My child is a monster after daycare

daisygirl2010 · July 2012

LO goes to daycare 4 days a week. She's gotten to be SOOOOO difficult on daycare nights. The 3 days she doesn't go, she's so much more pleasant. I know its because she's super tired, but she just won't go down earlier than she does now. Ideas? Suggestions? I know they try to get her a second nap at daycare, but she just doesn't sleep well with all the excitement.

Help. I'm tired at the end of a work day and I just wish I could enjoy my child.

She had me in tears tonight. Feeling really frustrated right now. I've said it since day one, I'm totally not cut out for motherhood - but trying my hardest.

amatistajoy · July 2012

How long has she been attending this daycare?

daisygirl2010 · July 2012

For almost 10 months. She's always happy to be dropped off and happy when we show up to pick her up. So I don't think its that she is unhappy - I think she's just overstimulated & overtired. Now that she's a toddler, she's in a larger room with more toys, activities, etc (which is totally age-appropriate) but it wears her out. When she's at home we have quite a bit of mellow time and she naps about 2 hours. At daycare, she only naps around 1 hr.

jlsimon56 · July 2012

My daycare makes LO wait until 12 for a nap, and there's only 1 nap. She still needs two naps, and the first should be at 10. When I get her, it's too soon for a second nap, but too long to go to bedtime. She's just a grump.

Your LO should be able to do 1 nap (based on her age). Does she have a lovey thing you can bring to daycare? We are working on that now, trying to get LO to attach to a lovey (instead of needing to twirl my hair) to get to sleep.

laurakaz13 · July 2012

The PP's have given good advice. I just want to say, I'm sorry! Hang in there.

sugarbear0524 · July 2012

It seems like the daycare would have mellow time/rest time built into the schedule. I know 2 nap times a day for a toddler room isn't going to happen, but I would think there would be some quieter time (teacher reading to the kids while they rest?) that would be beneficial. Do they do anything like that?

amatistajoy · July 2012

I'm sorry. I bet you are doing a better job than you think. DS takes two one hour naps at home (9am and 1pm). At daycare, he naps for two hours around 12 or 1pm. However, I can tell he is really really tired when he gets home. He does seem to be all over the place but is usually not a terror when overtired and I give him a snack right away. I found that helped for my own sake. I like PP suggestion of water/snack/walk. Hang in there!

daisygirl2010 · July 2012

CTGirl30:
Might be that the transition from daycare (super stimulating) to home (calmer) might be tough for her. Especially if she's very tired at the end of a long day.

I've found myself frustrated to the point of tears, too, when I'm struggling on rough nights with DD...what helps us both is this - as soon as we walk in the door at home, I immediately give her a sippy of water & a snack. She's often really thirsty and hungry (despite eating lunch and both an AM and PM snack at school) and it helps to address any physical needs first. Then I put her in the stroller and we take the dog for a walk around the neighborhood. Helps to just wind down a bit - then we come inside and she's more relaxed to sit down and eat dinner.

We all have moments where we question ourselves - so I get it. But the key to focus on is the "trying my hardest" part. That's all anyone can ask. Hang in there.

Thank you this is a great suggestion! And thanks for the kind words. Some days I feel like I might be the only one struggling so hard. I have more patience than I ever knew I had - but even then, it has its limits!

daisygirl2010 · July 2012

Thanks everyone for the input. I mentioned it to the administrator at daycare today - and she said they'll give her a larger snack in the pm, especially on the days she's there till 6:15. She also thought some of it might be that she is hitting a big milestone (just started to talk!) so that might be. I know with other milestones we struggled through some bad times as well.

Thanks again. Nice to be able to come here and not feel so alone with the frustrations. I don't know how I'm gonna make it through the toddler years - but I know I have to!!

CarlaAndJames · August 2012

I was going to suggest the snack thing too. We went through this bigtime right at the one year mark, and I discovered that she was in a crazy growth spurt and was coming home starving! I started walking in the door and putting her right in her highchair, and feeding her until she stopped eating. Some days she'd eat for a couple of hours! Then she grew an inch overnight

My child is a monster after daycare

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