To ask how I’m going to get my baby to nap at nursery?

[Blueskyfordays]

Baby has had her settling in sessions at nursery. They showed me the room where they nap, it had a white noise machine on, music on and one of those light machine things.

Now to be fair, DD has always been a brilliant napper, we’re very lucky in that so long as it is dark and relatively quiet, she will go to sleep. We do sometimes put some baby music on for her for her daytime naps but she doesn’t need it, she will sleep without it. She‘s never needed those twinkly/ disco light ball things. We do have one but whenever we’ve put it on for her, she won’t sleep as I think she finds it too bright/ distracting.

I mentioned to her keyworker that she doesn’t sleep very well with those lights machines on and she said ‘oh a few of the other children need it so I’m afraid the lights will have to be on’ fair enough, so the last couple of days I’ve been trying to get her to nap with the light thing on. OMG, she’s just spending hours crying in her cot which she’s never done, ever. She’s getting so upset and overtired, each time, after an hour and a half of trying I’ve given up and turned it off and she’s gone to sleep within minutes.

She starts nursery next week (only for a morning at first, but she will need her morning nap there as she’s not being picked up til 1) and now I’m really worried she’s not going to nap because of that bloody light machine.

I know, I know, hardly a first world problem but I’m wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue and if so, did your baby eventually just get used to things and nap?

Should I keep trying over the next few days and persevere? Trouble is, by the time it’s been an hour and a half, the time for nap is gone if you see what I mean and we’re due to go out or whatever and I also worry about her getting so overtired thah it affects her (brilliant) night sleep 😳

Nurseries are magic places and they seem to have a knack for making even the most reluctant sleepers sleep. My DD and DS only ever napped at home in cots or the buggy in the dark but at nursery happily napped on mats on the floor with it only slightly dimmed. So I wouldn't change your routine at home to match the nursery one. Your DD will adapt to the nursery routine :-)

My eldest was a terrible napper and would only nap at home if she was on me. However at nursery she would happily lie in the crib and sleep all by herself. I found she behaved differently there and was absolutely fine.

I'd stop changing her nap at home, the nursery will be used to dealing with different ways of napping and will work something out.

Don't make any changes at home, just continue doing what you're doing and nursery will get her to sleep when she's there.

It really isn't anything to stress over, every baby will nap at nursery after a short settling period.

She'll adjust. Don't change what you're doing at home, she will behave differently at nursery in various different ways, and she'll nap in their setup

My eldest was a terrible napper and would only nap at home if she was on me. However at nursery she would happily lie in the crib and sleep all by herself. I found she behaved differently there and was absolutely fine.

I'd stop changing her nap at home, the nursery will be used to dealing with different ways of napping and will work something out.

They will do things at nursery they would never ever do at home. Nursery workers have some kind of voodoo or something. She’ll sleep there with lights and music and never do it at home!

I really wouldn't overthink it, if she naps she naps and if she doesn't she doesn't. Nursery naps are different to home naps and they do learn the different cues. Some never do though. It's ok for baby to make a new routing though now they are going to have a different day.

YY to the magic.

Let nursery handle it. My eldest would only sleep alone at home but she settled with shh-patting at nursery. My friend's child was very resistant to napping so she napped in a buggy at nursery. They will find a way that works and you don't need to change your routine to match.

Also how old is the baby? You might find by the time she is in until 1pm she isn't napping at nursery anyway. By 12 months the babies in our nursery are napping once a day from 12-2pm so 1 is right bang in the middle of that.

We just handed our child over and let them do what they needed to do as they have their routine and we had ours, things just went from there

You'll find that she'll probably be very different at nursery.

Mine prefers dark and quiet too but he soon adjusted to the slightly noisier and brighter sleeping room at nursery.

To echo everyone else - she'll nap at nursery. It's just not the same as home. Stop making both your lives miserable worrying about it!

Okay, so maybe I should just stop with the light machine then😳

As you can tell, she’s my first and I’m really anxious about her starting nursery anyway. The thought of her being there, upset and tired and not napping breaks my heart a bit tbh so I was just trying to help alleviate any potential issues before they arrive but I’m probably just making things worse.

She’s 10 months. Oh really, I thought they didn’t drop to 1 nap until they were like 18 months (shows how little I know about babies, lol) maybe she won’t be having her morning nap for much longer then. I can’t imagine her going til 12 without it, she gets tired and grumpy by 10am atm 😳

My son wouldn't nap unless it was a contact nap or in the pram when he started nursery at 11mo. At nursery he happily napped in their cots in a bright noisy room! Don't worry, they'll figure it out

Don't worry. Nurseries are miracle places in terms of napping. It's amazing to see the preschool rooms, where they get 20 energetic toddlers to lie down and sleep. Do what you do at home, and don't worry re nursery.

It's not your problem. Getting your daughter to nap is what you're paying them for. Just carry on as you always have at home and they'll do what they do in nursery. She will nap there.

@Blueskyfordays

Oh really, I thought they didn’t drop to 1 nap until they were like 18 months

My youngest dropped all her naps by 16 months

2 naps at 18 months, I wish! 😂

Nurseries are magic places
my DD only napped on me, or needed the pram or car seat
day 2 at nursery, napped perfectly in the room with others, and all through nursery, until she dropped naps…
with me, she kept asking to be held, in pram… but perfect nap on schedule on the assigned nursery cot/mattress

Stop stressing, its up to nursery to manage not you.
You'll be amazed at what they do at nursery and won't even consider doing at home

Babies and toddlers adapt at nursery and do totally different things to how they do at home. Sometimes children may need some extra help/support as they get used to things, but they see other children going down for a nap, eating vegetables, washing their hands, everyone following the expected routine of How Things Work Here and they go along with stuff they'd never dream of doing for their parents at home!

She'll either adjust to sleeping at nursery, or she'll adjust her routine to sleep at 1pm. Don't overthink it.

Don’t change anything at home, trust nursery to figure it out. My DD was fine with rainforest sounds going at daycare even though she wouldn’t have napped with that at home. My DS also dropped to 1 nap at about 10 months as none of the other nursery babies, who were a bit older, had a morning sleep. He was fine, just used to compensate by doing 2.5-3 hours at once sometimes!

I struggled loads with getting DS to nap and sleep generally. He slept brilliantly at nursery (and continued to not sleep too well at home). I really hope that it all goes ok for you and your little one

Don’t worry, don’t change your home routine.

I know it’s really hard to loose that control, but the nursery have to work it out with your DD. You won’t be there and there’s nothing you can do.

And yes nurseries do have a magical ability to make children sleep. My DS sleeps for an hour and a half at nursery, on a little mattress on the floor.

At home he sleeps for 45 minutes and only if I physically hold him 🙄