Eliminating naps at daycare

kderham

DS is getting older (almost 3 years) and it is now very clear that nap time is no longer happening or beneficial to him. He won't nap at home on the weekends but sleeps great all night long - 8pm - 7am which is what his sleep time has always been. However, when he does take a nap (only really happening at daycare) he won't go to sleep until 10pm! That's insane and just something that we can't accommodate. I have tried just leaving him in his room at night but he ends up making dangerous choices - climbing on his dresser/bookshelf and jumping off, etc. I spent a lot of time this weekend researching ways to get him to nap and sleep and I've come to the conclusion that the nap just isn't helpful for him. Great! We can eliminate it at home no problem. But when I approached our daycare provider (home daycare setting with 6 children) she was less than enthused. She said she is required to provide rest time to the children. I checked the regs which state that a child needs to be offered rest time but not exactly sleep and if they don't fall asleep within 30 minutes, they need to be given an age appropriate "quiet time" activity to do. I found a bunch of suggestions but those are more at-home solutions than feasible for a daycare setting (busy bags, daily quiet time boxes, etc.). The sitter did agree to try some things out but I have to come up with what those options might be. Does anyone have any ideas? Has anyone had a similar situation at their daycare? In larger corporate settings they have a "no-nap class" but I really like where he is at and he is doing very well there. I really don't want to switch providers. 

Bigboobsmcgee

My 3 year old would be a terror without a nap! I think you need to approach the daycare lady again and tell her about what you have researched. I'm sure she's holding on to nap time for dear life because that's the only break she gets in the day but it's screwing up things at home for you. She needs to find a quiet activity for your son when he doesn't nap. Maybe she can come up with some ideas?

discohiker

I am facing this same problem! We told them he has to be woken up after one hour and that helps.