Napping at nursery - 9mo

[PessimisticMissPiggy]

My 9mo DD started nursery full-time last month. I'm really happy with the care that she's receiving, the staff are lovely, caring and very interested in her happiness. There is one problem, naps. DD is only napping 30mins twice or three times a day and I feel that she needs more sleep. Her assigned carer struggles to get her to rest and nursery policy is to try them for 20 mins then return to playing and then try again. They do not have a separate room for sleeping and the room is split between under 18m and 18m-2.

I collect her and she's exhausted. I can see how tired she is. The staff thinks she's fine and just interested in everything around her. At weekends she sleeps much longer (around an hour) so I do think that she needs more sleep during the day. Every couple of days I mention how important it is that they recognise the signs that she's tired and put her straight down, but now I think that they're annoyed with me. The nursery manager and assigned carer want a meeting with me and DH next week (this wasn't scheduled for another 5months) and I'm worried that they're going to recommend that we find another nursery. DH works quite a distance away and would have to take a day's leave to attend.

I don't know what to do. Sleep is the only thing that I'm really insistent about. I've mentioned a few things about how to get her to eat (she likes to self feed) and making sure that she has plenty of water (hard BMs).

Is it likely that they want to kick us out? It's a great nursery with a waiting list.

No they won't want to kick you out. If they do, they are not worthy of caring for your child anyway!

They probably want to meet to chat and find out how you settle your daughter and make sure you are happy with everything. Your partner doesn't have to attend, it's an invite not a summons!

I thought that baby rooms had to have a separate sleep area, might be worth checking. I think the policy of settling for 20 mins is quite good. Could you ask that your baby has a cuddle and quiet time with her key person if she doesn't sleep?

It is very common for babies to sleep less at nursery, I would try to go in with the attitude that while you are obviously the expert in your daughter, they are seeing first hand how she is coping during the day at nursery.

Good luck and go easy on yourself, it's a huge transition for everyone.

Where do they sleep if there isn't a sleep room?

To be honest, having somewhere appropriate for babies to sleep is pretty fundamental, especially as your DD is full time. I would maybe consider if they are able to provide for her needs.

They have cots/mats that they sleep on in the room. It's a small nursery with max 6 in the baby room, but the others are older around 12-15m so they don't nap as much as DD. It is fairly quiet when she naps. Today she was the only baby in and it was the same - 30 mins per nap.

There are no CMs locally with capacity for an under 1 and other nurseries that are available locally don't have such great reports. I'm worried that if I change her to another nursery that we'll have the same problem.

The nursery my 10mo is in has a sleep room but I know she sleeps in the main room a lot of times. I know she can nap at busy places though. It's also a small nursery with around 20 children.

Her sleep is all over the place at nursery. She gets two most days. Sometimes long ones of nearly 2 hours. Today she had 2 30min naps. But most days it's an hour. It's a lot less than she gets at home.

I just accepts it as part of being at nursery. It's very exciting so DD just won't want to nap. She doesn't nap much if we are out too.

Does yours nap well on a busy day with lots of activities outside home? Does she seem happy otherwise?

It is all part of being at nursery and quite normal. DS1 never slept at all while DS3 would sleep in the middle of a bun fight!! It's good for them to learn to adapt - I'm aware the nurseries are very good adapting to the child's routine now - but if you have a settled and confident child, let her 'tell them' when she's not happy. If she eats different sorts of food in different ways, sleeps at different times and drinks out of a different sort of cup - it's all good. It makes it easier when they grow up and go on holiday/start school, they will be much more adaptable when things aren't done exactly to the way you would choose or do at home. It's character building - tried and tested with all my boys, I never made any 'requests' and they all learned to fit in and 'get on with it'.
She can catch up on sleep/hunger when she's at home - meanwhile she's having lots of fun!!
Don't fret about the meeting - you are paying THEM remember!! However, I would listen to their advice as they are the 'childcare experts' and are there to help.

Thanks for the responses.

She's done much better the past few days (longer naps) and I'm going to give it a couple of weeks to see how things go.