I hate looking after my kids & take extra stressful shifts in A&E to get away from them – but it makes me a BETTER mum
Share:
HER heart pounding as alarms wail out a menacing warning, Lottie Teideman races down a deserted hospital corridor. It may sound like the stuff of nightmares, but for the mum-of-two it’s just a typical night at work. And as high-pressure as her job is, intensive care nurse Lottie says it’s less stressful than being at home with her kids.
![[A mother and son in their living room. The son is jumping on a sofa.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/de3b340d-228b-4602-ac32-16776808cf2c.jpg?strip=all&w=784)
She’s not the only mum to find childcare overwhelming. Singer Paloma Faith admitted last year that she felt so frazzled juggling motherhood with work, she wished she could go to hospital and get sectioned just to have a week off. Lottie is on the same page.
![[A woman with red hair, wearing scrubs, stands with her arms crossed.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/8aa8a8b5-0e4a-4a39-be07-5c29f1d95fc2.jpg?strip=all&w=723)
She takes on extra shifts in A&E, just to have a break from caring for Bella, six, and Bailey, four. There’s a joke that kids are the worst boss you will ever have — but there is a truth to it. At work, I have three thirty-minute breaks in 12 and a half hours.
![[Two young children with blue-colored tongues from a lollipop.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/charlotte-teideman-reading-kids-bella-962844112.jpg?strip=all&w=720)
Lottie says: “Sometimes I wish I’d fall down the stairs and break a leg, just to get some rest. "I work in adult intensive care and find it less stressful and overwhelming than motherhood. “I feel much more in control as I’ve done this particular job for seven years and can snap into action.
![[Family enjoying ice cream.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/IMAGE_ROTATE.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
“I have a team around me, I think calmly and tell myself, ‘You’ve got this’. “When the kids are running riot, I just feel like, ‘You haven’t got this at all’.”. Lottie, 32, from Reading, also believes her working conditions are better, despite the pressures the NHS is under.
![[Woman in pajamas and eye mask relaxing on a hotel bed with a cup.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/41ce45ab-4a1b-464e-9d33-5044bd46a608.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
