Nap time at daycare (3-4 years old)

[Anonymous]

My daughter is almost 4. We are struggling a LOT at nighttime. It's almost 10 and she's just falling asleep. The problem is nap. Our school (it's new for us) seems to allow a 1.5 hour nap. That sounds really long. How long is your nap time at daycare?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is almost 4. We are struggling a LOT at nighttime. It's almost 10 and she's just falling asleep. The problem is nap. Our school (it's new for us) seems to allow a 1.5 hour nap. That sounds really long. How long is your nap time at daycare?

Been a long time but sounds about right. There was maybe 45 minute nap in kindergarten. My teenager has turned into a vampire, up half the night. Sleep struggle is cyclical hopefully she grows out of soon. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is almost 4. We are struggling a LOT at nighttime. It's almost 10 and she's just falling asleep. The problem is nap. Our school (it's new for us) seems to allow a 1.5 hour nap. That sounds really long. How long is your nap time at daycare?

Been a long time but sounds about right. There was maybe 45 minute nap in kindergarten. My teenager has turned into a vampire, up half the night. Sleep struggle is cyclical hopefully she grows out of soon. Good luck.

That sounds normal for me, too. She's probably stuck in a cycle where she's not getting enough sleep at night because she stays up so late (and then has to get up early enough to go to daycare, so no catch up in the morning). And then she's sleeping for the full nap time because she's so tired.

You could try doing a reset over a long weekend, where you move up bedtime to earlier in the evening, limit her to a 1 hour nap, and repeat for all three days.

I would bet most of the kids in her PK class do not sleep the full 1.5 hours, but I don't think it's weird to let a kid who seems to need it sleep that long, especially if she seems like she might be overtired from staying up so late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is almost 4. We are struggling a LOT at nighttime. It's almost 10 and she's just falling asleep. The problem is nap. Our school (it's new for us) seems to allow a 1.5 hour nap. That sounds really long. How long is your nap time at daycare?

Been a long time but sounds about right. There was maybe 45 minute nap in kindergarten. My teenager has turned into a vampire, up half the night. Sleep struggle is cyclical hopefully she grows out of soon. Good luck.

That sounds normal for me, too. She's probably stuck in a cycle where she's not getting enough sleep at night because she stays up so late (and then has to get up early enough to go to daycare, so no catch up in the morning). And then she's sleeping for the full nap time because she's so tired.

You could try doing a reset over a long weekend, where you move up bedtime to earlier in the evening, limit her to a 1 hour nap, and repeat for all three days.

I would bet most of the kids in her PK class do not sleep the full 1.5 hours, but I don't think it's weird to let a kid who seems to need it sleep that long, especially if she seems like she might be overtired from staying up so late.

But that's the thing...during stay at home order she napped NEVER and even on weekends she never naps. She goes to bed at a normal 8-830 on the weekends and sleeps until 7-730. So she needs 10.5-11.5 hours a day and when she goes to daycare 1.5 are fulfilled at daycare, so that only leaves 9 overnight. She wakes up around 7 at the earliest so that's a 10pm bedtime! Way too late! She just fell asleep and it's 10pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is almost 4. We are struggling a LOT at nighttime. It's almost 10 and she's just falling asleep. The problem is nap. Our school (it's new for us) seems to allow a 1.5 hour nap. That sounds really long. How long is your nap time at daycare?

Been a long time but sounds about right. There was maybe 45 minute nap in kindergarten. My teenager has turned into a vampire, up half the night. Sleep struggle is cyclical hopefully she grows out of soon. Good luck.

That sounds normal for me, too. She's probably stuck in a cycle where she's not getting enough sleep at night because she stays up so late (and then has to get up early enough to go to daycare, so no catch up in the morning). And then she's sleeping for the full nap time because she's so tired.

You could try doing a reset over a long weekend, where you move up bedtime to earlier in the evening, limit her to a 1 hour nap, and repeat for all three days.

I would bet most of the kids in her PK class do not sleep the full 1.5 hours, but I don't think it's weird to let a kid who seems to need it sleep that long, especially if she seems like she might be overtired from staying up so late.

But that's the thing...during stay at home order she napped NEVER and even on weekends she never naps. She goes to bed at a normal 8-830 on the weekends and sleeps until 7-730. So she needs 10.5-11.5 hours a day and when she goes to daycare 1.5 are fulfilled at daycare, so that only leaves 9 overnight. She wakes up around 7 at the earliest so that's a 10pm bedtime! Way too late! She just fell asleep and it's 10pm.

Do you put her down for a nap, or just let her skip it? Staying on the same schedule as daycare might help her get into a better cycle. Even if she won't nap at home, putting her in her dark room for quiet time will trigger her circadian rhythm in a similar way.

Otherwise, I suppose you could ask the teachers to wake her from her nap at school earlier, but that might be a tough convo. I know they can be pretty militant about the schedule, and they may use the nap time for cleaning or eating their own lunches and such, so it might not work to try and have them shorten up.

Sorry I can't help more. Good luck! Sleep at this age is always really tricky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is almost 4. We are struggling a LOT at nighttime. It's almost 10 and she's just falling asleep. The problem is nap. Our school (it's new for us) seems to allow a 1.5 hour nap. That sounds really long. How long is your nap time at daycare?

Been a long time but sounds about right. There was maybe 45 minute nap in kindergarten. My teenager has turned into a vampire, up half the night. Sleep struggle is cyclical hopefully she grows out of soon. Good luck.

That sounds normal for me, too. She's probably stuck in a cycle where she's not getting enough sleep at night because she stays up so late (and then has to get up early enough to go to daycare, so no catch up in the morning). And then she's sleeping for the full nap time because she's so tired.

You could try doing a reset over a long weekend, where you move up bedtime to earlier in the evening, limit her to a 1 hour nap, and repeat for all three days.

I would bet most of the kids in her PK class do not sleep the full 1.5 hours, but I don't think it's weird to let a kid who seems to need it sleep that long, especially if she seems like she might be overtired from staying up so late.

But that's the thing...during stay at home order she napped NEVER and even on weekends she never naps. She goes to bed at a normal 8-830 on the weekends and sleeps until 7-730. So she needs 10.5-11.5 hours a day and when she goes to daycare 1.5 are fulfilled at daycare, so that only leaves 9 overnight. She wakes up around 7 at the earliest so that's a 10pm bedtime! Way too late! She just fell asleep and it's 10pm.

Do you put her down for a nap, or just let her skip it? Staying on the same schedule as daycare might help her get into a better cycle. Even if she won't nap at home, putting her in her dark room for quiet time will trigger her circadian rhythm in a similar way.

Otherwise, I suppose you could ask the teachers to wake her from her nap at school earlier, but that might be a tough convo. I know they can be pretty militant about the schedule, and they may use the nap time for cleaning or eating their own lunches and such, so it might not work to try and have them shorten up.

Sorry I can't help more. Good luck! Sleep at this age is always really tricky.

They offered to wake her up but say "she's too tired she doesn't wake up". Getting her down to bed between 8-9 and ends at 10. I'm not sure she'd participate in quiet time on the weekends. Ive tried but can try again.

[Anonymous]

Mine did this- 2 hours - but I think that included the time getting to the room, finding the cots, etc. This is why I switched daycares. Because of covid my schedule is a bit more flexible so I am doing a shorter day. Her new place is 9-3 with a 20 minute rest time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine did this- 2 hours - but I think that included the time getting to the room, finding the cots, etc. This is why I switched daycares. Because of covid my schedule is a bit more flexible so I am doing a shorter day. Her new place is 9-3 with a 20 minute rest time.

Is it in Bethesda by any chance? I think it might be mandated actually.

[Anonymous]

My almost 4 yo also doesn't nap on the weekend, but will get in about 45 min at daycare. Sometimes she skips it completely.

If you're starting bedtime at 8-9 and sleep actually happens at 10, try starting your routine earlier. I get my daughter home around 6/6:30 pm and we start setting the stage for sleep almost right away. She has dinner, then we go straight into bath and books, with sleep happening by 8 pm, 7:30/7:45 on the days she skipped the nap. Maybe your daughter also needs a long period to wind down fully?

[Anonymous]

2 hours total time allowed. It’s the reason we pulled out of daycare, loved everything else about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My almost 4 yo also doesn't nap on the weekend, but will get in about 45 min at daycare. Sometimes she skips it completely.

If you're starting bedtime at 8-9 and sleep actually happens at 10, try starting your routine earlier. I get my daughter home around 6/6:30 pm and we start setting the stage for sleep almost right away. She has dinner, then we go straight into bath and books, with sleep happening by 8 pm, 7:30/7:45 on the days she skipped the nap. Maybe your daughter also needs a long period to wind down fully?

we start as soon as we put the baby down, by 730pm. I can't read books for 1.5 hours.

[Anonymous]

Same struggle with my 4.5 year old who naps at daycare but hasn't napped at home in over a year. Daycare was willing to work with us to shorten nap to an hour, but that doesn't really solve the problem. Bedtime is still long - we read from 7:30-8 with him and then send him upstairs to play quietly with limited items (nothing noisy, mostly books and puzzles). It's not great, so I'm looking forward to K.

[Anonymous]

This is such a common problem. Can you ask daycare to give the kid a book/silent toy to play with on her cot so she stays awake? One way to fix this would be to eliminate the nap at daycare since she doesn’t seem to need it.

[Anonymous]

In VA they have to offer a "rest" time for two hours during full day care. If she lays down and doesn't sleep, that's fine. But if she falls asleep, most will not wake her up.

My only advice is to WEAR HER OUT in the afternoons. No TV, lots of running.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is such a common problem. Can you ask daycare to give the kid a book/silent toy to play with on her cot so she stays awake? One way to fix this would be to eliminate the nap at daycare since she doesn’t seem to need it.

Her teachers claim she does need it no matter how much they try to get her to stay awake. She had a good idea though, to stop bringing in the nap mat. Maybe if she isn't blanketed she won't sleep as long. I know I nap much longer and deeper in my bed than on the couch.