Daycare naptime is SO long, is this normal?

[Anonymous]

We are generally happy with DD's daycare center. She'll be 3 in July so she's in an older twos room, has friends, does well, decent amount of singing/dancing/art and they feed them which is awesome.

But we have access to the security cam footage for some of the day (video only, no audio), and I can't stop myself from checking in. I now know her current teachers put them on their cots at 12:30 and don't let up until 3. Is that normal? I could make my peace with 1-3 when that's what I thought it was, but this extra half hour... makes me kind of sad.

I guess some kids need a nap that long. Definitely not my kid. Most days she doesn't take a real nap. What happens I think is she's either just too inactive for too long, or she sleeps for something like 5-20 minutes and it wreaks havoc on her nighttime sleep. On weekends we power through the day, put her down a little early and nighttime is wonderful. I realize our options are limited as we are full-time working parents and can't dictate everything (or basically anything) that happens at daycare. But it seems like a long time for kids to be down.

[Anonymous]

The solution is to keep her up later so that she naps. Kids need time with their parents.

[Anonymous]

That’s fairly normal.

[Anonymous]

It’s normal but I hated it once my DD turned 3 and didn’t need it either. I’m fine with having them rest or have quiet time for 30 mins, but to make a non napper lay there for 2 hours is just cruel imo. They said she could look at books but that kills about 10 mins when you can’t read and the room is dark. It’s the reason one of us adjusted our schedules to work evenings and we pulled out of daycare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The solution is to keep her up later so that she naps. Kids need time with their parents.

I don’t work every day but I do work 12 hour shifts. So I have to get up at 5am on work days, I don’t need to still be entertaining my then 3 yo until 10pm at night because she took a 2 hour nap she didn’t need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The solution is to keep her up later so that she naps. Kids need time with their parents.

Well thanks for that! My kid is seriously the best and super smart and we love spending time with her. I can't force her to nap at daycare though, and whether she falls asleep early (7:30-8) or late (9:30-10) she still only naps at daycare maybe once a week or once every other week. So keeping her up at night and ensuring that she never gets the amount of sleep she needs seems like a pretty bad solution.

[Anonymous]

For starters, my kid takes a 2-2.5hr nap. And I think daycares are truly forced to provide a certain length of nap time to kids. But I know plenty of daycares and preschools that allow kids to get up after 30-45min if they haven’t fallen asleep and go play in a different area.

I did tour one preschool that said kids could get up after an hour “but only if they had lain quietly for that hour” and I remember rolling my eyes like, so you’ll punish the hyperactive and clearly not tired kid by making them stay in the nap room AN ADDITIONAL hour if he was clearly not tired after the first one?

[Anonymous]

I have an almost 5.5 year old still in full day daycare. Her whole class is 5 (just missed K cutoff class) and they are all required by local DC regulation To nap/ be on a cot for no less than 2 hours. Talk about messing up nighttime sleep. It’s totally normal and can be frustrating but not much you can do to fight it.

[Anonymous]

My kid is at a daycare in VA, and I know that legally they have to provide a 2 hour nap time for kids under a certain age (I think 5), so all the rooms below the pre-K room have a 2 hour nap. Now, my 4 year old tells me that they start setting up cots after lunch and listen to a story on tape while they are settling in, so I expect that is similar to what you are seeing. The official nap time is 1-3. If my kid is really not napping then I think they allow her to look at books, but she has to stay on her cot unless she's using the bathroom. We are counting down the months to being in the pre-K room and being done with naps at school though.

[Anonymous]

On the flipside, until recently 2.5yo DD was at an in-home daycare where naptime was 3hrs. Which I thought was long, but in retrospect she was well rested. Now she’s at a center where it’s only 2hrs and she comes home tired and way more difficult to deal with in the evenings. At home on the weekends it usually takes her a bit to fall asleep and then she’s down for 2hrs. So the naptime at the in-home gave her time to do this, whereas she’s not sleeping her full nap at the center.

[Anonymous]

my 4.5 year old is still in this loop. She does NOT need a nap - if she does she is up till 11. They still offer it and she'll nap like once a week and it will be hell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The solution is to keep her up later so that she naps. Kids need time with their parents.

Sounds like the solution to me. Mine only napped 45min at that age.

In defence of the daycare workers, they're probably getting to take their potty break, eat lunch like a human, do random chores etc during that time

[Anonymous]

Seems I be be normal for daycare and it’s maddening. DS wouldn’t fall asleep at night until 10 or 11 and then be exhausted when we woke him up. Then he’d nap at daycare for three hours and the cycle would start all over again.

Keeping kids up longer at night so they nap longer at daycare is unhealthy and nuts. Kids need solid night sleep and a short reset nap at three if they need a nap at all.

Daycares attitude is clearly that sleeping kids are easier for them.

[Anonymous]

I expect you will find that "nap time" or "rest time" of 2 hours is pretty common, even in this age. You can look up your state regulations, but offering a nap without distractions is required in most states (all states?) by law.

I support this, because if they are tired, they will sleep. If you decide to seek out a new daycare, you should specifically ask what they do for children who don't nap / fall asleep during rest time. A good answer would be that they let them do a quiet activity if they don't fall asleep after 1 hour (or something). A bad answer would be that they keep telling them to lay back down and be quiet.

[Anonymous]

Check state regs and see if they're requiring more than is mandatory. If they are requiring more than the regulations, that would be a red flag to me.