Lack of sleep bad for baby??

Lexnlinz

My DD does not like to nap at daycare. She sleeps for maybe a total of 1-2 hours a day at daycare (2 hours being rare). She will usually sleep for 1/2 hour at a time, sometimes even 15-20 min naps.She crashed out by 7 during the week since she hasn't slept all day. On the weekends she will take a great morning nap (1 1/2-2 hrs) and then at least one more decent nap. Is this bad for her health? She seems so exhausted when she gets home. The daycare girls tell me they try everything to get her to sleep, but she fights it, then wakes up quickly if she does go to sleep. Anyone else's LO do this?

fussbucket

My LO seems exhausted when he gets home too, I think it's pretty typical. Part of it is just how much excitement there is at DC, and part of it is probably sleeping a bit less than they would at home. FTR my LO sleeps about 3-3.5 hrs at daycare, compared to 4-5 at home, and he goes to sleep around SIX usually (similar to weekends).

As long as your DD's still able to take long naps on weekends and isn't waking frequently at night, I wouldn't worry too much about it. You're doing good by giving her ample opportunity to nap on weekends (i.e. you're not trying to run her ragged dragging her along on errands etc.).

susie985

I'm a SAHM so my DD doesn't go to daycare, but she is a terrible napper and naps like your DD does at daycare. I can tell she is exhausted during the day. I finally got her to STTN now (:: knocks on a huge piece of wood::). I'm working on naps, but they are much more difficult to train then night was. In your situation, it doesn't sound like there is much you can do. It sounds like you have a good thing going on the weekend though.

Violet_McPurpleson

We're hard pressed to get naps that last more than 45 minutes and my LO isn't in daycare. Not every kid is a great sleeper.

As long as they're getting enough total sleep they should be just fine. 

someflower6

my LO is in the same boat as you. she does not nap well at daycare at all, although when she's home with me she has no issues going down. most week days i'd say she gets 12-13 hours of sleep, and on weekends 14-16. sometimes i worry that the lack of napping is bad for her, but i remind myself that she's healthy, she's growing, she is meeting all her developmental milestones, and she sleeps when she needs to. is she cranky and overtired when she gets home from daycare? yes, and that sucks because i only have such a short time with her before her bedtime (which is typically 6:30ish). but i think lack of sleep is only truly detrimental when LO is seriously sleep deprived, not just one or two hours short on naps. kwim?

angiek941

PP, I could have written this post, except DS goes to bed around 6-6:30 every night because he's so tired. I have a very small window to get things done with him in the afternoon, but he sttn with a dream feed between 9-10 and takes great naps on the weekends. I think it's fine as long as they are getting significant sleep at night.

Lindsay2907

I would say since LO is going to bed earlier on DC days, they're making up for it!  Briggs does the same thing- although he's getting better about napping at daycare.  He just goes to bed earlier on those days.  

Try to look at the amount of sleep in the 24 hour period, rather than how its mapped out... if that makes sense?  HTH!