Daycare moms - nap schedule?

MOMama987 · January 2014

Does your LO have a similar / same nap schedule at home and at daycare? LO does not... he is in a room with older infants / young toddlers and they have a mandated "nap time" when the lights are dimmed and they have quiet time. He doesn't typically sleep this whole time (I think it's two hours) but he will generally sleep for over an hour - sometimes almost 2. Lately, that's the only nap he's taking there, though.

At home, he usually takes a morning nap, and depending on what our day looks like, usually 2 (shorter) afternoon naps. He very rarely sleeps longer than an hour at a time at home (other than nighttime, knock on wood.)

Obviously, his day at daycare is very different than his day at home, so should I bother to try to get the naps time the same? In general, I'm not big into schedules and for the most part, have followed his cues for when he needs to sleep. I'm not certain that daycare really does this, though...

We've asked them to try to get him down for at least another afternoon nap, but he's not feeling it.

Oohgurl · January 2014

Just go with the flow. We are not anywhere near DC's schedule. They can keep him entertained and up for much longer stretches than I can so he takes 2 longs naps there. At home he takes more shorter ones. Although he takes more at home he is more tired at the end of the day opposed to when he is at DC.

bes12 · January 2014

At home h usually takes a morning nap 30-60 minutes and then a long 1.5-2 hour afternoon nap. At the sitter she puts all of the babies down at like 12-2. However, she doesn't force them to stay down for 2 hours but she does force them to lay down at 12. She has 4 babies h is the youngest at 8 months and the oldest is 13 months (much like the baby room at a daycare). So no he doesn't take the same naps at home and at the sitter but it works for us!

delino · January 2014

She's in a group daycare so ages range from 7m-4yrs. They have a nap/quiet time from 1:30-3:00. She goes down whenever she slows sleepy cues in a darker gated off infant area, which can be anywhere from once to three times per day and typically 2. Some days there's so much going on at school that she will barely nap. At home she's much more consistent with her naps, but I don't go based on a schedule. When she's sleepy she takes a nap. I only try to get her bedtime as consistent as possible.

MOMama987 · January 2014

Thanks all. I guess I won't sweat it. He napped really poorly today, but that was unusual. I might see if they can try to get him down for an earlier morning nap; I think that might help a little. Who knows....

flyliceandcoffee · January 2014

At school, S is in the infant room and in that room they get their naps whenever they start acting tired which is pretty much what we do at home as well. She sucks at napping so she usually takes 3 or 4 half hour naps throughout the day, and if we're lucky the same thing happens when we're at home.

I know once she moves up to the next room (usually around age 1), they start a more regimented day so they have scheduled naps. That'll get interesting and we'll see what happens then!

Angela183 · January 2014

My LO can also nap whenever at daycare. She only naps about a half hour, twice a day there. She is always way too interested in what's going on to sleep longer than that. At home she naps longer, usually about an hour, sometimes more. I always say that we must be boring at home.

MeeksandMads · January 2014

crazycoffeegirl said:
At school, S is in the infant room and in that room they get their naps whenever they start acting tired which is pretty much what we do at home as well. She sucks at napping so she usually takes 3 or 4 half hour naps throughout the day, and if we're lucky the same thing happens when we're at home.

I know once she moves up to the next room (usually around age 1), they start a more regimented day so they have scheduled naps. That'll get interesting and we'll see what happens then!

This is us exactly! 3-4 30 minute naps. Not a minute longer. But that is true at home, too... Ugh.

smg2302 · January 2014

Not the same at all. DD cat naps at daycare and will pass out on DH for 3 hours at a time at home.

bhjones1980 · January 2014

MJ is on a great nap schedule at "daycare", which is my SIL house with only her kids.

He goes down for two naps a day at almost the exact same time every day and sleeps for a consistent amount of time when there.

10am - 1 hour nap
2pm - 2 hour nap

we try to stick with the same schedule on the weekends, he is really good for his morning nap on the weekends, except sometimes he goes down a little earlier (like 9:30am) and it is always an hour

his afternoon naps on the weekends tend to get messed up because of our schedules, if we have something to do, etc, but if we are home he usually gets an hour in the afternoon (we never get the illusive 2 hour nap at home)