napping routines and childcare/outings

[feekerry]

So my dd has always been a rubbish napper but now nearly 9 months everything has kinda fallen into place and she has fallen into a nice little routine of her own accord so trying my best to go with it as quite frankly if her daytime sleep is good then her night sleep is amazing..
she wakes about 7am, naps at 10ish for about 50 mins, then again about 2ish for hour to hour and a half then bed at 7pm where she usually sleeps for 12 hours straight. Lovely!!

The only downside is she won't nap in cot. She recently only used to nap on my boob but have managed to stop that now as i go back to work soon. Instead the only way she naps is by being rocked to sleep then staying in your arms/lap or walk in pram (but has to be in a very non exciting place and you really have to march!!) or rocked to sleep in her car seat. If you stop and she wakes up then you have to start again and she will fall back asleep.

I go back to work for 4 days a week. Childcare will be done grandparents. One gp has dogs and can happily go with the pram walking at nap time. The other gp is a bit more tricky as they dont like walking/can't rock etc.
We have had a few trial days and the gp with the dog has managed to follow current routine okay. The other gp got 10 mins nap in the car then 5 mins nap in the car again. So the whole day my dd had 15 mins sleep. Nightmare. She fell asleep as soon as i got her back at 4pm and we had the worst night ever. I tried to say to gp that they would need to do a bit more to help dd sleep but they just don't seem to get it as they are so pleased to see dd they don't want her to sleep.

So... What do you do when your dc is at childcare?? Do you insist on your routine being implamented??

Nope. I didn't have any family to watch my son so he went to a day care from the time he was about 14 months. There they just let them sleep when they want to when they are in the baby room and then have them on a more structure time table for napping, eating etc as they get older.

You're going to have to relax. You're not there, so you can't really dictate how they do naps etc.

I know tee i am starting to get a bit worried about it and i don't want to come across as pfb etc but i am just so happy that dd has fallen into some kind of routine and i get a full nights sleep. Thing is i wish it was just as easy as saying she will sleep when she is tired etc but she won't. She just plays thru it or cat naps for 5mins and i come home to an extremely grumpy baby and a rubbish night sleep.

I am a nanny (paid) and often find that children learn how to sleep/settle in ways that they don't at home/for parents :)

I get that your routine with your dd suits you but you can't expect other people to be happy with that. There is no way I would be rocking, walking etc my own never mind someone else's on a regular basis.

Does she have any other props for aiding sleep ie special toy, blanket or dummy? If not i would introduce something now. A muslin square or comfort toy. Give it to her when you settle her in her cot at night and use the same settling words each night ie night night time, time to sleep. Then settle her during the day using the same cues preferably in her pushchair/pram.

Ds3 had never napped anywhere except his cot when he started at the childminders at 8 months but she gave him his dummy and muslin square in his pushchair and placed him in her hall and he was fine. If he was still asleep when she went out to do the school run she could just push him out the door!

I used to find one long nap after lunch worked well for us and you may find her routine changing as she gets older. Good luck!

I dont have any advice but just wanted to say I feel like this too!

MIL is providing childcare for the 2 days I work...I know we're so lucky to have that option, but she won't do anything my way at all and it's so hard to accept that

she's a bit of a nightmare but ds loves her and they'll have a fantastic relationship which I really want them to have. So I suck it up and ignore the passive aggression about everything and the disrupted sleep.

good luck!

Just re reading that it sounds really awful. I don't expect people to walk in the pouring rain etc till she sleeps as rightly said i wouldn't do that.!!
The gp in question is only doing one day of the 4 so i will just have to suck it up.
I just want them to know the importance of her having some sleep.
2 months ago i didn't care one dot as dd only cat napped with me but its just she seems to be napping so much better now hence why i have realised it could be an issue. 2 months ago i would have been very 'whatever' about it!!