Does anyone else have a baby that doesn’t sleep at nursery? Do they cope?

[MillionPramMiles]

My 13 month old dd goes to a lovely nursery 4 days a week. She is generally very happy there, gets excited when she?s dropped off and the staff are caring/engaged. The only issue is that she sleeps for one 30 min nap per day so is utterly exhausted by the time I pick her up. She tends to fall asleep in the pram when I collect her then cries when we get home, so its a race to have a snack/bath/bed before a complete meltdown.

She?s been there 3 months so I don?t think its going to improve. In fact I think once she moves from cot to mat she won?t sleep at all.

She was never a great daytime napper at home and needs darkness/quiet (though now she naps for ages at home cause she?s so tired from nursery). She only sleeps 10.5 hours overnight and frequently wakes (briefly) a few times so I?m worried she isn?t getting enough rest on nursery days.
Has anyone else had to deal with this? Can I expect any more from the nursery reasonably given she is such a light sleeper? Does it ever get better? I feel I?m letting her down as she?s not getting enough rest 

Not sure what happened at the end there, was meant to be :(

can you suggest to the nursery that they put her in a pram to sleep?
I worked in an outstanding nursery last year and a member of staff used to put 3 babies in a triple buggy and walk them around the block till they fell asleep (this was checked with ofsted who said it was fine)
they then used to put the buggy in the garden and the babies slept really well

i think this is something you have to accept with nurseries, unfortunately. they can not cater for individual parents wishes and so your toddler will have to 'fit in' with the others. Its a pain, I know, but it seems to be fairly common for children who are in nurseries to not sleep very well. You may find she adjusts over time but it's just a case of waiting it out. i don't think you can ask them to do anything else with her - they don't have the time or resources ime.

getting toddlers to sleep is a tricky one in a nursery, a childminder would be a better position if it is becoming a real problem. However, when mine were little I would have wanted them to have a better nap. But I 'forded' mine and was a bit crackers.

Thx all. Most of the other children sleep 1.5-2 hrs (there's a sleep chart pinned on the noticeboard so I had a quick look) so I think the nursery staff are doing all the can.
She falls asleep quickly so goes down for her nap in the cot with the other babies fine. But she wakes after 35 mins.

She's never been one for sleeping in the pram (or the car, or a sling..) so the cot seems the only option.
We did think about a childminder but as they all looked after other children too, dd would have to fit in with school runs and playgroup schedules so I don't think she would have slept any better.
A nanny might have been the best option for naps but I don't think she would have enjoyed it as much as nursery (dd loves being around other children).

DD was like this till she gave up naps, and DS is now (he'd sleep for 3 hours for us at the weekend but usually only gets 45 minutes during the week).

We just put up with the crankiness, to be honest. Both kids were too interested in what was going on around them to sleep, I don't think the creche staff could have sorted it without bringing them home and putting them in their own cots!

It gets better as they get older, they cope better with the lack of sleep.