Help! Not napping (at all!!!) in daycare!

[HJE17]

My 14-month DD started daycare 2.5 weeks ago and overall she LOVES it. She’s there 2.5 days a week, 7:30-5:30 on two days, and 11:30-4:30 on Fridays. When my DH or I go to pick her up, she always smiles at us, waves... then goes back to playing! She’s often upset to leave!

She’s still pretty good at home about 2 naps per day, total of 2-3 hours. However, at daycare she doesn’t nap. At all. The set-up there is (unfortunately) no separate room for naps but a bunch of cribs tucked away in a corner. No set nap time for all the kids - since they’re aged 6-18 months, the teachers put each child down according to his or her age-appropriate home schedule. Every time I’ve visited, there HAVE been miraculously napping children and/or teachers rocking a younger baby to sleep beautifully. We told the teachers our DD usually naps 9am and 2pm, and that often she’ll fuss for 5 minutes then go to sleep. At home, she has some milk before naps and sleeps with her favourite lamb soft toy. The daycare’s rules are no milk and no soft toys in bed. Could be part of her issue, but I suspect the noise/excitement are bigger factors. The past 2 days, the teachers have told me they “haven’t bothered” trying to get her to sleep as she’s having so much fun and doesn’t seem tired.

...cue a meltdown as soon as she gets home and needing to go to bed at 6pm, too tired for dinner!

Any tips for helping my DD get back on track with naps at daycare? AIBU to think the teachers shouldn’t “give up” on naps for a 14-month-old, especially if she naps well at home?

Help, please!

[sleepismysuperpower1]

i would ask the daycare to keep trying to get her down for naps. explain that while she doesn't seem tired there, she is desperately tired at home.

[HJE17]

Yes, I think I’d better do that. I don’t wan to come across as the “pushy mum” but at the same time, my DD is kind of falling apart at home and I can’t imagine no naps is a great thing for her developmentally! Thanks.

[HSMMaCM]

Maybe they could try one nap a day there? Perhaps just after lunch, or when several of the others go down.

[wetsnow]

I would suggest they try putting her down straight after lunch. Same happened with my dd and i almost cried from exhauation when i asked her key worker to please make her nap as my dd would then be waking all night as so over tired.
At home sye carried on doing 2 naps.

[shouldwestayorshouldwego]

Can you try cutting out the milk (not good for teeth just before sleep) and maybe the toy so that she gets used to sleeping without assistance?

[shouldwestayorshouldwego]

Sorry meant to say cut them out at home so she is used to it for nursery.

[Coldhandscoldheart]

As pp we went to one nap at nursery. I would be having a Word about ‘she was having fun, didn’t seem tired etc’ she is 14months & very nearly all babies that age need a nap.
I used to send in a light grobag from home which seemed to help.

[ConsiderHerWaysAndOthers]

Can she move up into the toddler room? DD’s daycare move them at 14/15 months and in the toddler class they only have the one nap altogether after lunch. They dim the lights, put on soothing music, they all take a blanket from home and as everyone is sleeping it tends to be better than the all over the place routine of the baby room. DD usually sleeps for 2 hours. Soft toys are also allowed with a note from the paediatrician so perhaps you could ask if that’s an option too?

[FurryGiraffe]

It's still pretty early days so I'd try not to worry. DS2 was a nightmare adjusting to sleeping at nursery- he cracked it after about a month and then became 'the easiest baby they had to get to sleep'. I'd agree it's worth trying a single nap.

I'm totally confused by the 'no soft toy' rule though. What's the rationale for that? It's so common (and comforting) for small children to have a transitional object.

[HJE17]

Thanks everyone for the tips! 1 nap worked today!!! Granted, it was only 40 minutes instead of her regular 2 hours, but it’s a start!

We’re trying to wean her off milk before sleep at home too. I’ve been meaning to for months... thanks for the nudge. I’m hopinh this will also lead to yet more successful naps in the next few weeks (with lower risk of tooth decay!)

Re: soft toys, we’re in Canada, where the Pedriatrics Association believes there’s a link between soft toys in cribs and SIDS. Our pediatrician said that after 6 months the risk is lower, so that’s roughly when we have our DD her lamb, but I think in regulated daycares like the one she’s in it’s a strict rule up to 2 years old or thereabouts. That’s what they said, anyway.