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Ugh, I'm so sorry! Naps at daycare are rough. Is it accurate to assume based on your description that the cribs are in the same area as the play space? That has to make it extra difficult.

Our daycare has a separate room for the cribs. It's enclosed by a half door and a curtain on the upper half so they can easily peak in and hear the kids. They keep it dark in that room and will often run white noise to help the babies sleep. But it still doesn't guarantee a good nap or any nap at all. Xander definitely naps better at home where it's nice and quiet and there's nothing to distract him. Babies who are supposed to be napping but aren't can wake him up and he can still hear the other room, despite the white noise.

How long has your LO been at daycare? Maybe he just needs to get used to it? Or if he's been there for a while, I'm not sure what to suggest...

@ShootingStar: Ugh, that really sucks. Is there anyway that they can try to rearrange the rooms to provide a little more separation between the crib area and the play space? Does your son use white noise at home? Maybe you could bring something in for them to keep under his crib and that would help drown out the other sounds??

@ShootingStar: Yeah, I'm not sure! Hopefully someone who has a daycare setup more like yours will chime in with some good advice!

In the infant room, cribs are in a separate area as well; in between the two rooms. But LO was a crap napper and always only napped 20 minutes. They were really great about just getting her to nap! We didn't care if it was in the crib or swing or bouncer.

There are scheduled room nap times when the room goes dark and the music goes on. But obviously if your child needs to nap on a different schedule they accommodate.

My LO isn't in daycare but from ones we've toured, the one I worked at, and ones I've done coursework in... This is honestly normal. It isn't the only thing that's out there but it's not out of the ordinary either. I really dislike it too but with ratios and all the babies on different schedules it is what it is. We're they busy when this happened? Because that could affect things too. Then you get some parents that want their Los to cry it out and those kids are mixed with the ones whose parents don't and try might alsobe having a rough time napping. It's tough. I'm sorry, I know it must be so hard to pick up an overtired baby every day. I still think its worth bringing up to the teacher(s) and seeing what they say...

His very own sleep sheep army! I like that! Sorry to hear about the nap issues. I don't really know to what level my son's naps are a success. It's only been 3 weeks since he started daycare, and the recorded naps have been a little all over the place. My guy is also in a room where the play and sleep happens pretty close by. I think the one thing that they do is lower the lights.

R had major issues napping at day care, from the beginning. She is just nosy and doesn't want to miss anything. The cribs were in one section, divided by a half wall with the rest of the room. But the changing table was next to the wall, where R's crib was. They had to put her in the corner cause she would sit/stand up and watch everyone otherwise. They wouldn't turn the lights off cause they said then they couldn't see in all the cribs. Frustrating. We brought in a white noise machine to put under her crib and it helped for awhile.

But honestly nothing helped till she moved up rooms and everyone naps at the same time. Even now if another kid wakes up early, and makes noise, R wakes up and wants to play with that kid. The teacher said she will wake up and see all the other kids are sleeping still, and will go back to sleep.

At the center i worked in this was pretty much the norm. We did try to speak quietly, but there was only a half wall between the infant and toddler rooms so it was always always loud.

@ShootingStar: We used to send a Sleep Sheep with her to attach to her crib. Not that it helps the absolute mad house but the white noise maybe did something.

My LO goes to a small home day care and its not much better there. They have all the babies sleep in rock 'n plays. Once we sleep trained, my LO couldn't sleep in those and needed to lay on his tummy. They ended up having him sleep in a pack and play and I brought in a sleep sheep to help with all the noise. I also bring in sleep sacks and told the teachers about our going to bed routine (read books, songs, etc), so they try to do the same thing there when putting him down.
He only goes one day a week so I try not to stress about it, but if your LO goes to daycare more often I would definitely talk to the teachers and see what ideas they have to help him sleep better.

@MrsHansen82: most centers don't have set times until after 1. Infants can be 6 weeks or 11 months, so there is a HUGE nap difference.

I can totally relate.... We have many sleep issues and i'm sure the low quality naps at day care doesnt help them. Fiona goes to daycare 4 day/week. It takes close to an hour in the car each way and she usually sleeps.

When we first started at this center 0-18 months were in one room. She refused to sleep in a crib, so if she fell asleep in a seat they would just let her sleep. She would often take cat naps in the teachers arms. She would take 2 really short naps like under an hour

in the last month they split the room but decided she would be better of as the youngest of the older kids rather than the oldest of the younger kids. They typically have more of a scheduled nap time but it meant getting her from 2 naps to one but she has started napping 2+ hours plus in the car.