I need to start nap training LO because he's naps are terrible. He will only nap at daycare for 20 minutes. He is a much better napper at home. For daycare moms, how did you nap train your LO? Did you give them an exact schedule of nap & bottle times? I don't want to be the crazy mom, but my LO needs to nap. The naps are so terrible I'm considering pulling him out of daycare and getting a nanny.
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That is so frustrating and I'm sorry you're having to go through it. Do you know why he isn't napping well?
DD was the same way but we didn't get to nap train her at daycare. She is a terribly light sleeper and very alert. She would always take horrible naps at daycare, if any at all, because every little noise would wake her up. Unfortunately, there's nothing I could do besides talking with the ladies there and telling them our routine at home. They try so hard to follow it, but we're lucky if she gets one nap out of it. (At home, she'll take two 1.5-2 hr naps) I've seriously debated getting her headphones to drown out the noise.
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The only way we got naps out of my son at daycare when he was in the infant room was when they swaddled him. Some days were better than others but because our daycare didn't follow a specific routine for all babies (each child was allowed their own schedule), some babies were awake while others were asleep. Certain times during the day they would turn off the lights in the room and play with quiet things for the babies that were awake so the light sleepers could get some higher quality sleep. Overall, my son had to learn to sleep with some ambient noise.
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I didnt want to drive myself crazy worrying about it so I just let them do their own thing with regards to naps at daycare. She has her own routine there which is different from her home routine. She didnt sleep very well there at first but in the end she has gotten used to sleeping with the noise so its been a good thing
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At first I tried to micromanage and asked them to nap him every 2 hours (this was a few months ago when he started). About a month ago, I could see that this schedule was not working since he would take very short naps there. So, I told them it was ok to take him down to 2 naps at daycare. He now naps at 9 and 1 at daycare. The 9 am nap is usually short (40 minutes....) but the 1 p.m. nap is 1.5/2 hours. The afternoon nap is long because the entire daycare is quiet and dark (and they play soft music) then. The daycare is open air with high dividers amongst all of the rooms, including toddler rooms....which is why he does not nap much in the morning when it is loud. He has very long awake periods at daycare, but it doesn't seem to affect his naps at home (he usually takes naps at 8:30, 12:30 and 4 at home. Also, I know that they let my son take his bottle to go to sleep at daycare. Not ideal, but at least he's napping. This is coming from the mom of the world's worst napper from age 4-6 months.
As for bottles, he has them at sort of set times there too (but primarily because he takes bottles every 3 hours). He has cereal at 8/8:30, a bottle at 8:30/9, a solid meal at 11:30, bottle at 12:45, bottle at 4.
What's the napping set up at daycare? Do they ever try to nap the babies at the same time? Do they ever use white noise/darnkess? Can you put blankets over the sides of his crib so that he can't see all of the action?
At this age, I think babies do well with set times for naps and bottles so maybe try to get them to do naps at specific times so that he gets into a routine? I know you love the daycare otherwise and soon B will only need 2 naps so I hope it works out until then!
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@winniebee: There are no set times for naps, they let each baby do their own thing. And they don't dim the lights, I feel like that would help B a lot. I'm just so frustrated that everytime I pick him up, he falls asleep in the car and then sleeps for 2 hours until I have to wake him for bedtime, so I get NO time with him awake at home during the week.
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@Mrsbells: How long did it take for the naps to improve?
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@littlek: i take it he is in the infant room. when does he move up to the next room? do they do scheduled/dimmed lights for older kids? maybe you could ask them to nap B in that room when they take their naps?
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@winniebee: I'll ask today. I asked why they didn't turn down the lights and they said they weren't allowed to because since they are group care they have to have the lights on to monitor breathing. Maybe it's an infant room thing?
I just called and we got one nap in this morning, 40 minutes. Not great but better than the nothing he got yesterday. Hopefully, he will get in a long nap this afternoon.
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@littlek: Interesting. Tyler is in the infant room and the lights are dim there, too. I think if any of the infants wake during that time, they take them to the office or kitchen, though.
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@LittleK my LO had the same problem until she was 4mo old, at which point the problem became that she napped badly at home too!
I tried not to worry about it too much because I knew that they were trying to put her down whenever she showed her sleepy cues -- she just has less interest in staying asleep when there are fun things to do. At 8mo, the pattern is that she sleeps for about 2 hours every day, usually either 2 shorter naps at daycare or 1 longer afternoon one, and then a little nap on the way home. She's sleeping well at night (12-13+ hours -- not STTN but wakes once quick to eat), so I'm choosing to believe LO just hasn't read the book telling her how she's *supposed* to nap.
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@KayKay: I think my LO is not aware of the recomended nap time either. His night sleep is pretty good, he gets about 11 or 12 depending on if he wakes up. I just hate that when I pick him up all he does is sleep, I get no time with him awake. He's 7 months old. He used to nap pretty good at daycare but one of the teachers left and they got a new one and I don't think the new one spends as much time with him. He falls asleep in there arms and when they put him in the crib he wakes up. When he wakes up, they just give up on his nap.
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@LittleK it's definitely frustrating, and early on I almost pulled her out of daycare because I would stress about it every. single. day. One thing that really helped me was switching LO's primary caregiver at daycare. I had similar concerns as yours about her original caregiver not doing what I thought she should -- not that I had any evidence of it; I would just look at the daily report, see a 20 minute nap, and assume that that caregiver did/did not do something to cause it. Once I switched to one that I had more confidence in, I could look at the daily and say "hmm...she must not have been tired this morning." For whatever reason, my gut just trusts this new caregiver more. Are there any options for something similar with your LO? Or could you talk to the caregiver about what you'd like her to do?
As for not getting much awake time with LO during the week, that's a whole nother ballgame that I haven't been able to resolve yet, either. I just try to remind myself how the no-wake-time-days feel when she decides not to nap most of the weekend
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@littlek: Also if it makes you feel any better, my son only sleeps 10-10.5 hours overnight, on the very rare occasion 11. And sleeps about 2.5 hours of naps during the day, so really only gets like 13 hours of sleep in a day.
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