Daycare wants me to move around LO's whole schedule

meganjoey0728

My LO started daycare on Monday since I'm going back to work. He did 3.5 days this week. When I interviewed I explained his schedule and was never told that it would be a problem. He wakes at 7, nap between 9 and 10, second nap between 2 and 3, bed around 7:30/ 8. Daycare wants him to nap from 8:30-10:30 and 12-3. This forces him back to a three nap a day schedule and he is CRANKY!!! The daycare lady suggests we wake him up at 6 and put him to bed earlier. My husband doesn't get home til 6:30 and I want him to have time with LO. The schedule he is on he made himself and I hate to switch him, but clearly daycare is not happy with us. She quote needs the afternoon nap to do paperwork (aka sit around). What would you do? Sacraific the time with daddy? Find someone new? We signed a contract so I'm not sure about leaving. I know this schedule will be fine once LO goes down to one nap a day, but that isn't for a while right? HELP!

GdAsAu

meganjoey0728:

My LO started daycare on Monday since I'm going back to work. He did 3.5 days this week. When I interviewed I explained his schedule and was never told that it would be a problem. He wakes at 7, nap between 9 and 10, second nap between 2 and 3, bed around 7:30/ 8. Daycare wants him to nap from 8:30-10:30 and 12-3. This forces him back to a three nap a day schedule and he is CRANKY!!! The daycare lady suggests we wake him up at 6 and put him to bed earlier. My husband doesn't get home til 6:30 and I want him to have time with LO. The schedule he is on he made himself and I hate to switch him, but clearly daycare is not happy with us. She quote needs the afternoon nap to do paperwork (aka sit around). What would you do? Sacraific the time with daddy? Find someone new? We signed a contract so I'm not sure about leaving. I know this schedule will be fine once LO goes down to one nap a day, but that isn't for a while right? HELP!

What kind of contract? This sounds absolutely ridiculous to me! Daycare does not dictate ur LO schedule, you and/or ur LO do. I would def look at the penalties for leaving that contract but I would also first consider having a conversation with them about ur LO schedule and ur wishes to let him dictate his nap times. If they are not flexible, I would highly consider exploring other options. 

MrsNole

Your baby is still a baby and needs to be on his schedule.  Tell your DCP that you will not change his schedule and that she needs to follow any request that you make it that regard.  If for some reason she still pushes you to change LOs schedule then I would look at other daycare options.

jgoetz1

Daycare can suggest whatever they want, but you're the parent and you know what works best for your family.  He may change around his schedule after being in daycare for a bit, but until then they should be flexible and I definitely wouldn't change what you're doing at home just to suit their needs.   Good luck!

CurbsideProphet

I can understand trying to get everyone to nap at the same time. However at that age I don't think the issue should be forced or that they should be asking you to adjust your schedule at home to accommodate them. I also think a 3 hour afternoon nap is unrealistic.

Nita2603

Lurker butting in...

...now, I don't have my kid in daycare, but you pay the lady to watch your child, not to do paperwork. You are the parent, you make most of the rules. There is no way I would change his whole schedule around. I mean, she is not doing you a favor, you pay for her service. 

WeWearCombatBoots

Chiming in here, but it sounds like pure LAZINESS for them to want your child to sleep 5 hours during the time that they keep him! You are paying them to watch, feed, and I assume interact/play/teach your child. They really expect them to sleep 5 hours? I would tell them no way, that I expect more interactive time with him and he will stay on his schedule. Paperwork can be done after hours, and I would voice my concern that she is not paying adequate attention to the children if she is being distracted with paperwork while she should be caring for the kids. You pay her for watching your child, not administrative tasks. And what kind of paperwork could take 5 hours per day. I would tell them they have breached the contract by not providing full care to my child when it is required and I'm taking him elsewhere if they don't change that. 

erika1677

I agree with all PP this sounds like complete BS to me and if she can't deal with his schedule I would be finding someone else who can.

blu-eyedwife

I don't understand how the daycare schedule has ANYTHING to do with your schedule at home.  My kid has two different schedules - daycare and home, and he's fine and well adjusted.  Days he's home (on the weekend) he generally has 3 naps.  One around 9, one around 12, and one around 4.

He's 10.5 months, and for his age at daycare they're on more of a schedule (when he started at 5 months they let him nap whenever, now he has a "nap time" around 11am).  He only usually naps once at daycare around that time for an hour.  He's exhausted by the time he gets home, and usually has another nap at 5:30 while I make dinner.   We don't have to change the time he wakes up or the time he goes to bed.

I feel like maybe you're misunderstanding what the provider is saying.  I'm guessing that she expects the babies to take a nap between those hours - not sleep for the entire "naptime" period.  And since those hours aren't too far off from your child's normal naptime, I'm not sure why that would add an extra nap in.

brewcitybride

Our daycare, and all of my friend's daycares, adjust to the baby's schedule, on the most part. They would never tell me when my baby had to nap. I would have a problem with this.

noahchristopher

I would look for new child care right away. Of course, I am a sleep/nap natzi and that would be one of the most important things for me when looking for child care.

She should be a lot more flexible and work with you, not require you to change your whole system.

Your LO is on the exact same schedule as ours. It's a really common schedule at this agee too.  It is an awesome schedule and babies this age do great on it.  And we've worked hard to get here, as I'm sure you have too. I'm not saying a tweek would hurt you LO, but I think you can find a caregiver to work with you and not against you.