Naps and Childcare

I think 1 is WAY too young for just one nap... I kept my kids on 2 until they were 2 and tehn moved to one until they were 3 and (boo hoo) they pretty much lst their naps at 3 - 3.5. Keep it as long as you can!!

My thoughts are this,
1. Kids are individuals with individual needs and that needs to be respected.
2. A child needs so many hours per day to have healthy amount of sleep who is anyone to dictate what works for that child.
My daughter who is 2.5 still NEEDS 2 1 hr naps and sleeps over 12 hrs at night so she is getting over 14 hours of sleep a day.
The structure of a daycare is understandable how can you keep it quite for everyone to sleep when they feel like it, it does not happen so making it so everyone naps at this time for this long gets them all what they need.

I do not think they are keeping it from them just structuring it to be one long nap instead of 2 short naps so that the other kids who do not require this broken sleep can play .

My son has taken one nap since he was 12 months. The nap is 3 hours long, sometimes 3.5. I think your son can adapt to the center's schedule. Individual needs and preferences are great, but at a day care center with multiple children it is critical for them to have a set routine that everyone follows. The kids know what to expect, they all follow the same rules and routine, etc. It makes THEIR day so much more predictable and therefore enjoyable. We don't follow my son's day care nap schedule on the weekends and it works out fine. He knows he follows one schedule at home and one at home, although he is in full-time daycare. You may need to adjust your home schedule to help your daughter be happy at school.

Child care centers are regulated by the state to keep their license. They have very little say about it when they are regulated as to what they can and cannot do.

When a baby is about 10 months old, and still in the baby room, they usually start trying to get them down to one long nap during the day but allowing them to sleep more if they need it. They also sometimes will start letting them sleep on the cots at nap-time so that when they transition up they are not suddenly sleeping in a new kind of bed too. This is usually a wonderful time to switch them to toddler beds at home.

They need to get them down to the one nap so that the curriculum in the toddler room can be followed. If the licensing worker comes in to inspect the facility and it is...10am, the class schedule is posted on the wall plus the curriculum is available for them to look at. If they see children laying on cots asleep and others doing something else they can actually give an infraction to the facility. It is not following the plans, these plans are filed with the child care licensing office when they applied for their license and if they/the classrooms are not following the curriculum and schedule they can even loose their license.

Your child is old enough to be down to one nap per day. It won't be too long before he stops taking one all together. Even then, he'll still have to lay down and at the very least rest quietly, can be offered quiet things to do if he just can't fall asleep. They can't force them to stay on their cots for hours awake without something to do.They can ask the to be quiet and give the quiet options.

This is something you will have to change and adjust to. They cannot change the state regulations.

My son started daycare when he was 13 months old. He always wanted 2 naps until then. At daycare they would get him to nap once (12pm - 2 pm is their naptime) My son sometimes sleeps half hour, sometimes, 1. Now he has been there couple months and takes longer naps 1.5, 2,2.5 hrs.
Initially even I felt the same way. I wondered why they wouldn't get him to nap a little early in the morning and later again in the afternoon. That's what he was used to at home. Bt then I realized it's not possible to have him nap earlier in the morning, because they have snack, playtime, lunch and then naptime. So if he sleeps early he will miss playtime and lunch. He took a few weeks to get adjusted to this routine. When I picked him up in the afternoon , he would be so very tired and cranky. So many times he has slept in the car (we have a short 10 min drive) and there were many days he didn't wake up until next morning. I just let him sleep because I knew sleep is important to him. Even now( he is 16 months old) I still feel he will do better with 2 naps. These days if he takes a longer nap at daycare - about 2 hrs, he is fine and goes to bed a little early. But if takes a shorter nap , he still wants to sleep in the evening. And is still kinds fussy when I wake him up for dinner and then goes back to sleep soon after dinner. I know it's not the best for him, but he does have lot of fun in the mornings at daycare with all the activities they do with kids. I don't wake him up very early in the morning, so he does catch up on sleep.

My first took two naps until about 18 mo. My second around 16 mo. I also LOVE healthy sleep habits happy baby and recommend it to every new mom I know. I'd try putting him to be earlier on your work days so he doesn't loose out on so much sleep.

My DD's took 2 naps until she was closer to 2.

I think that all kids are different and it depends also. on how well they sleep at night. I'm not a big supporter of the milestone absolute sort of theory (ie, at 12 motnhs kids only take one nap per day; at 14 months kids should be saying "x' number of words; at 18 months kids should be blah blah blah...) I'd say that *some* kids drop am nap by 12 months, but MOST continue an am nap until 15-18 months or so.

Most of the time, I watch shift to one nap when they are having trouble going down for an afternoon nap at the time that they usually do... So if they are still taking an hour morning nap, but then not wanting to nap in the afternoon until after 2pm, I shorten their am nap to 20-30 minutes. It takes time for them to completely drop the morning nap. From what i have experienced, sleep begets sleep, so an over tired child doesn't sleep better than one who is getting adequate naps.

Are you an assistant at this daycare? You said it's a small one, so I am guessing that there are about 6 kids there total. What's the problem with letting the babies sleep when they need to?

If he is in daycare all day, then 2 naps isn't asking alot. If it is half day, then 1 nap is the norm.

My kid took morning and afternoon naps up to 3 yrs old...he started dropping around 3 1/2.

Usually when kids start dropping naps, they can go a few days w/o their usual naptime and then take a good long nap the next day or so.

If a child needs to sleep, a child needs to sleep!

This is one of many reasons I don't like the idea of centers. They are so big and trying to balance the needs of so many. You can't provide quiet time unless you darken the place and put everyone down at once. So how can you say that they can sleep on demand or that only some will take a morning nap?

In my daycare we have people coming and going at all kinds of crazy hours. There's no way that they would be ready to sleep at the same time. Sometimes they are at least tired enough for one community nap where the whole house is quiet for at least 45 minutes to an hour. But even that's rare. Someone will be dropped off, picked up, or be having a bad day and wake up screaming or refuse to go down. We have a big house and there are several of us here. So we can safely offer some bedrooms for them to sleep in. But the walls are not that thick and they will still hear others, doorbells, phone, etc.

The best thing I can do is to try and provide them a quieter place to sleep when they are tired and then if they are really tired and with the use of a fan, they may not hear the rest of the house. Imagine how that works in a center?

Now if it were me and if I could afford a big building, I'd create a room for nothing more than quiet time. That would be the room that children chill in when they aren't in the mood to share. That would be the nap room. That would be the quiet place they go when they need to calm down from a fit. I would staff that room with someone and it would not be for any one particular age. It would always have quiet toys, dim lights, comfy places to rest etc. But maybe that's not possible. I don't know the various rules for centers state wise. In essence though, we have that now. My mother is older and likes to sit a lot and her room is the quiet room. Though they also like to play with her and it's not always quiet. But it can be at a moments notice if need be.

Three of my kids took 2, 2 hr naps until they were 2 +. But most of the time it matters more how much sleep they are getting in 24hrs.
So typically, children this age sleep for about 11 1/2 hours at night and take two naps during the day for a total of about 14 -15 hours out of every 24. When your babe is almost 2 he may be sleeping about an hour less and have dropped one nap and try to sleep three hr at one time, or he might stick with 1, 2hr nap. But he needs to be getting about 13-14 hrs of sleep around 2yrs old.
Good luck
E.

I think its ridiculous for daycare centers to say that "when they are 1, they will only take 1 nap". That is crazy. If you read any of the books out there, they say its a transition from 2 naps to 1 between 12mo and 18mo. Why should your child have to adjust to the to the daycare center?? Why don't daycare centers want to do what is right for our kids?? 12 mo is WAY TOO early to only be taking 1 nap. Wow, I have never been a fan of daycare centers and this is one of the reasons why. My daughter took 2 naps until she was 15/16 mo and it was really hard transitioning her. It took a few more months... You can't force it. They need their sleep.