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DD goes to sleep more easily at daycare?!
The ladies at my DD's daycare were telling me how easy she goes to sleep and what a good, sweet baby she is. I agree with all of it except for the sleep thing! They say that when they notice she's tired, they just put her down for a nap and she falls asleep with no fuss. She does not do this for us. We try everything when we notice she's tired - swaddle her, feed her, rock her, hold the pacifier in her mouth, even walking out of the room until she starts to cry and then going back and starting it all over again. Sometimes it takes over an hour to get her to nap and then sometimes she just won't nap and we have to give up and try again later. Sometimes she is fussy, but most of the time she is happy and smiley and seems like she just wants to play. I have no clue what these people are doing differently! This difficulty going to sleep is even happening sometimes at night now and even overnight when she wakes up. She just wants to smile at me and chat. I try to avoid eye contact and that doesn't work either. Any thoughts? I don't think she is overtired. When she's overtired, she is a total mess and has a really awful grunting cry. So I don't think the fighting sleep is due to being overtired, but I could be wrong.
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Re: DD goes to sleep more easily at daycare?!
DD does the exact same thing. They swear that they just put her in her crib and she goes right to sleep, and will nap for 2 hours (!!) when at home it is a major ordeal to get her to go down for 30 minutes. After thinking about it and trying different things for months, I really think she is just looking for more Mommy and Daddy time. I try to take it as a compliment, even though it does frustrate me sometimes.
Sometimes I really wish they had webcams at daycare because I would love to see this actually happening! It is so hard for me to picture.
This is actually really common. Babies can have totally different routines at different places. It is likely just the group enviornment and seeing other babies do the same thing that makes her do it at daycare.
With you she just wants to BE with you and snuggle.
I know its frustrating but try to see it as a good thing. She is sleeping really well when she is not with you which will solve other problems later on down the road. She will get there with you too!
I actually am on the flip side of this issue- my DD will not sleep at all when she is at daycare. And keeps the other babies awake! It makes me wish that we had started her there a bit earlier so she could have done more what your DD does and have a seperate routine there.
My mom watches DD - and just sent me a message that she napped for 2 and a half hours! This is unheard of when DH and I have her all day. For us, her great naps are about 1 hour and she'll take three a day. In the 9 hours she's with my mom she naps for at least 4 hours. It does mean that we are starting to be able to skip the evening nap and just bump bedtime up a bit, which means we get more time to spend with her at night.
In other words, I'm in favor of babies napping more while mom and dad are away if it means more time with them at night!
This is us too! DS naps for 2 hours at home but only 45 min. at daycare, he just doesn't sleep well in a PnP with noisy kids around and he comes home exhausted and cranky. Just be glad your DD naps well in a place other than her own crib, it means you will have an easier time travelling with her too!