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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

CM Club - sleeping advice

14 replies

SillyMillysMummy · 23/03/2009 13:10

I am a newbie cm and am about to start minding a little boy who mum wants to be put down for an afternoon nap. How does everyone approach this? I realise it means I cant have any out of house activities planned for the afternoon, mum says he sometimes sleeps for 4 hours though and I have told her that come September at the latest I would need to do a school run at 3 o clock, so he would have to be put down after lunch, which if I was doing a nursery run would be around 1pm. She is happy for him to sleep whilst we are out and about if its in the morning, any suggestions?

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KatyMac · 23/03/2009 13:13

How old is he?

When does he sleep at home?

Original poster

SillyMillysMummy · 23/03/2009 13:19

Hiiiiiiiiiiii (again) lol

he will be 12 months, he is put down to sleep after his lunch around 12-30 1pm, and mum lets him sleep until he wakes, can be up to 4 hours

OP posts:

curlywurlycremeegg · 23/03/2009 13:21

Could you put him in a pram if you wanted to go out with the others and let him sleep in the pram?

Original poster

SillyMillysMummy · 23/03/2009 13:22

no, mum wants him in travel cot

OP posts:

curlywurlycremeegg · 23/03/2009 13:24

Oh I couldn't be doing with that! Sorry no help but have three children myself and there is no way I could keep the two in just so one could sleep in a certain place. Good luck!

Original poster

SillyMillysMummy · 23/03/2009 13:26

lol, ok ta

OP posts:

Original poster

SillyMillysMummy · 23/03/2009 13:30

see, mum was going to put him to nursery come september, but he has been coming to me for a few sessions and she wants him to stay, for 1 day a week, maybe up to 3. I dont want to lose him as a mindee and appreciate that some mums may want them to be 'put down' to sleep. My thoughts are that I can agree to this afternoons maybe, so that we can be out in the mornings? Or am I just being too flexible and should say that he would need to sleep in buggy?

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hamsgirl · 23/03/2009 13:44

I'm a mum not a childminder but I have two children who only ever slept for half an hour when out and about but who would sleep for hours in a cot at home (and this was not through lack of trying, particularly with the second one).

It may be that he doesn't sleep well in the buggy and that if he doesn't get his sleep in the afternoon, he'll be tired and cranky and that would be bad for you too.

The childminder I used was happy to go out in the morning and stay home in the afternoon for sleeps and I think most childminders that she mixed with did the same (so they often went to visit each other in the morning).

Regardless of sleeps, I wouldn't have chosen a childminder that didn't spent at least part of the day inside as I think it's good for children to play at "home" as well as having entertainment on tap outside the house.

However, if you did choose to accommodate the afternoon sleep you'd have to explain that he would have to be woken for the school run.

likessleep · 23/03/2009 13:46

from a mums perspective, i let my 17mth old ds sleep as long as he likes in the afternoon. at the cm, he goes down after lunch and if he isn't awake, he gets woken for the school run. that is fine by me.
if she wants him to sleep in travel cot, then i think it's fair enough that they need to be woken for the school run (which is part and parcel of going to cm). particularly if you agree that he goes down by say half twelve?

Original poster

SillyMillysMummy · 23/03/2009 13:53

fab, great to hear from mums perspective, and am glad you think that 12.30-3 ish would be acceptable

OP posts:

KatyMac · 23/03/2009 14:19

That sounds a good compromise imo

He can always fall asleep in the am in the pram if he needs to

Original poster

SillyMillysMummy · 23/03/2009 14:22

hamsgirl, should have said, yes we had already discussed that I have the school run to do come september obviously he will be older by then too so may not be sleeping as long

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SadMarg · 23/03/2009 18:05

Well at my DS's nursery he doesn't always sleep as much as he would at home because he gets woken by the other children - but then also goes to sleep faster because he's copying them. They clear out the middle room for the children who will nap, so there's no way one of them could sleep for 4 hours, they couldn't keep the room clear for that long. So I think you're being awfully flexible, really. You're a CM, part of that is collecting children on a school run. If she doesn't realise that then she's obviously not understood the concept of a CM properly!

HSMM · 23/03/2009 18:55

I have assorted children who sleep during the day. Most of them sleep during the afternoon, which is great for the older ones, because that is when they can hammer a football about the garden, without knocking someone over, or make something, without a little one wrecking it. I have a baby who still has a morning sleep and he has his morning sleep at toddlers in his car seat, or pushchair, or just crashed out on the floor and his afternoon sleep in a cot at the same time as the others. I am often lifting sleeping children into the car for the school run, so I hope you have a strong back . During the holidays we are often out for the whole day and they cat nap wherever and whenever they get a chance. Their parents are all happy with this.

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