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Does anyone have advice on how to get a 9 month old on a schedule? She is my only full time dck right now in addition to my own 2 children, but I do have part timers as well. She is a sweet baby, but seems tired all the time and cries a lot. Dcm often tells me that she didn't sleep well and they had to move her into their bed. They don't let her cry at all. Since she doesn't sleep well at home I never know how to plan our day here. Sometimes she is asleep when she comes at 6:30. Other days she wants a nap at 7:00. Still others she isn't tired until 8:30. And then there are days where she will stay asleep from the time she gets here until 11:00 and go back to sleep for a couple hours in the afternoon. Here, she sleeps well when she's tired. I lay her down and she goes right to sleep, But I just don't know how to get her sleeping at the same time each day. If she's overly tired she just crawls around and cries but if I lay her down and she's not tired enough yet she sits in bed and cries. I'd like to have a general schedule for her before I start new dck to make the transition smoother. How do you work schedules with babies that are under a year? Do you just go with the flow or keep them to a schedule. I feel like I'm pretty go with the flow until 6 months, but after that I want to know what to expect from our day. I do circle time and preschool with my son and I'd like to be able to have a set time for this each day because he and I both function better with structure/routine. I understand being flexible, but we're all over the place right now and he constantly asks me what we are doing next b/c he doesn't know what to expect from our schedule.
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You need to have a talk with the parents. Explain that this is group care and you need to have a predictable routine for the well being of the entire group.
You can not go with the flow around one child each and every day. It's not fair to the others. When infants are very little you can kind of go with the flow, but there comes a point where you NEED predictability for your sake and the kids' sake.
Mom and dad will need to get on the same page with you and get her on the same routine at home. If they are always winging it then it sets you up to not know what to expect from your day with multiple children. They need a bed time for her and stick to it, so she will wake up around the same time and you will be able to have a nap time for her. This will allow you to have an anticipated time to do things with the other kids.
Kids thrive on routine and predictability, they are not receiving this right now, not fair to them and their parents who are paying for a service they are not fully receiving.
Others on here will have similar advice but can probably explain better than me....like Heidi, she is great with infants! -
What are your meal times for the group?
When mine were that age here, their nap times were 9-10 and 12-3 ish. Breakfast at 8:30, then nap for the littles and some "teacher led" activity for the older ones. Lunch at 11:30, then stories and everyone down for nap for the afternoon. Up at 3ish, diaper changes and snack.
If my older infants wake up from afternoon nap too early, I always try to go resettle them. It usually works out pretty well. For the most part, my kiddos love their beds and will sing, talk, or go back to sleep until I come get them.
I now have 5 kiddos. The 16m, 18m, and 2 year olds are all on 1 nap, 12-3. The newest fellow, 11 weeks, takes 3, but for the last 3 or 4 weeks, he's slept 3 hours every afternoon. He usually goes down after the others, and wakes up after the others, so we get our one-on-one time and cuddles in after everyone is asleep. Shhh...don't tell them.
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Agree with both pp's. If it helps, I have a 9 month old here and she goes down for nap around 845, settles by no later than 855 and is down until 10 sharp. She gets up, is changed, plays, eats lunch with the older toddlers at 1130, has a bottle, plays for a bit and goes down for nap between 1245 and 1. Consistency is key! I used to nap her every 2 hours when she was younger, but now that she crawls and is getting into everything, I try to feed and nap every 3 hours. So, if she wakes from morning nap at 10, she's down again at 1. It works well, but it took time in the beginning to get her used to it. Dcm knows our schedule, and follows it at home for the most part. Routine is key and soon baby will fall into a pattern.Comment
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Our breakfast time varies b/c she is the only child who comes that early & I never know if she will be awake or asleep when she gets here. My children wake up at 8, breakfast at 8:30, lunch at 11:30, nap at 12:30, snack at 2:30-3:00. Although the last week or so they have started waking up when they hear her come in. I'm wondering if I should just wake everyone up when she gets here at 6:30. Instead of letting her sleep, wake her up & start our day. Then lay her down around 8:30 for morning nap. She might be fussy when she comes tired, but at least we could all get on the same page. My part time kids don't come until 9:00 on the days they are here, but their mom wants me to feed them breakfast when they come which creates yet another meal for me to make. I need to just set a schedule & have everyone stick to it. If you're not here at breakfast time, feed them at home.Comment
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I often will get the infants on just one nap a day early. As early as 6 months, depending on each infant... but things work so much smoother for me if I have them on a good afternoon nap. I transition to one nap when I see that they aren't sleep as long for one of the 2 naps and it starts to become disruptive to the rest of the group.
If the parents have a good routine at home with their child, I will discuss it with them before cutting out the morning nap. But if the parents lack routine at home, I don't even worry about it. I do what I need to here.Comment
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I have one dc baby (she's 1) and still wakes every 2 hours to nurse. When she comes here she is always so tired. One day I put her down at 7:30am and she slept til 2. Then went back down at 3:30pm and slept until 4:30. Oh and mom and Dad hold her for her naps at home so she never cries or learns how to sooth. It has taken a really long time but she finally falls asleep w/o screaming and screaming first. It's funny Mom always looks so tired, maybe because the baby still sleeps in there room? :confused:Comment
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