Starting Day Nursery - Routine Problem

[i-wei]

Mod - I looked everywhere for a suitable place to post this and finally decided on here but if it's not in the right place, then pls feel free to move it 

Aidan is currently on a 9-9 routine.  Wakes and eats breakfast at 9am.  Lunch at 1pm.  Nap from 2-4pm.  Small snack upon waking.  Tea at 7pm and then bed at 9pm.

Our childminder has just told me that she is no longer able to care for Aidan so we've decided to enroll him into a local day nursery.  The session is 8:30am - 12noon.  This means we'll have to wake him and have breakfast at 7:30am, they will give him a small snack between 10-11am and then I'll pick him up at 12noon.  When we get back he'll need to go down for his nap 12:30-2:30.  My question is, where does lunch come in?  Surely it's too long to leave it until he wakes up from his nap?  If we try to do it before his nap, I'm sure he'll be too tired.  Or shall I just give him a 9oz milk feed before his nap to keep him going?

BTW, he is 18mths.

[Mom to M&M]

As for his routine, I'd try to slowly move him earlier at night - maybe 15 minutes every three days until his bedtime is 7:30pm (since you'll be waking him earlier). I'd give him a small lunch/half of his lunch at 11:30 and the other half/big snack when he wakes if it were me. Good luck with the new nursery!

[i-wei]

The nursery doesn't do lunch until 12noon and they can only have it if they stay on for the afternoon session which LO is not.  When I pick him up at 12noon they would have given him a snack between  10-11am but I won't have time to give him lunch before his nap which will be at 12:30pm.

[workingmum]

That's interesting about the routine at the day nursery. DS (16mo) attends day care (same thing  I assume) in Australia and the routine for toddlers (roughly 15mo to 2.5yrs) is morning tea at 9am, lunch at 11am, sleep 12 - 2pm, afternoon tea after they wake up. This would fit in with your routine a bit easier I think.

My advice would be to experiment a little. I agree with making his bedtime earlier gradually as he will need it with the earlier waking. I would then try putting him down at 12:30 without lunch (maybe with some milk instead) and see how that goes. If he doesn't go down or wakes up too early seemingly due to hunger, then I would try the half lunch before, half after idea. Even if this makes his naptime later, you might just have to do it. Or even give him a full lunch first. I guess it's going to come down to whether hunger or tiredness is the biggest problem at that time and also throughout the day. Certainly my experience is that DS won't sleep at all, or well, if he doesn't have food first, and even if he has his nap late and wakes late, he still goes to bed at night without any problem.

I hope it works out for you. Keep us posted.

Melanie.