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I have a pretty new program - I've just been running since early december with a 17 month old and my 11 month old daughter, with an 8 week old coming at the end of next month. I'm licensed for my basement and first floor - the basement is devided into 3 separate rooms, and I'm using 2 of them as designated daycare space, a playroom, and what I anticipated would be a little napping room for babies while bigger kids play. (Although I could use the 3rd room, kind of an office right now, to put a child down in.)
Right now, the toddler doesn't take a morning nap, but my daughter does, and it seems to be working ok that he sits quietly in the living room and I put my daughter down for a nap in her room upstairs. The amount of time he'll sit quietly has been getting shorter and shorter though, and I'm betting it won't be long before this just doesn't work at all. Technically, all the kids should nap on the same level of the house according to my state regs, but she's a light sleeper and desperately needs naps, and since she's my daughter, I can put her wherever, so that's how it is for now. I'm just sort of anticipating things will get shaken up a bit when the baby comes in March, so I'm looking for ideas for how to do naps - particularly the morning one.
One thought - instead of spending our morning on the first floor, I could start the day in the basement and let toddler play while I put down my daughter and the baby in the various other basement spaces. My only concern is that one of the rooms has no window, and I know that its important for babies to nap in natural light so they develop healthy sleep cycles. I also am skeptical that the toddler can play quietly and indepenently in a room full of toys while I get smaller kids down.
The other option is to keep doing what I'm doing - just add the baby's crib somewhere on the first floor, get my daughter down, and try to keep the toddler quiet. The issue there is that my first floor is one giant open floor plan - no doors to shut, no way to keep from waking the baby while I try to quietly entertain the toddler. I'd still like to keep PM nap on this floor too, so that I'm not stuck in the basement all afternoon while kids sleep (regs also require me to be on the same level as the nappers). Also I wonder if for consistancy's sake, nap has to always happen in the same place, whether it's morning or afternoon.
Anyway -sorry so long, I'm sure that whatever I come up with i'll end up adjusting, I think I just have a lot of anxiety around naptimes, since it took me so long to come up with the arrangement I have now - for just 2 kids! I just think I've got a lot to work with, just curious how others would use the space!
Right now, the toddler doesn't take a morning nap, but my daughter does, and it seems to be working ok that he sits quietly in the living room and I put my daughter down for a nap in her room upstairs. The amount of time he'll sit quietly has been getting shorter and shorter though, and I'm betting it won't be long before this just doesn't work at all. Technically, all the kids should nap on the same level of the house according to my state regs, but she's a light sleeper and desperately needs naps, and since she's my daughter, I can put her wherever, so that's how it is for now. I'm just sort of anticipating things will get shaken up a bit when the baby comes in March, so I'm looking for ideas for how to do naps - particularly the morning one.
One thought - instead of spending our morning on the first floor, I could start the day in the basement and let toddler play while I put down my daughter and the baby in the various other basement spaces. My only concern is that one of the rooms has no window, and I know that its important for babies to nap in natural light so they develop healthy sleep cycles. I also am skeptical that the toddler can play quietly and indepenently in a room full of toys while I get smaller kids down.
The other option is to keep doing what I'm doing - just add the baby's crib somewhere on the first floor, get my daughter down, and try to keep the toddler quiet. The issue there is that my first floor is one giant open floor plan - no doors to shut, no way to keep from waking the baby while I try to quietly entertain the toddler. I'd still like to keep PM nap on this floor too, so that I'm not stuck in the basement all afternoon while kids sleep (regs also require me to be on the same level as the nappers). Also I wonder if for consistancy's sake, nap has to always happen in the same place, whether it's morning or afternoon.
Anyway -sorry so long, I'm sure that whatever I come up with i'll end up adjusting, I think I just have a lot of anxiety around naptimes, since it took me so long to come up with the arrangement I have now - for just 2 kids! I just think I've got a lot to work with, just curious how others would use the space!
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