DD went to daycare yesterday and today for half days and starts full time next week. They have a "schedule" for the infant room (up to 12 months). The room has 5 babies in it - another baby who's 7 weeks starts Monday, DD is 12 weeks and then 6, 7 and 10 months. Their nap arrangement is to sleep in cribs. There are two set nap times, in the morning and after lunch, each is only an hour and 15 minutes. The last ends around 1:30 but daycare is open to 6 or 7, if extended day. Is it normal to only have two naps and for that short of time? She's not adapting to the crib the best and only slept for 25-30 minutes each time. Both days she has come home SO tired and taken a two hour nap late in the afternoon/evening.
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I would say this is not the norm. Our day care didn't have a nap schedule until the toddler room. A 12 week old and a 10 month old have completely different sleep needs. Our day care is much larger though so there are three different aged infant rooms so the kids are grouped more closely in age.
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@Truth Bombs: That's what I was thinking... There are two infant rooms so I don't know the ages in the other one, but I agree about age differences having different needs. I hope a second little one starting helps with my request for another nap. She's going to have such a hard time adjusting this way!
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I don't think that is normal. At our daycare they didn't schedule naps until after 12 months. They tried to follow the infants cues and put them down for a nap as needed. When my son was that little he still took 3/4 naps while he was there.
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No daycare that I've looked at it used has had scheduled naps for less than 12 months. Ours does try to help consolidate naps around 10-11 months though because 12 months and up has one two hour nap scheduled per day. With that said, my LO is 6 months and has never really been able to nap more than 30 mins at daycare. She did nap longer at home up until 5 months but lately naps have been short. I would recommend that she naps in her crib at home too though so that the environment is more familiar.
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Our daycare didn't schedule naps officially. But somehow they kept insisting on DS only napping at 12:30 (coincidentally the exact time all the other kids napped). I think part of it was getting them ready for the toddler room schedule and part was because they wanted a break when all the kids napped. I was so stressed about it for the first month. DS was always tired and taking micronaps, I even considered pulling him out. But he got past it. He started taking longer and longer naps, and by week 6 or so, he was taking one long nap in the middle of the day (still does 2 at home). The transition to the toddler room was a breeze. I wish I hadn't stressed so much. Give it some time, DS was 9 months when he started daycare. A 12 week old is even more adaptable.
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Nope not normal. Our daycare lets the little babies nap whenever and however long they need it. The parents give them an idea of how their current schedule goes and they try to put the babies down for a nap at the intervals that the parents request.
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That's odd. Infants at our daycare are allowed to nap on demand. DD takes 2 longer naps or 3 shorter naps. So does the daycare really not put babies to bed if they are exhausted outside of naptime? I wouldn't stand for that and am actually pretty surprised!
ETA: the quality of DDs naps at daycare are a crapshoot. Sometimes they're great, most times they suck. A lot of nights she's exhausted. We make the most of it.
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That is really odd. Two naps is not enough for a young infant. The infant room shouldn't have a schedule. Each infant is going to have their own schedule.
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Our daycare mentioned a schedule but we're very varied with the babies. Also there was a Range because it could take 15 minutes to get each baby down. So by the time the last one goes down the first may almost be ready to get up.
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That is so bizarre. We looked at 4 centers and each one worked on your schedule. So as many naps as you wanted. Two naps at that age definitely wasn't doable for my LO.
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Yeah, that seems intense. My kid didn't go to two naps until she was like 6-8 months old I think...
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I think I'd look elsewhere. They should be going with the baby's sleepy cues or your suggestions. Not the rigid schedule for all infants...
What do they do if an infant naps past the allotted time, wake them?? No.
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Maybe it's a flexible schedule based on when they are awake? I don't know. It's a facility with about a dozen locations in the tri-state area so I feel like they know what they're doing. My friend who recommended it said to ask for a third nap in the afternoon and that someone in her sons room did that. For all I know, they're following cues. It's just the schedule hanging that threw me off! FWIW, this is the schedule. Mind you, the folder I received when enrolling had schedules for 18+ months and said nothing about infants.
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Not normal in my experience. They put her down anytime she showed sleepy cues.
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@LindsayInNY: our daycare has a schedule like that on the wall too. However, DD is still allowed to nap as needed. I wouldn't sweat it. Just ask that they put her down a third time. My guess is they try to get them all on the same schedule for two naps.
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@LindsayInNY: both of our centers have had something like that but totally went off the needs of the babies until a year
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Our daycare did naps on demand in the infant room, but they also had one set time during the day when they would turn the lights off and play quiet music and try to get all the kids to nap. Unfortunately, DS never napped more than 45 minutes, 2-3 times a day until he was a year, he was just too interested in what was going on.
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Our daycare did not have a nap schedule in the infant room, and kiddos "napped on demand"....but that meant the room always had the lights on and was super noisy all day, and as a result, my poor baby hardly napped until she got older and moved to the toddler room where they all have 1 nap with the lights off. Then she started sleeping 2 hours a day.
She would be totally exhausted and slept from 5 pm till 7 pm for a looong time. She'd wake up long enough to eat and be back asleep by 8 pm.
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Umm, 12 week old infants are supposed to only nap twice a day, for a total of 2 1/2 hours?! That sounds completely ridiculous to me.
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Our experience is similar to @Anagram: In the infant room, we supplied them a schedule of eating/sleeping and they tried to follow it. The feeding is easier than the sleeping. You mentioned the crib as well. That's not optional for us here. Texas law requires it. So they might be rocked to sleep or fall asleep in a bouncer, but they are required to be moved to the crib flat on their backs. Once they can roll, then they can tummy sleep, but all sleep must be in the crib.
I would say daycare naps are mostly a crapshoot until they get to that toddler room with the one defined nap time with lights down. Most of the kids in our older infant class are now one nap (mine included at just shy of 10 months). Its early in my opinion, but it seems to be working okay.
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@LindsayInNY: oh by seeing that, I would totally ask them about her sleep and the schedule. The centers we have used have example schedules up but they really don't stick strictly to it.
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I would talk to them. Two naps at twelve weeks is not enough. Hell, my 22 month old was still taking three naps at a year.
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I agree with the others - that is not typical, but my daycare had a schedule on the wall too and they didn't really follow it at all. It was more of a goal to work toward by the end of the year (they operate on a school calendar) but they 100% follow each individual baby's schedule and day-to-day needs. I'm pretty sure in our state (TN) it is actually not allowed to put babies on a sleeping or eating schedule until 12 months and even then you are never supposed to wake a sleeping baby.
I would casually/gently ask about it and my guess is that they are trying to follow your LO's cues. Go ahead and provide them with your LO's schedule (which at this age I would guess is 3-4 naps every 1.5-2 hours) as babies in the stimulating environment of daycare may not always show the same cues that they ordinarily would.
At our school, the teachers would often rub the babies' backs or even rock them back to sleep to help them get used to napping longer in the cribs. For the first month or so, my LO was pushed in a stroller and then transferred to the crib. How many teachers are there? We had 6 babies and 2 teachers so it was a lot easier for them to help the babies with their individual sleep needs than larger daycares - which was one of things I loved about our school!
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