Always tired

[Anonymous]

This is just a small vent.

I nanny for family "B" from 7am-2pm Mondays to Thursdays and 7am-3:30pm on Fridays and then family "P" from 2:30pm-8:30pm Mondays-Thursdays. I just feel like I am ALWAYS tired. Just today I was sitting on the couch with the kids for their 30 minutes of screen time and I literally felt like I could have fallen asleep right then. I don't know how the nannies that work 50-60 hours a week do it. I'm just counting down the days until Friday and then I have a break until January 2nd.

[Anonymous]

Do you go to sleep at the same time every night, and sleep well? If you do, talk to your Doctor and get your iron levels checked. Do you have quiet times at your jobs? I work 55 hours (ish) a week, but in the afternoons the baby has a sleep, so its a quieter period. I still have a ton of stuff to do, but I can hum to the radio, have a quick cup of tea and even though I am on duty, I am not actively "on". I guess what I am trying to say is, the day gets easier if you spent some time with kids that is not you being the entertainment.

[Anonymous]

I work 68 hours a week and I have found that a cup of coffee helps. Good luck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you go to sleep at the same time every night, and sleep well? If you do, talk to your Doctor and get your iron levels checked. Do you have quiet times at your jobs? I work 55 hours (ish) a week, but in the afternoons the baby has a sleep, so its a quieter period. I still have a ton of stuff to do, but I can hum to the radio, have a quick cup of tea and even though I am on duty, I am not actively "on". I guess what I am trying to say is, the day gets easier if you spent some time with kids that is not you being the entertainment.

OP Here: I've been really sick lately and just got over the flu so I know that has to do a lot with how I've been feeling lately but I try and go to bed by 11 every night and then I have to be up at 6 so I average 7 hours of sleep a night, if I am lucky.

I honestly don't have much quiet time at all. In my first job, I watch twin 1 1/2 year olds and they don't go down for their nap until 1ish so by the time they go down for their nap, I only have 1 hour before the grandparents come and relieve me and I spend that hour cleaning up all of our messes etc. In the second position, I care for two school age kids but they have activities EVERY DAY so the afternoon is spent picking them up, doing homework and then driving to/from swim, tennis, gymnastics, etc.

I honestly don't get to sit down and just breathe until I get home at 9pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work 68 hours a week and I have found that a cup of coffee helps. Good luck

OP here: I bring a coffee with me to my morning job but I honestly don't notice a difference at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is just a small vent.

I nanny for family "B" from 7am-2pm Mondays to Thursdays and 7am-3:30pm on Fridays and then family "P" from 2:30pm-8:30pm Mondays-Thursdays. I don't know how the nannies that work 50-60 hours a week do it.

You are working 13 hour days MON-THU and then 8.5 on FRI. You are working 60.5 hours per week. *You* are one of the nannies that work 50-60 hours per week. Did you mean OTHER nannies that work those same hours? 12.5 hours a day (with only 30 minutes between jobs) is a lot. No wonder you are tired. Why don't you try and find a shorter afternoon job that only goes until 5/6/7pm? It's amazing how getting off work even just an hour earlier each day could make it feel like it is a few hours earlier. That could save you 4+ hours of work, which doesn't drop your pay by that much, but makes your days just a bit easier.

[Anonymous]

You're working too many hours. Any chance you can get Fridays off? Or even working an hour less a day will help you a lot.

[Anonymous]

You probably are not physically tired but you are bored with the routine. Adults in normal health can stay awake for 13 hours a day. When I was in my 20s and even early 30s I would work 90 hours a week in a high stress job and was never physically tired. I worked retail once in college and felt like I could not stay awake for a 4 hour shift!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just a small vent.

I nanny for family "B" from 7am-2pm Mondays to Thursdays and 7am-3:30pm on Fridays and then family "P" from 2:30pm-8:30pm Mondays-Thursdays. I don't know how the nannies that work 50-60 hours a week do it.

You are working 13 hour days MON-THU and then 8.5 on FRI. You are working 60.5 hours per week. *You* are one of the nannies that work 50-60 hours per week. Did you mean OTHER nannies that work those same hours? 12.5 hours a day (with only 30 minutes between jobs) is a lot. No wonder you are tired. Why don't you try and find a shorter afternoon job that only goes until 5/6/7pm? It's amazing how getting off work even just an hour earlier each day could make it feel like it is a few hours earlier. That could save you 4+ hours of work, which doesn't drop your pay by that much, but makes your days just a bit easier.

OP here: Yes, sorry..I meant to say.."I don't know how the other nannies...". I definitely know it is a lot. I have to leave my first job and drive 20 minutes to my second job to be there and pick up the kids from school at 2:30 so I don't even have time to stop and grab a coffee or do anything.

I would really love to find just ONE full-time position where I wasn't driving around so much and didn't work more then 45-50 hours a week but I live in a state where it's not that easy to find full-time, good paying nanny jobs so I had to go with two separate jobs. I probably could drop my second job but then I'd be taking a huge pay cut. I get $650 a week from the first family and then $360 a week from the second family so I'd be going from $1,010 a week to $650 a week which is a huge pay cut to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're working too many hours. Any chance you can get Fridays off? Or even working an hour less a day will help you a lot.

OP here: I definitely wouldn't be able to get Friday's off. I have Fridays off from my second family but Friday's are the one day that the grandparents can't relieve me from the first job so I have to stay on until one of the parent's gets home. The mom always gets home by 3:30 on Friday's so it's not a very long day but it's not something that I could work around either.

[Anonymous]

Wow...that sucks. I'm 26 weeks pregnant and always tired too and I only work 50 hours per week. But I have a long commute and I find mornings to be a torture. I nearly always end up taking a nap when the 3-year-old naps after all my household stuff is done. I can't stay awake all day anymore. It bites! I feel for you.

[Anonymous]

Tired nannies need to just arrive a few minutes later in the morning. 10 minutes or so of extra sleep does wonders.

[Anonymous]

You have to prioritize your sleep and downtime, OP. I used to work a 70 hour week and only survived by going to bed and waking up at exactly the same time every day. You need to eat right - no or very little processed foods. And forget about a social life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you go to sleep at the same time every night, and sleep well? If you do, talk to your Doctor and get your iron levels checked. Do you have quiet times at your jobs? I work 55 hours (ish) a week, but in the afternoons the baby has a sleep, so its a quieter period. I still have a ton of stuff to do, but I can hum to the radio, have a quick cup of tea and even though I am on duty, I am not actively "on". I guess what I am trying to say is, the day gets easier if you spent some time with kids that is not you being the entertainment.

OP Here: I've been really sick lately and just got over the flu so I know that has to do a lot with how I've been feeling lately but I try and go to bed by 11 every night and then I have to be up at 6 so I average 7 hours of sleep a night, if I am lucky.

I honestly don't have much quiet time at all. In my first job, I watch twin 1 1/2 year olds and they don't go down for their nap until 1ish so by the time they go down for their nap, I only have 1 hour before the grandparents come and relieve me and I spend that hour cleaning up all of our messes etc. In the second position, I care for two school age kids but they have activities EVERY DAY so the afternoon is spent picking them up, doing homework and then driving to/from swim, tennis, gymnastics, etc.

I honestly don't get to sit down and just breathe until I get home at 9pm.

Op, have the children assist you in cleaning before lunch. Or, if you can still keep an watchful eye while they eat, clean while they are sitting. That way, before you put them down for a nap, you can clean up the kitchen, take them upstairs and then chill out for the last hour or so. You have to manage your time better so you can get those little breaks. I was caring for 3 children under 3, I made sure that in the morning when the youngest would take his first nap to have the older ones do table activities during that time and I would have about a 10-15 minute break (sit and try to get a snack in for energy) and then the second nap (when everyone went down together), the play areas and kitchen were clean before they went down and I would sleep when they slept- the parents were totally fine with me sleeping.

You definitely have a lot going on, just try to prioritize better.

[Anonymous]

OP, if at all possible can you just try to take a 20-min. or so power nap when the kids sleep?

This has helped me SO much while caring for children & I find that the majority of parents do not mind as long as you are within earshot of their child and have completed any required chores.