daycare and naps

For those who started DC in daycare at or around 3 months, how did you DC's nap schedule develop? When DD started at daycare, she had no schedule. I would just wrap her in her miracle blanket and put her down when she seemed tired. Now, at daycare her naps are very erratic. Sometimes she sleeps 20 min and other times 2-3 hours. Some days she has 3 naps, some days she has 1. Will it eventually evolve? I hear of so many moms who really work on a schedule but since I am at work, I can't really do that and don't know that daycare can or will. What have you done?

Re: daycare and naps

I started DS later, at 10 months, but honestly, he naps way less at daycare than at home. He usually will nap for 1 hour once a day there. On the weekends, he naps for at least 2, 2x a day.

I think at daycare, they are just going to put her down when she is sleeping.

BUT we never scheduled naps here, so I am not that much help, sorry

Re: daycare and naps

My daycare puts him down when he is tired only. My DS has always been a bad sleeper.
At home he would sleep for 40 mins, i would have to rock him a little and he would sleep for another 45. Daycare doesn't do this. If he wakes up, he wakes up. His naps there are different from day to day. He usually will have one short one in the morning and a longer one sometime in the afternoon but he has had 1 nap per day, 2 naps and 3. IMO daycare def threw him off the schedule he had. But we have adjusted

Re: daycare and naps

DS has been in daycare since 3 months. Honestly, he went in with no schedule. And still doesn't have a schedule at almost a year old.

He is only there 3 days per week so perhaps it is because he is jostled around a lot during the week.

There were some phases where he napped great. And then some phases where he hardly napped at all. So I haven't been able to figure it out. They only put him down when he is tired. I think sometimes they miss his sleepy signs and let him stay up. And since the kid LOVES stimulation he probably didn't get cranky for them to tell.

Re: daycare and naps

DS went to daycaRE at 3 months and i told them of his schedule, but i assumed that it would change and they would devise their own and i was right. That is the great thing about daycare - they can help with the scheduling with naps.

Re: daycare and naps

DS started at daycare at 10 weeks and really wasn't on a very strict nap schedule. I let them work it out there based on when he seemed to need it. He really started and actual schedule at about 6 months. But his home schedule and his daycare schedule are different (he naps way more at home) and that's fine and it works. Even now at 14 months, they don't look at the clock and say , "Oh, it's 10, time to put him down". They go by how he's doing. So sometimes he goes down at 9, sometimes 10, sometimes 11. What's consistent is that he takes one nap. It does cahnge when he moves up to the next room and they do have a scheduled nap time in there I believe.

Re: daycare and naps

Message edited 1/21/2011 1:47:05 PM.

Re: daycare and naps

My girls started at 4 months and their schedules were also all over the place. Eventually as they got older they pushe to have them on the same schedule as the older kids. The whole school naps from 1-3. By the time they were 11-12 months they were on the 1-3 schedule.

Re: daycare and naps

Thomas started daycare at 4 months with no nap schedule. He napped irregularly there taking several short naps until he was about 10 months. Now he naps GREAT there!! Like clockwork 12 p.m.-ish to 3 p.m. - ish. On weekends I try to keep him on that schedule but it depends on what we are doing. They got him into a great napping schedule.