Our 4 year old recently started a full day Pre-K program where they are allowed a 30 minute nap/rest period during the day. Her prior daycare program include up to a 2 hour nap! She's really struggling with this change. So my questions:
How much total sleep does your 4 year old get in a 24 hour period?
What time is bedtime/wake time?
How long is nap?
Do I really have the only 4 year old around that needs a long nap?
grapefruit / 4731 posts
I don't have a 4 year old but my almost 3.5 year old doesn't nap... he pretty much sleeps 11-12 hours overnight though. We are bad and usually he sleeps from 10pm (sometimes later) to 10am (or later if he sleeps later) the next day. He doesn't go to school he just has grandma care right now.
He only naps when we do a very physically active thing like go to an amusement park, swimming, and a children's museum and falls asleep in the car. Which in turns makes his bed time really late!!
nectarine / 2180 posts
@MamaG: My DD will be 4.5 at the end of this month. She dropped her nap right around her 4th birthday. We have quiet time/rest time every afternoon instead. She falls asleep about once a week, I'd say. Once she dropped her nap we moved her bedtime back to 7 pm (it was 8 pm). On days that she naps, she's usually up late, so I'm happier if she doesn't nap, but she really does need it some days.
We have had a lot of bedtime battles with her, though. She likes to stay up late reading in bed, or to get out of bed 50 times because, "I don't like to sleep." I'm not sure if that's just her or if it's typical of her age.
pomelo / 5298 posts
Okay, so our struggle is DD is exhausted in the evening (and probably the afternoon too). Her exhaustion is displayed in bad behavior - think hyperactive. She fights sleep horribly until you actually get her in bed. Tonight she was sent to bed at 7:30 (skipped most of our nightly routine) because her behavior was just so rotten. She was asleep by 7:45.
I wake her at 6:40 and she's slow to get moving. It takes us nearly an hour for her to use the restroom, eat breakfast, get dressed and brush her teeth. We need to leave at 7:30 to get her little sister to daycare and then her to school before 8:00.
We don't typically all get home until about 6:00. By the time we get dinner on the table and eat, it's virtually 7:00!
I'm really struggling to make this work for our family. And I know our struggle at home in the evening is because she's tired.
kiwi / 649 posts
@mamag- The child I nanny is going to be 4 in the very near future and naps 3-4 hours daily. I don't foresee them stopping nap anytime soon. They really need the nap and if they skip it they become a monster. I know a lot of their preschool friends have already stopped nap, though.
honeydew / 7444 posts
@MamaG: your kid probably needs that long nap because she wakes up early and goes to bed late. They say that you need total of 11-12 hours of sleep until age 5. Do you think that you could send breakfast with her so that she can eat there and sleep in a little bit?
DD1 is 3.5 and needs 11 hours at least. Any less and she will throw a tantrum in an instant. Her preK program only allows 1.25 hours of rest time so I'm hoping it will extend her night sleep a bit. She only gets 10 hours or less at night, requiring a big nap during the afternoon.
pear / 1703 posts
@MamaG: Thats a long day for your little girl, but the reality for so many. At age 4, LO was no longer napping but sleeping from 7:30pm - 8:00am.
If her pre-k program just started, she may just need a period of adjustment, even up to 3 months. At 5.5 years I noticed a dramatic reduction in the number of hours LO needed each night. From 12 to just 10, which is a big change!
Going from a 2 hour nap to just 30 mins must be tough for her, and in turn tough for you. It will get better as DD and the family adjust to the new routine.
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
Mine dropped his nap at 3.5 and they no longer have rest time in his 4's preschool class. He is fine without it, but I try to make sure he has a solid 11-11.5 hours of sleep a night, typically from 8ish to 7ish. When he gets less than that for a few days, I definitely start to notice that he's crabbier and more likely to throw a ridiculous tantrum for no reason.
pomelo / 5298 posts
@Freckles: At daycare, she ate breakfast there which afforded us more time in the morning. We don't have the flexibility with her new program. It's actually in the public school and they are in class at 8:00.
And I think she could be more efficient in the morning if she weren't so tired. It feels like a viscous cycle. I know I can't be the only one with this problem. There are lots of working families!
I'm trying to see if I can feed her a breakfast on the go in the morning. Something fairly portable that she could eat in the car without making a mess.
pomelo / 5298 posts
@Mrs. Yoyo: I love the idea of her sleeping until 7:00am. What time do you head out in the morning and what does morning routine look like for your family?
nectarine / 2180 posts
@MamaG: Mornings are so tough! My DD's preschool doesn't start until 9, but even when she gets up at 7:30, she drags her feet, so I can sympathize. Can she eat breakfast in the car? Some Bees have had great ideas: muffins, mini quiche, yogurt smoothies, breakfast cookies...sometimes we've even done dry cereal or the Clif Z-Bars.
pineapple / 12566 posts
My son is 4.5. He goes to full day daycare and his age group doesn't nap at all. He could still use the nap though and we almost always have him nap on weekends and vacation. His overnight sleep is generally 11-12 hours and when he does nap, he can easily sleep 2-3 hours.
nectarine / 2085 posts
Needing a long nap of at least an hour, but usually 1.5 hrs and sometimes 2, seems totally normal to me for a 4yo. Mine definitely needed one (which is not to say that he didn't fight it with everything he had 99% of the time!). I think a 30 min. nap/rest period is far too short. I still send my 5yo back to bed when he comes out after 30 min. during "nap time," and he gets 10.5-11 hours of overnight sleep on average. He actually naps about 5 out of 7 days a week, and there is a clear (negative) difference in his behavior when he doesn't.
I would ask the program director and teachers if they can build in some more flexibility with the nap time. I would think that they're dealing with a lot of tired children in the afternoon and that can't be fun or good for anyone. Surely there is something else in the day that can be cut short in the interest of letting the children properly recharge.
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
@MamaG: we would be a mess without nap! Sometimes on the weekend she can go one day without a nap but catches up the next.
For the morning we have resorted to a car. Real fast sometimes because she's so slow to eat. Cereal in a bag, squeeze pouch, plain waffle or bagel and cream cheese. It save a bit of time.
Another option I've heard is to let them shower with you in the morning. It wakes them up and avoids a step at night.
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
@MamaG: Sorry, didn't get a notification. He heads out at 8:30 for preschool, so even waking up at 7/7:30 we have plenty of time. Usually just wake up, get dressed, head downstairs for breakfast, and then play/read a few books before going. I don't do elaborate breakfasts -- just waffles/fruit/oatmeal, etc.
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