Started nursery pt, now always tired & miserable

[sarah13h]

Hiya.  Little Man is 25mths & has just started nursery this week, Monday & Tuesday fulltime.  I've posted about this before, when I was trying to change his routine in preparation for starting.  Previously, he'd wake at 6am, nap from 11-1/1:30, and then go to bed at 6pm.  He'd been doing this for almost a year and it worked brilliantly.

In the few weeks leading up to him starting we moved his nap back an hour, so he was napping 12-2/2:30, with the same awake & bedtimes.

Now, however, with the start of nursery, it's become apparent that he's just not getting enough sleep overall.  He's still waking at 6am or earlier when dh, ds2 & I get up.  On Mon & Tues he napped from 12:50ish-2/3...but he wouldn't fall asleep until 7/8pm.  So I'm guessing that overall he's getting between 1-2hrs less sleep each day.

Today I've put him down for his nap at 12:30 (would have been earlier, but he had a massive tantrum about changing his nappy - this is soooo unlike him) and I'm just going to let him sleep til he wakes up.  Yesterday when I went in after 2hrs he just cried & asked to sleep more.  And for the past 2 days he's woken up in the morning crying (definately not the happy boy I usually wake to).

Any thoughts about what I should be doing to ease the transition?

[skatty]

I'm also having problems with nursery naps so I feel for ya! I personally would put him down at the usual nap time of 11 the days he is home with you then there are only 2 days of missing out on some sleep and that will help to keep the OT at bay. On nursery days can you compensate with an earlier bedtime? My DD is not really napping at nursery and she is in bed for 5pm, it is hard but if I can get her back on track again it is worth it!

[clh]

{{hugs}} hun!  Many lo's have trouble adjusting at first & go thru a period of OT-ness.  I think Kat gave some great advice to go with your "normal" routine at home, even if it's different from nursery.  We *still* do that.  And in the extreme, when daycare moved them to 1 nap, they'd still have 2 on the weekends at home to help them catch up.  And do try the earlier bedtime on nursery days.  That helps us when they have a transition. 

[sarah13h]

Thanks guys.  I'll give that a try and see how we get on.  That'll probably help get him back on track with his bedtime of 6pm.  We're also coping with yr2 molars coming through, which definately doesn't help.

One question though.  On nursery days should I ask them to limit his nap?  Currently they let him sleep til he wakes up, which can often mean 3pm.  But that means he's not tired at bedtime (6pm), so he'll often play in his bed until 7 or 8.

[skatty]

Personally I would ask them to limit it, I consider naps to be a break in the day to avoid OT and that night sleep is the restorative important sleep. Please send some of those nursery nap vibes our way 

[sarah13h]

~~~~~  Oooh, definately sending nursery nap vibes!  ~~~~~

I'll ask them to limit his nap to 1hr next week then & see how we get on.

Thanks!

[skatty]

Maybe he could have more than 1hr, how long is he taking now? 1½ hours is a good nap I reckon. Thanks for the vibes, hoping we get some sort of nap today!

[sarah13h]

At the moment he naps easily 2-2.5hrs.  But his naptime at nursery starts at 1 and bedtime is usually 6pm.  When he's napped until 3 at home, he's stayed awake until 7/8.

So, if his nap starts at 1, and bedtime is at 6...

[skatty]

Wow that is a late nap for daycare  I don't suppose they can put him down at 12.30? Maybe you could try a 1½ hour nap (or even 1hr15 as that is 2 sleep cycles), he is getting so tired at nursery he may surprise you and go down easily at 6 still. I think the problem is that long A-time he is having before his nap on nursery days, my DD is 4 months older and cannot handle that long, she is OT by then and skips her nap completely 

[sarah13h]

Thanks for the advice.  We'll go for the 1hr15/30min nap, as that makes sense.  And ask for the earliest start to his nap as possible.

I'm going to have a quick word with them tomorrow, as we've had the absolute worst weekend with tantrums.  Yesterday I had to do wi/wo for nearly an hr at bedtime before he'd fall asleep...and today it took another 45min of wi/wo before he'd fall asleep for his nap, and then he woke after 45min crying.  It doesn't help that he's getting his 2yr molars either.   

Can I just ask though, how long have you been dealing with nursery nap problems?  Please tell me it'll get better soon!

[skatty]

We actually had a nap everyday apart from the first for the first 3 weeks and then she got a dreaded molar and they were getting her down too late and she skipped 3 naps in 1 week and the other 2 were 20 minutes!! Isn't it awful having no control over naps? She gets put down anywhere from 11.45-1pm!! We have asked for them to try and commit to a window of 12.15-12.30, I hope it helps. The molars do cause a lot of problems so that wont be helping but I would still talk to them and ask them to commit to a time so you can work your schedule out. I have been told by a few other parents that their kids started taking better naps at nursery after a while but there are people on here that have LOs that naps have definitely deteriorated with the start of daycare  If you can get them to put him down as near to the same time as nap at home I think things will improve for you