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I have a new DCK just turned 1 year old. He is only part time 2 days a week. I really need some advice for naptime. He gets a bottle before nap but screams as soon as he is laid down in pack and play. Even if he falls asleep while having his bottle he will wake and scream as soon as I put him down. He will cry the entire nap time with me going in every 15mins to reassure him. I make aure he is clean and not gassy. Currently he goes down for nap at 10am and 2.30. He arrives at 9am. My own kids nap(ped) great. Advice???
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I would ask the mother what's this baby's routine on the days he is not in your day care and work with the parent in keeping the same routine every day of the week. I would also question this parent on how she puts him to sleep... i found out several times that some parents lay down with the child the entire nap and that caused the challenge you are facing now. When having part time kids it is even more important to have parents teaming with us on how things are done. Good luck! -
He doesn't have a set routine but the mom says they are working on it. They also pick him up when he cries or hold him during nap but they are working on that too.
Is there any chance he will adapt to our routine here even though he might not be in a steady routine at home? I am not sure that 2 days a week is going to be enough to see him settle here. He is a lovely little boy so I would like to be able to work things out.Comment
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In my only 5 years on this job I found out that this depends alot on the child's personality. I had different kids with this same issue, my approach was always the same (first try to have the parent on board about doing the same routine and when parent did not cooperate I continued working on the routine that was best for my daycare), but I had 3 different results: Some kids adjusted to my routine after a few days... other took a couple of months... and I had 1 girl that from 8 weeks of age and until she was 18 months she never changed and kept yelling during the entire nap time even when her schedule changed to only 1 nap after lunch (her mother slept holding this child the entire nap and night) . I gave up and termed her!Comment
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Any child I've ever had that was only 2 days a week or less never fully adapted and I noticed myself dreading the days that he/she would attend.
I only provide full time care now and have NO issues when it comes to nap.Comment
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I have never had good success with young part timers. I will take a part timer that is around 18 months or so but anyone younger always ends up being a problem with either crying or naps, or both. daycare and part time babies 90% of the time are not a good mix. i dont even try anymore with that combo.Comment
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exactly...
Do you have room and can they afford to send him full-time for two weeks? If they agree to that, and also agree to "tough love" him at home, then I'd consider keeping him.
Your other kiddos don't sleep until 2:30 pm? Or you have him on his own schedule? You could try one nap at 11:30, have lunch at 11, then some routine thing you do every day, then everyone says night night..tuck everyone in (him last). That way he sees everyone is napping at the same time. White noise helps to for everyone's sake. If you don't like that nap time, you can adjust it by a little bit each day then until it's back to your current time.
At 13 months, typically I have them nap at 9-10, and 12:30-3. I have had the occasional one that can go 1 nap that early.
It's a lot of work for so little mullah though...
also: He doesn't go to sleep with the bottle, does he? At over a year, he really should be done with it completely, and going to bed with one is a major safety hazard and horrible for his teeth.Comment
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Typically in Canada we get daycare kids entering daycare for the first time at 12-13 months, right after maternity leave ends. Some have been rocked to sleep, or sometimes slept with or held during nap. I had one little one just not settling into naps AT ALL for a few weeks, when finally the mom let me know she goes down to nap with her bottle of milk. Least I knew then what the trouble was. I've had 2 part timers, one 1 day a week to start, and the other 2 days a week to start that adjusted fine. They had spent time at Aunties or Grandparents before though too, and the families tended to stick to a consistant routine. I find full timers adjust by 2-3 weeks, and some part-timers are closer to the 5 week mark.
Good luck!Comment
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I agree with a PP it depends on personality. Give it a few weeks to a month. Also, let the parents know that if the child is not adjusting to your nap schedule, you will not be able to keep the child. I fought with parents for 6 mos on this, it wasn't until I told them that I wouldn't continue to care for their child that they actually got on board and stopped the madness at home (They were swaddling their older infant, then routinely giving a bottle in the crib, not keeping a consistent schedule. Also, this infant was with me T/Th, gma M/W/F, parents on the weekends.) Finally, the infant would sleep 1.5 hours in the afternoon (at about 16 mos).
If I considered a PT infant again, it would be a situation that the parents only needed care a couple days per week, not that the infant was being cared by someone else the other days.
MnMum married to DH 9 years
Mum to Girl 21, Girl 18, Boy 14.5, Boy 11Comment
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I have the space for him to come full time but I don't think they could afford to/would agree to that. I only have 1 other that naps, my son in his own room, who naps 9.30/10 - 12 and 2.30-4. I have the radio on low in the room he is in. Switching lunch isn't an option for a variety of reasons but I appreciate the suggestions.
I'm almost certain he doesn't go to bed with a bottle - he certainly doesn't here. I meant he fell asleep drinking from his bottle while I was holding him. He slept for an hour this afternoon and not at all this morning. They have just started transitioning him to whole milk in a sippy cup at meals.
I think I am going to have to talk to them about some tough love...Comment
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I would try doing just an afternoon nap. My dcks typically switch to 1 nap around that age.Comment
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Same here. I only take full time kids and my life is so much easier because of it. I would definitely not take an infant for only 2 days per week. That's not enough for a routine to be set at your daycare. I had a parent try to enroll an infant for only 1 or 2 days per week once and the baby cried nonstop. She couldn't get used to me and our routine. I told the mom she needed to increase to full time or I had to stop care. The mom stopped care and yelled at me for it. I assured her it was in her child's best interest, as it isn't fair for her child to cry for that long and isn't fair for all of the other children to have to listen to that all day long. She was really mad. That same mom saw me a couple of years later at a McDonald's. She came up to me and apologized profusely and said that after thinking about it she realized that I was only trying to do what was best for her baby. She then paid me the daycare money that she had stiffed me on. It was weird but it did make me feel great about doing the right thing. If you think it's not going to work, it's better to terminate than just let the baby cry nonstop. First I would try asking the mom to increase to full time though or maybe just try full time for a couple weeks to see if baby gets over it.Comment
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We have quite a few part-time older infants and it is always harder than a full-timer. The first thing I would probably try is cutting out the morning nap. Most of ours aren't napping in the morning anymore once they turn one. We do have one who does, but he was a 26 week preemie.
What do you do to try to get him to sleep? I find that most kids around this age will go to sleep with dark, music, a blanket, and a gentle, rhythmic patting on the bottom.Comment
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