11mo going to nursery...

[S082018]

Hi all, looking for some advice for my 11mo.

He will be starting nursery in January and will be attending one full day a week.
The routine that nursery have is so, so different to the routine we have at home. My question is, do I start to get him into the nursery routine now in preparation? Or allow him to have a different routine on that one day a week?
He will also only be having one nap a day at nursery and at home, he currently has two. I'm a bit worried about him dropping to 1 nap so early on as everywhere you read, it suggests that babies should transition to 1 nap a lot later than 11 months.

He's never been the best sleeper and still doesn't sleep through the night, I'm just worried about the routine and changes possibly impacting his nighttime sleep even more. He's kind of developed his own routine himself over the last few weeks...

Current home routine is roughly:
7-7.30am - wake up
8am - bottle
9am - breakfast
10am - nap for around 1 hour 15 minutes
12-12.30pm - lunch
2pm - small bottle of milk
2.15pm - nap for roughly around 1 hour 15 minutes. Usually up no later than 3.45pm
5pm - dinner
7pm - bottle
In bed for around 7.30pm

Nursery routine:
Breakfast between 8-9.30am
Playtime
11.30am - lunch
12pm - 2pm - nap time
2pm - snack/milk if needed
3.30pm - tea time
5pm - snack (if not already collected)

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!

[LouiseTrees]

It won’t affect anything. My little girl went 2 days a week from 12 months. She only does one nap. She sleeps through regardless. Don’t change your own routine unless she obviously wants to just go to one nap.

[mooncakes]

As it's only one day a week I would just let nursery get on with it on their day.

[Flackattack]

Don’t change anything - in the kindest way you are massively overthinking it. He might sleep more the days around it and have a longer nap, he will fit in with them and probably stick with your usual routine.

[FallenLeavesAreFalling]

Interestingly, I disagree with the Pp . For the baby room at the nursery my two went with, they followed the baby's home routine whilst they were in the baby room - so up till 18 months. I think this is quite important really.

My DS wouldn't have coped with one nap at 11 months! His night time sleep would have been ruined.

Is their baby routine set in stone? Do they really do that for all the babies there? Some may start as 6/9 months old!

[spaceghetto]

I would let him figure out his own routine just for one day a week. My ds went to nursery at this age and I was such a pain! Not understanding why he couldn't follow his routine at home at nursery. I cringe looking back! He will be fine!

[Flackattack]

I do agree they should be flexible to what the baby needs! But babies adapt really well - they won’t want an over tired baby screaming. Nurseries normally ask about routines, have you asked what they do if your baby needs two naps? Surely it won’t be a problem. I found my daughter had two at home but moved to one at nursery sooner as there was so much going on.

[Posturesorposes]

Hi
Our DD is 11 months old yesterday and has been in nursery near Full Time, 4 days a week from 6 months. Routine there is not similar to her days with us and her big brother at home and she is fine. We don’t even bother with establishing all these fine tuned timings. She’s happy, healthy, loved, fed and stimulated at both places and coming along marvellously. The rest is not important in the grand scheme of things. Please don’t overthink it.

[Littlepoppet1]

Agree with others in that my DDs nursery follow at home routine as much as possible in the baby room, they should be able to sleep as and when they need it! It was only when she moved up a room at 18 months they did they 12-2 nap time as part of the routine. I would speak to them about it and see what they suggest.

[DisgruntledPelican]

They must be able to accommodate two (or more) naps - as a PP said they will look after much younger children and wouldn’t keep a five month old on one nap a day.

If it’s just one day, though, see how he goes. DS is just coming up for 11 months and usually sleeps very well after a day at nursery because he’s shattered. He was doing fairly well for sleep until he hit 9-10 months and started cruising and crawling, since then we’ve had a lot of night time wake ups except for the nursery days where he usually has only one shorter daytime nap.

How are his naps if you’re out and about anywhere? Does he ever go without the afternoon nap (or have a shorter one) if you’re out in the car or anything?

[AnnaBegins]

I would discuss with nursery what his routine is and ask them to accommodate it. You are paying them and they are there to provide the best care they can, if that means 2 naps then so be it. I have found that as long as you are clear and polite and firm, nurseries will accommodate. It is in their interests not to have a grumpy tired child there! For example, DS's nursery had set nap times of 10 and 2, but he napped at 9 and 2. We tried it nursery's way for a month and he simply wouldn't sleep at 2 (and often missed lunch as asleep) so they changed to his normal 9am nap and hey presto. Everyone was happy.

[S082018]

Thank you all for your replies!

I think I perhaps am overthinking it 🤦🏽‍♀️ it's because he's always been such a terrible sleeper and the lack of sleep has really made me super anxious about his naps and routine over the past few months. I've had really low moments due to sleep deprivation and even though he's still not sleeping through, things are much better at the moment and I'm just worried about rocking the boat.

I'll have a chat with nursery and see what they can do in terms of flexibility on their current routine. Thank you all again!

[JingleJohnsJulie]

Both of mine transitioned to one nap at 12 months.

I'd just let Nursery do their thing on the one day and keep the routine you want on the other days. Children and babies are very adaptable.

[JingleJohnsJulie]

Sorry, must have x-posted with your update