EASY and daycare

[Intransit]

I am going to be soon placing my son in home based day care 2-3 times a week. I am worried though, about his napping schedule and the caregivers schedule for naps. It seems most of them have it set out for the afternoon.....I worry because Lizwe is up for 2-2.5 hours from ie 7:30-9:30 am...down for an hour and a bit..then doesnt go to sleep until about 3-3:30  for an hour. And for the first nap he is extremely tired, and SO ready to sleep. How do I work through this? Should I change his schedule now, for the 2 days he will be in Day care?

[HeatherC]

Sorry you haven't received any replies.  Let's bump this up and see if anyone has a suggestion.

[jordon&dylansmom]

Is there any flexibiliy at all with the person who is providing the daycare?  I know we don't always have a lot of choices when it comes to daycare, which is unfortunate but maybe he/she would be willing to cater a little bit to your lo's nap schedule.  I mean, they don't want to have a grumpy baby on their hands for the whole day, do they?

See if they can make any accomodations.... Just a thought.

Cheers
Judy

[Kinlagh's Folks]

When dd first started daycare at 10.5 months, she was still on 2 naps/day, but the daycare routine was only one - and it was during her usual awake time.  If you're lucky, your daycare will be flexible as ours.  DD was able to have her am nap, but a little earlier than normal and then she went down for her 2nd nap with the other kids.  See below for the nap times.   It may require a little transition for your lo, including perhaps earlier bedtimes for a while until he's used to the new routine. 

Our routine was:
wake 7-7:30
nap 10:00
nap 1:30
bed 7:00

Their routine was:
nap 12-2 

So we asked for:
nap at 9'ish after breakfast
nap at 12:30'ish after lunch

They happily obliged.  We didn't even have to adjust her bedtime.  She just adapted to the longer afternoon awake time.  She was a little fussier the first little bit at night, but nothing really major.  And over time, maybe a month or 2, she ended up refusing her am nap (wanted to play with the others) and going down for the 1 nap only at the same time as the other kids. 

HTH!

[Jaime]

i would talk to them about what you would like to see and what can be worked out.  at 10.5 months, luke was taking naps around 9:30 and 2/2:30.  like Michelle said, he adapted to the awake time after about a week or so.  since there are other kids around, i think it made the adjustment easier. 

[Intransit]

Thank you for your replies. Good advice..thanks for sharing your experiences! One of the ladies I was really impressed with over the phone said the children nap 2 hours in the afternoon--I am assuming after lunch. Lizwe sleeps 2-2.5 hours after he wakes up in the morning(Lasts about 1-1.5 hrs)--and again around 3pm for 1 hour exactly (LOL) Never more! She also mentioned they go for outings some days in the morning before lunch. Since this is my first time a)baby b) daycare I am worried about so many aspects of this ordeal! I know it will work out..and Lizwe will adjust..but it takes time and reassurance I guess?
Thanks again

[Kinlagh's Folks]

I had a really tough time adjusting to the whole 1st baby in daycare as well.  I didn't know how it was all going to work, and I think that's a little bit of the EASY/BW in us fighting change.  But luckily our babies are much more flexible than we think.  Things just worked out.  PM me if you need to chat or run anything by me (a mom who has recently been through it).  HTH

[Leah's Mom]

It is surprisingly amazing how well they adapt to the changes at daycare. I know it is a scary situation to leave your LO for the first time, but it is really sweet to watch them interact with the other LO's there. Will your LO have to do one nap a day right away, or is the daycare willing to work around your schedule and do two?