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Problems sleeping at nursery

5 replies

Novembergirl · 24/11/2005 10:30

My 10m old son, who is used to a regular schedule of daytime naps, appears to be finding it very difficult to sleep at his new nursery.
At first I thought it was because his routine was not being followed and his (short)naps were at odd times. The nursery has, however, agreed to try to keep to our schedule but this seems to have made the situation much worse.
It appears that for most of my son?s sessions, the under 12m babies (rather than being in their baby room) are combined with the 12-18m infants, who also seem to share their cot room with the 18-2yrs group. As I understand it, although my son is going down at lunchtime, the older children are waking him when they go down for their (later) naps. One day this week he slept for less than 30 minutes - rather than 1.5 to 2 hours - at lunchtime and his morning and afternoon naps are also short (or non-existent) as my son will refuse to sleep (willingly)if he feels he is missing out on something interesting!
My son is now extremely tired and very cranky in the evenings, the mornings and at the weekends: a situation made worse by the fact he has also started to wake up some nights! I was warned that children often find it hard to sleep at nursery but I did not realise that it would be this bad.
Is there anything I can do (or ask the nursery to do)? Is the problem likely to resolve itself in time? Any thoughts or advice would be really appreciated.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Novembergirl · 30/11/2005 09:42

...any comments would be really, really appreciated.

I don't know if the night waking (my son only wants to be cuddled by mummy and sleep in my arms) is related to nursery (coincidently, it started on his first day) but the problem is getting worse and I am not sure what to do for the best...

OP posts:
tracyk · 30/11/2005 09:51

Can they not put him in with the baby room cots?

ThePrisoner · 01/12/2005 00:18

I can't really comment on how nurseries operate as I'm a childminder. I know your situation is completely different with your nursery (ie. trying to get other children to nap at the same time etc.) However, in my own experience, no matter what the usual home routine has been, the babies and toddlers I have minded completely manage to change their routine when they're with me (not planned!) They end up sleeping at completely different times, often get settled in a different way, and will often not demand their comforters (blankets, teddies).

Thankfully, the parents don't have a problem with this, and the children seem happy to go back to the "home" routine at weekends.

This obviously isn't a lot of help to you, as your ds is having a bit of a problem. It could be that he is still adjusting to being in a new nursery? Have you asked the nursery for their advice? Do they realise that his lack of sleep is causing you (and your baby) real problems?

AussieSim · 01/12/2005 00:59

I would back up what the prisoner has to say, in that you might be surprised that you DS will fall into the nurseries schedule for naps better than trying to get them to keep him on your schedule. That is what has happened with my DS1. When he started at nursery his lunch and nap were brought forward an hour from my schedule and he just fell in with it as that was what all the other kids were doing. I find that 'doing what the other kids are doing' is really powerful at nursery and also results in my DS1 eating a broader range of foods as well as other positive play outcomes.

ThePrisoner · 01/12/2005 19:27

AussieSim - one of my minded babies is given food for lunch that he won't eat at home, and he happily gobbles it up here!!

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