Scheduling for Team Parents
We tried a lot of different schedules for the shifts the two of us worked when we worked as a team. What we found worked best was to limit our shifts 8.75 hour shifts. This allowed us both to be well rested most of the time. On the worst days when our sleeping was disrupted, we would make use of 8-2 split so that we could take a short nap. Neither of us are night people so we split up the day and night hours evenly so that we would both get an equal amount of sun. At the end of the day, it really is finding out works best for the two of you.
There were some other things that I found came in handy:
Sleep Feeding – Put the baby on the bottom bunk and nap with you wrist up in the air while holding the bottle in the child's mouth.
The Auto-Feeder - Wrap a receiving blanket or rag underneath a small size bottle so that it sits on an angle and will feed the child for you. The bottle needs to be full and some occasional correction is needed.
Food prep – Prepare all your food while you’re still awake. Make lunchboxes, put together dinner so it can be re-heated, have formula ready to go.
Baby prep – Laying out everything ready to go for your spouse when you first wake up in the morning so that everything is there for them when the baby wakes them up.
There were some other things that I found came in handy:
Sleep Feeding – Put the baby on the bottom bunk and nap with you wrist up in the air while holding the bottle in the child's mouth.
The Auto-Feeder - Wrap a receiving blanket or rag underneath a small size bottle so that it sits on an angle and will feed the child for you. The bottle needs to be full and some occasional correction is needed.
Food prep – Prepare all your food while you’re still awake. Make lunchboxes, put together dinner so it can be re-heated, have formula ready to go.
Baby prep – Laying out everything ready to go for your spouse when you first wake up in the morning so that everything is there for them when the baby wakes them up.
Adjusting between on and of the Road
Adjusting between two completely environments takes time for everyone- not just the baby.
For my family every time we switched from on the road to off the road there was a three day period of chaos during which everyone was in a bad mood and cranky. There was a lot to do, a lot to catch up on and I said before we were all tired. Here are some things that I and some of the people I have spoken to have found: |
- Sleeping – I never had an issue with this, but some of the parents I spoke to had an issue with their children missing the noises of the truck when they were off the road. As a result that had trouble sleeping.
- Burping – This was one I always had trouble remembering. I never had to burp the little one out on the truck so when I got home I forgot to burp the little one and he wound up with a sore tummy.
- Discipline – This was an issue as our little one got older. Whenever my husband, James would go back out on the road, leaving us behind, the little one would test his boundaries with me. It would take me about a week to reassert them and everything would return to normal.
Warning: Be aware that some of the transitions will be very hard on the both of you. You may wish to do a lot of sleeping when you get done. Try and not plan anything for a couple of day after you get home so that you can catch up on sleep and paperwork.