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AIBU?

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Original poster

About my sons nursery, would this put you off?

37 replies

peacheswithcream · 11/12/2020 22:27

My son is due to start nursery in March.

DH & I have looked around several nurseries and found one we both really like.

The staff are lovely, they have a really gentle approach. The learning is very sensory based which we love and the offset is rated outstanding.
They also have webcams which we love the idea of so we can watch our son throughout the day.

The only “issue” is that that don’t have a sleep room.
By sleep room I mean the typical room with cots, which is what we observed at the other nurseries we looked around in.

My son will be a year old when he starts but he will be going into the baby room 0-1 until he’s 14 months with a few other babies his age (His learning will be based if the EYFS)

In this room they use bouncers, pushchairs and they have sleep baskets, which have mattresses in there but it’s a low down floor type bed (really hard to explain)

I did like these ideas as my son doesn’t take
Day naps in his cot so suddenly having one at nursery would be hard for him to transition to.

When he moves up to the next room, they don’t have a sleep room either, they have floor mattresses that they put out for the babies to sleep on.

I’m assuming at this stage he will having 1 maybe two naps a day, so it’s not as if he will be spending all day sleeping.

As a whole we really love the nursery, but I’m
not sure if the sleeping arrangements are putting me off.

A friend commented and said it was weird and I’m not sure if that’s putting ideas into my head now.

OP posts:
Bubblebox · 11/12/2020 22:32

That's all quite standard for the nurseries near us. Nursery workers are like nap ninjas. I really don't know how but they seem to be able to get even my DD to have a sleep with very little fuss.

notdaddycool · 11/12/2020 22:32

Ours have been to two nursery’s and both had a pile of mattresses they pulled out for sleeping. Was never a problem.

YakkityYakYakYak · 11/12/2020 22:32

DDs nursery have mats on the floor for sleeping instead of cots, it’s never really struck me as odd - I assumed it’s a safety thing, but may also be a space issue. Either way, I don’t think it’s something to worry about if you’re otherwise happy with the nursery.

Airplanes · 11/12/2020 22:33

The under 1s room at my daughter's nursery had cots but the 1-2 year olds' room put out mats at bap time and it worked well. She would never have napped on a mat at home but did it without a problem at nursery. The nursery staff won't want angry, overtired tyrannical children so I bet they have a routine that settles the children down

Pipandmum · 11/12/2020 22:35

I recall floor mats for my kids (son was in nursery from five months). It was fine.

SpamIAm · 11/12/2020 22:35

Sounds normal. Couldn't believe when we first looked around nurseries that there was a little girl still fast asleep on her mattress while the other kids were all awake and making a right racket 😂

Skigal86 · 11/12/2020 22:37

We looked at one which did have a sleep room and it put me off massively, kids were put in there and only checked on every so often, it was well away from the main room. The nursery we chose is like the one you describe, my daughter is a reluctant napper at home (but fine in the car) at nursery, she’ll sometimes even take herself off to the room with the mattresses in (they have two adjoining rooms, one of which is set up for sleep after lunch), sleeps for a minimum of an hour a day there with no fuss and is absolutely fine. I wouldn’t assume that just because he’s one way at home he won’t be different in the nursery setting, especially when he gets into their routine and sees all the other kids doing it.

Changethetoner · 11/12/2020 22:37

If it's taking Covid seriously, I'd assume the nursery has separate bedding for each baby, kept in its own labelled bag. Those low down beds/mats are really normal.

Thehop · 11/12/2020 22:38

I’m a senior lead in a baby room and we use floor beds exclusively. They’re lovely, and I actually bought a big wicker dog basket with a sniffly cushion in for home as I couldn’t afford a sleep coracle. My daughter loves it and snuggles in it with books still at 4.

They’re very safe and totally child led. Much nicer than cots.

Megan2018 · 11/12/2020 22:40

Completely normal. I hated the nursery that had a sleep room. We chose one deliberately that didn’t, DD happily sleeps on the floor beds at nursery and cot at home

Original poster
peacheswithcream · 11/12/2020 22:42

@Changethetoner

If it's taking Covid seriously, I'd assume the nursery has separate bedding for each baby, kept in its own labelled bag. Those low down beds/mats are really normal.
@Changethetoner

They are ☺️

OP posts:
Original poster
peacheswithcream · 11/12/2020 22:43

@Megan2018

Completely normal. I hated the nursery that had a sleep room. We chose one deliberately that didn’t, DD happily sleeps on the floor beds at nursery and cot at home
@Megan2018

I must admit the few we saw, I didn’t like the sleep rooms either.

OP posts:
Cakles2010 · 11/12/2020 22:52

Most have sleep mats I think, that's what ds slept on and I'm going back 6/7 years

Stompythedinosaur · 12/12/2020 00:10

I think the floor mays are much better than a room of cots.

Meatshake · 12/12/2020 00:12

Yeh it's normal, most of the nurseries round here are similar.

Gross but we had a big mat for our dog and the number of times my eldest would crawl on and play a bit til she fell asleep..... 🤦 Kids are weird.

Oct18mummy · 12/12/2020 00:15

DS sleeps on mat on floor pre-covid it was the sweetest thing ever seeing all the little ones all lined up and asleep on their own mats wouldn’t put me off at all

PleaseLetIanBeDead · 12/12/2020 00:16

Thats standard....

Mattress on the floor.

Nurseries in the 1-2 yrs room will only normally accommodate 1 sleep , which will be after lunch time

Original poster
peacheswithcream · 12/12/2020 00:48

@Stompythedinosaur

I think the floor mays are much better than a room of cots.
@Stompythedinosaur

Out of interest, why do you think this?

OP posts:
Original poster
peacheswithcream · 12/12/2020 00:50

@PleaseLetIanBeDead

Thats standard....

Mattress on the floor.

Nurseries in the 1-2 yrs room will only normally accommodate 1 sleep , which will be after lunch time

@PleaseLetIanBeDead

He’s starting in the 0-1 room for the first 2 months. In this room they’ve said they will follow his lead.

He’s currently napping twice during the day and does still have the occasional 3rd nap.

OP posts:
Superstardjs · 12/12/2020 00:53

Dd's nursery used mats- her role play at home from about 13 months on used to consist of a baby either side of her, blankets over both, and A LOT of vigorous patting Smile

Namechanger0800 · 12/12/2020 06:56

My DD is now 13 months and been at nursery about 6 weeks now. They also have sleep mats in the baby room which they pull into the room. There is one cot though but in the same room. I wasn't keen either and didn't think she'd sleep well - she has 2 naps at home, both in her cot in a dark quiet room. but it was my preferred nursery by far so gave it a go.

First few days she was shattered- first day was too exciting and second day they tried her in the cot at my request but said she was getting upset and standing up so they tried her on a sleep mat and she actually slept happily.

Now she settles well with the other children after lunch- she quite quickly knows what the sleep mats are all about and has a good 90 mins most days. She doesn't have the 2 naps she does at home but she's not full time so we make up for it with a slightly longer sleep the following day. I'm still amazed she actually sleeps in that way but the nursery staff are very good and she quite quickly learnt from what all the other children were doing.

HikeForward · 12/12/2020 07:32

It wouldn’t put me off. Only one nursery we used had a ‘sleep room’ and I didn’t like that as it was a tiny dark room with no staff, just a webcam.

All the other nurseries had mats on the floor or travel cots in a ‘quiet corner’ for very small babies. It meant the staff were in the same room and could keep an eye on them.

guiltynetter · 12/12/2020 07:41

My son started nursery at 11 months and he was an awful napper. At home he would only sleep if I went out and pushed him in the pram for ages or if I was lucky he'd let me push him up and down the living room. Started nursery and from the first day he slept like a dream on those bed mats! I couldn't believe it.

Notemyname · 12/12/2020 07:44

Completely normal, we've used 4 nurseries over the years and none had cots, all had mats on the floor (individual bedding bags for hygiene). Was always amazed my non sleeping DD had a nap at nursery, but it's just part of their routine and they quickly accept it

ellesbellesxxx · 12/12/2020 07:47

I have a photo of my daughter’s first sleep at nursery... on a dog bed they had in the play corner as she didn’t want to miss out on what was going on 😂 my son had happily gone in a cot.
They then used to nap on floor mattresses in the toddler room. As pp have said, nursery workers have magic powers to get children to sleep