Studying

Just wondering if anyone has undertaking new studies while being at home with their newborn?

I'm thinking of looking into it, but want to know the realities of it all? I imagine that it will all have to be off campus stuff??? I don't want to do anything in my field now, something completely different, so I guess that will impact on it too???

Any thoughts?

Extramural is hard work. I did it while preggo. (Though there are definitely some who thrive in that environment - just not me! hehe)

I went back to uni when Han was 3 months old. It was just enough time for me to get used to having little monkey and get a bit bored sitting around at home all day!

Now I'm still studying with a 2 year old - and let me tell ya, it's farrrr easier studying with a little baby than it is with a toddler. Babies don't require nearly so much attention... or food preparation... or punishment I always thought Hannah would be a better sleeper as she got older... turns out I was wrong. She slept far better as a baby. (I mean, this too varies child-to-child) So yeah, IMO it's better to do study when they are littler! You don't even need to put them in care that much as they sleep alllll the time. (Actually that depends if it is a course with a lot of contact time... mine was pitiful so didn't affect me.)

agree with Niki about being eaiser with newborn.

 I started my 7th form year correspondence when me eldest daughter was a newborn and found it better when she was sleeping more as a babe.

I also went bak to finish my nursing degree when my 2nd daughter was 3wks old. I cried a lot the first week but quickly realize that she slept the whole time I was away and I would feed her in my breaks. When she got older I found it hard to study as I would study at night once I got both kids to bed and by that time I was too tired

Goodluck to you with whatever you chose

I found out I was preganant with Maya half way thru my degree, did one semester on campus while I was pregnant but had to cut back to part time due to having hyperemesis, then did a semester extramurally thru Open Polytechnic when she was a newborn (I was literally studying for my psych paper while I was in labour!) then my final semester on campus with Maya in daycare (she was 5 mths old when she started at daycare).

It was hard, probably the hardest semester was being back on campus, the extramural stuff wasn't so bad as she was tiny and slept a lot plus I found the Open Polytech really supportive - I had a contact course and couldn't leave Maya as she refused a bottle so they allowed me to take her with me and she slept at the back of the classroom.

I think for me my main motivation was finishing my degree coz I kind of knew that if I didn't fnish it then I'd never go back to it. I was on my own with Maya from 3 mths too which made it difficult, and she was sick and in hospital a lot (with allergies) which was something I never could have predicted and wasn't really prepared for, but we muddled thru.

In fact, the first ever story I wrote for OHbaby! is about studying with Maya...

http://www.ohbaby.co.nz/article.aspx?ContentID=674

he he, i was the same as Emma really - i fell pregnant with paris at the end of my 1st yr of nursing.. had her in the middle of the second year, and went back to a couple of clinical classes when she was 3 weeks old for a few hours a week - at which stage mum looked after her. I didn't find being pregnant too hard at that time cos my pregnancy was great. so i would say you will have to figure out what it is you want to do before you decide whether or not it is do-able.. some courses would not be great to start while preg or with new babe, others would be fine, as it's been said depends on how much you actually have to bein class.. or in my case.. on clinical placements.   

When i finally went back to study properly when paris was 11 months i still didn't find it too bad.. mike just had to learn to look after her but he was a very hands on dad anyway.

he he, second preg while studying was not the greatest, with moprning sickness and all that and i got sooo tired. and then exams and assignments argh! if you have a good baby that sleeps alot etc then it's fine but get one that doesn't and it all goes pear-shaped. I remember since Ayja came early, then had that mishap I ended up with 3 huge assignments that were cue when she was a couple of weeks old - i had been planning to do them befor ehaivng her, but she came a couple of weeks early and that put paid to that idea.

I did find that lectureres and daycare were great and i would feed during breaks and lunch hours. if she was out of time and sleeping then i could have my cell on vibrate in class and everyone knew if i nipped out that i'd be about 20 minuts - usually the teacher would finish up the page she was working on then send class off for a break anyway... was great.

I knew that if i stopped i'd have wasted all that hard work to start with, plus i'd just be giving up - which is not me.. all my sisters had been "oh, what about your studies, blah blah" when i first was preg with Paris, and again with Ayja ha, i showed them, and myself.

Take a good look at time frames and expectations and what you really want to do.. and go from there. For us with finances, we were eligible for daycare assitance, and a fiar amount of people are since they usually go down to one wage.. you also become eligible for accomodation supplement too usually. funny - once i started working, we are breaking even with how we were when i was studying as the subsidys were cut.. so when mike said that he wanted to go back to study, i wasn't scared.. we've survived with far less, and this time we are living on my wage, which is more than what his was/is.. hence.. this is his last week at work - he starts 4 yrs of computer I.T on 7th Feb.

Go for it.

Edited by mum2paris