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Daycare naps were hit and miss the entire time she was in the infant room (12-18months). Now that she's in the toddler room, her naps are amazing. I never knew why.

He naps better at home, for sure.

At home he takes a morning and afternoon nap 1-2 hours each. At daycare, the morning nap is short, like 30-45 minutes and afternoon nap varies, but is usually 1.5-2 hours. Daycare is open air with dividers for all rooms - so the infant room does have morning nap but the older rooms do not. The room plays soft music and dims the lights. But, basically, there are kids loud and playing within earshot of the room. So my son doesn't nap long in the morning. In the afternoon, the entire facility has nap time from 1-3....so the lights are totally off and soft music plays. I still think my son wakes up sometimes from another baby crying in the afternoon, which is sort of unpreventable.

At home, my son sleeps with blackout blinds and white noise too - I don't think it has really impacted thigns. I figure he might as well nap well somewhere!

@mediagirl: My LO is super nosy too. Thats why she never naps good!

My poor 3 month old baby only took 3 x 20 min naps on Monday. Poor baby!!! I'd forgotten to bring her Sleep Sheep... with the sheep (or actually just the sound box for it, since stuffed animals aren't allowed), she was sleeping somewhat better, with a 30, 45, and 60 min nap last Friday, for example. Still, WAY less sleep than she'd been getting at home (where she takes 3 naps, 1-3 hrs each). I am off on Tuesday and Fridays and I'm not sure whether to let her sleep all day to catch up, or to try to keep her on some sort of schedule... probably the right answer is the schedule, but it's going to be rough!

I need to swaddle wean at home since they don't swaddle her there... I think that's part of the issue.

I bet lack of sleep is another reason daycare babies get sick so much... it must be terrible for their little immune systems.

@winniebee: Not to be a negative Nancy, but what benefits are you thinking of? I need more reasons to be okay with daycare!!!

I know there are more opportunities for socialization, more structure, oversight, etc., but only the oversight really seems to apply to young infants...

I'd love to hear more positives!

@cascademom: Glad to hear that re: your brother's kids! I think I'm just nervous because my nephew has been SO sick since he started daycare. He was in the hospital for 5 days with RSV, has had constant ear infections, had to get tubes in his ears, etc. - that is really my only point of reference.

ETA: I put J in daycare though because I felt better about the oversight there... I felt like the chance of something terrible happening to her was lower than with hiring a stranger to be a nanny or going with a stranger for in-home daycare. If I could have gotten a personal recommendation for a nanny or an in-home daycare with a low child:caregiver ratio, I would have gone that route. Hopefully it will all work out!

@winniebee: thanks!!!

@winniebee: With daycare, the worst we've had on colds was broncholitis during Christmas. All of us are recovering from a cold he brought home. It's the first time we've been sick in a couple of months. My dude is learning Spanish too. His favorite daycare lady barely speaks English, but loves the infants. My daycare lady recently posted a flyer for approved babysitters. We're using her approved one on Friday for our first outing without friends watching LO. For us, our daycare is a wonderful fit.

My daughter has *never* been a good napper. Until around 9-10 months she pretty much never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the day. Now she has finally started taking longer naps at home, and she is much happier for it. However, at daycare she still only takes her 30 minute naps. Some day she only takes one single 30-minute nap, and then I have an incredibly cranky baby on my hands in the evening. I'm hoping that once she moves up to the next room at daycare where they have a set naptime, she will sleep better. In the baby room there is always so much going on that she never wants to sleep.

@winniebee: It took us awhile for him to adjust to daycare. We had some bad habit stuff that with her guidance we broke like independent playtime, screeching, and CIO. It sounds worse than it is. The owner of the daycare is a little older than me and almost the same age as DH. When she said that she was proud of us for doing CIO this week, it felt great. Everyone in our family's made progress since he's been there.