# Night duty

**Who gets up with the baby at night?**

Who gets up with the baby overnight, to feed, change and settle, and whether you split it, alternate nights or share it. Newborns wake often at night, so this decides how rested each of you is.

In short: Parents choose between 5 main approaches: One parent owns nights; Split shifts; Alternate nights; Feeding parent feeds, the other does everything else; Paid night help. Evidence: your call. No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide. Best settled: during pregnancy.

- Area: Roles, work and the couple
- Evidence: Your call
- Best settled: During pregnancy
- First published: 2026-10-03
- Last updated: 2026-10-05
- Page: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/topics/roles-work-and-the-couple--night-duty

## Night duty: what are the options?

1. **One parent owns nights**: One of you handles every night waking.
2. **Split shifts**: One of you covers the first half of the night and the other the second.
3. **Alternate nights**: You take turns, with each of you getting full nights off.
4. **Feeding parent feeds, the other does everything else**: The feeding parent feeds; the other handles diapers, settling and everything else.
5. **Paid night help**: You hire a night nurse or doula to cover nights.

## Night duty: what does the evidence say?

**Your call.** No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide.

No outcome research gathered on this yet — treat it as a preference.

## What else is worth knowing?

Newborns wake often to feed, and broken sleep affects mood, health and patience. How you divide the nights decides how rested each of you is. Feeding method matters here, because the parent who is nursing cannot hand over the feed itself, though the other can do everything around it.

## Questions to ask each other

- How do you function on little sleep, and how do I?
- What split would feel fair during the first weeks and what would change later?
- If one of us is feeding, what does the other one do at night?

---

General information, not medical advice. Two parents can each answer this and compare: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/explore?cat=roles-work-and-the-couple&topic=roles-work-and-the-couple--night-duty