Can anyone give me any ideas on how to get their infant to take "good" naps at daycare? My daughter is 11 months old and typically does not nap as well at daycare as she does at home. She is at an in-home daycare with four kids total and she sleeps in a room by herself. Aside from not sleeping in her own crib, the only difference is that we run a fan in her room for white noise. That is going to be my next suggestion to her daycare provider. Typically, she will take a 1 hour morning nap and a 2-3 hour afternoon nap when at home. However, at daycare most days she only takes about 30 minutes to an hour nap all day. This does not make for a great afternoon :)
S., Does your daughter have a Lovey? A stuffed animal or blankie that she is attached to? Make sure she has that sort of thing with her. I am a daycare provider, I am wondering if she is waking up after 1/2 an hour and is just needing to soothe herself back to sleep when your provider goes to pick her up. Will she go back to sleep? I would just leave her alone for a little while to let her try to go back to sleep.
M.
I'd definitely start the white noise at daycare if that's what she's used to at home. I took a white noise machine to keep at daycare when my son was younger - he liked the sound of the ocean. He ended up taking longer naps at daycare than he did at home! Good luck.
Hi S.,
I as an In-Home child care provder myself, and a mother I can understand. All of my daycare kids go down for nap at the sametime.
My 2 kids that are at home are 20 months and 4 yrs. The other kids I watch are 21 months, 18 months, 4 months and 3 yrs. Even the 4 month old goes down with the older ones at afternoon nap.
I have a couple of suggestions
If she sleeps with something specific at nap, send that or the same with her.
Also make sure your provider is leaving her in there to nap for a reasonable amount of time. All of my daycare kids and my kids will nap for 3 hours or so. But if someone wakes up before that time like 30 minutes to an hour I go in and lay them back down. An hour is reasonable but mpt 30 minutes. Also it could be she is over tired and she feels she misses out on a lot taking a morning nap and she will miss out on taking an afternoon nap.
We did away with 2 naps a day about this age here because of this reason.
And the other part is her schedule and routine may be a little off from what yours is at home.
Anyway, whatever works just communicate with your provider on what the next step should be.
How odd? I am a daycare provider. We've always had children who nap better here (or nap when the parents swear they won't). Usually the routine and "group" activity lead to a sort of peer pressure, if you will. Certainly music or white noise as everyone is calling it is key too. Does your provider seriously not already use that, with 4 other children, HOW? I can't be quiet enough much less ensure that other children would be. You hate to have a nap ruined (and afternoon \ evening) because of a misc. noise! If she naps where the other children nap on the same equipment, she ought to "comform" easily. If that is not an option for some reason - replicating her sleep environment to that of home is probably the next best thing. A childcare provider should not have a problem with either of these, as it is in the best intrest of the child, them and you!! Nothing to lose!
hello S.,i do run a home daycare and i always run a fan in the room with the child. it does knockdown the noise from the other kids that dont take naps. and babies nap at different times sometimes than older kids. i really would suggest that you ask your daycare to run a fan. nap time is so important to us providers so we can tend to cleaning up after lunch, starting a load of laundry, or just propping our feet up for a second to catch our second wind.. good luck
I agree that sometimes we can't force them to sleep. But if they are putting her down in another room then she should learn to nap provided they are keeping the times consistent and the routines. I agree with running a fan for white noise. Do you know if the curtains are dark enough to keep the room dark? Also, what is the porta-crib like? If your daughter is not comfortable she would have a harder time. She is past most of the sids fear. Her mattress should be a little thicker now.
My 2nd daughter refused to sleep anyplace other than home. But she never went to daycare either. So we only had the problem when we visited family on occasion. I wonder how long your daughter has been going to this daycare? If it's only been a short time, then hopefully they will be patient with her.
Suzi
I so totally understand! My son was in daycare one day a week just to give me a break (my husband was overseas at the time and I had no help at all). I had explained to my friend/the daycare provider how important it was that my son stay on his naptime routine. It took us getting into a huge fight for her to get it through her skull. I would try talking to the daycare provider about your child's naptime routine and stres how important it is. You might want to take into concideration that your child may be transitioning to 1 nap a day. My son did it very quickly and with no problems. Other children can take up to a year and be miserable the whole time. Good luck!
I would try a small fan in the room for the white noise I have to have one also it really drowns out noises that maybe she hears.
Lots of good advice already here but I wanted to emphasize the importance of a similar routine to home ... and making sure when she goes down for her nap she has a full belly and fresh diapers so she is comfortable. Also check on the light level in the room. If it's not dark enough that could be waking her. My son napped better at daycare for a while until we started making sure the room was dark enough at home. Good luck!
My son used to nap twice for me. Once in the morning for about 30 min to an hour and for about an hour or so in the afternoon. At the sitter's, though, he only gets to nap in the afternoon. He slowly started to nap longer for the sitter after some time. When I started making him stay up (not take that morning nap) and then put him down about the time he does at the sitter....problem solved. It was much easier for me to follow her routine than her follow mine. He's 14 months and is going down for a nap without a fuss (used to have to be held) and is going to bed at night with little fussing and sleeping through (used to wake up at 1 a.m.). I noticed a difference when I got him to stay up. I don't know if you daughter goes to the sitter everyday or just a few times a week, but it wasn't hard for me since I only had him on the weekends during the day, she has him Mon-Fri, so it wasn't hard at all. Good luck.
Maybe you can send her there with a fav toy or blanket to sleep with and then with the fan if the daycare provider will turn one on for her, she will hopefully sleep great.
HI, S.. It will take a few weeks for your daughter to get acclimated to the day care sleeping arrangement, even more if she is part time. I agree with suggesting the fan idea. She may have a difficult time with the noise level at day care if everyone is not napping at the same time as your daughter. If everyone naps at 1, I would suggest cutting your daughter's nap to one long nap a day at the same time as the other children. She may take a while to adjust, but I think she will get used to it, and take good naps again.
Maybe the in home daycare can play sleepy time music. We do at our center for the infants/toddlers.
I always bring a favorite blanket and a soothing music toy (we have one that plays classical music). Though my 9 month old sometimes skips his nap in the morning because as the other poster states he wants to be apart of the action. I would say also they may just have to let her cry herself to sleep until she gets used to it.
good luck
M.
