12hr shifts 2days/2 nights he did this for about 4 years. I found this okay because i got time to do the house work on the day shifts and on the nights or the day after the nights we would go out and vist family and friends while he slept. But he started a new job about 5 months ago and now does a 7 day roster doing days, afternoons and nights.We find this hard as we would be lucky to spend a day together between shifts.


maxinel.

Hi Mummyto 1
My boys names are Jacob (Jake) and Fletcher (Fletch).
What time was Aimee born? Fletcher was born at 8:15pm. The age difference between the 2 is probably only a matter of hours.

Hi Bigmama

Aimee was born at 11:33am
I will email you soon.

vanessa