Sleep at Daycare: Toddler Edition
I typically find that daycare sleep becomes somewhat easier when children move into the toddler room. In an infant room, babies all sleep at different times, there is a lot of commotion throughout the day when babies are sleeping and often the room can be pretty brightly lit. When children move into the toddler room, most children are now all napping at the same time, in a darkened room. I often tell parents of babies in daycare that the light at the end of the tunnel will come when their child moves into the toddler room.
When children either start daycare as a toddler or move from the baby room into the toddler room, most children are now just taking 1 nap. This may be something that your child is ready for or it may actually be a bit too early to make this transition, but it happens, nonetheless. Most children aren’t ready for 1 nap until they are somewhere between 15 and 18 months. If your child’s daycare has dropped your toddler to 1 nap, but on the weekends, your child is still tired in the morning, it is fine to continue to do 2 naps until your child doesn’t need the morning nap on the weekends anymore.
Between about 18 months and 2.5/3ish years old, there is generally pretty smooth sailing with naps at school. It may happen that every once in a while, during this time, your toddler may boycott naps at home in the weekend. This is because your child wants to spend time with YOU! They know that the two weekend days are their only opportunity to see you so naps may be a bit more challenging on the weekends as you move deeper into toddlerhood. If your toddler’s daycare naps at noon, you may find that on the weekends, this is too early. There is a LOT of stimulation at daycare which makes the days exhausting. Many toddlers are ready for that noon nap on daycare days. At home though, you are not going to be able to simulate the intense physical activity of a classroom full of toddlers so you may find that naps have to be pushed to closer to 1 or even 2pm in order to make them happen.
What becomes more difficult is when your toddler’s nap is now interfering with bedtime. For 2.5 year olds, there is often a 5.5 hour awake window between when your child wakes up from their nap and is ready for bedtime. As you move closer to 3 years old, this awake window stretches to 6 hours. This means that if your toddler is napping from 1-3pm at school, they may not be ready to go to bed until 9pm. This can lead to a lot of bedtime shenanigans if you are attempting to put your child to bed to early. I will often encourage parents to talk to their child’s daycare teachers to find out if they can limit the child’s nap to possibly not more then an hour. Or if they can minimize the chance of them napping altogether. In many instances, this delayed bedtime can significantly cut into the child’s total sleep for the night because they still have to be up the same time for school the next day. I have had some parents be successful at sending their child to school with books or quiet activities they can do on their cot during nap time that will encourage quiet play and discourage them from falling asleep.
If you are having long, drawn out bedtime battled due to the fact that your toddler is napping at daycare either at all, or just too long or too late, I can assure you that you are not alone. I expect that many other parents in your child’s class are having the same struggles. I encouraged you to work with your child’s teachers to find out what sorts of arrangements can be made so that this can be made easier for your family.