Naps at nursery

[jakethepeg]

Hi
My son is just 3 and has been going to nursery for 2 full days since he was 1. He has always loved it and thrived there and ate and slept really well, eats better there than at home! But since he turned 3 the nursery have been putting him in the pre-school room for the odd morning or afternoon in preparation for September and although he enjoys it with the older kids he doesn't seem to be having his nap after lunch anymore.
I expected his nap to cut down/cease by September - he only has 30-50 mins after lunch when he is with me - but he is so active at nursery that the times I have picked him up at 5pm and he hasn't had any rest he is asleep by the time we get home at 5.30 and I put him straight to bed until 6.30am the next day! So no tea, no playing with daddy, no bath etc!
If he has an hour sleep he is up until 7ish and is fine.
Anyway, due to a change at work I have the opportunity of changing my hours, I could work 4 mornings 8.30-12 instead of 2 full days - I'd like some opinions on whether this would benefit my son? I was thinking although we would only have one full day together (except weekends) I could get him at 12 and he could have half an hour nap in the car and we could still do our activities we do on our normal days together.
I just hate seeing him so wiped out, he is 3 but was born 3 months prematurely so I stil see him as not being 3 until August, he isn't ready to miss his naps yet.
I haven't spoken to the nursery yet as my sister picked him up today (at 3pm so he wasn't as tired) but I will mention next week that I want him to at least lay down and have a rest and not keep going all day.
I quite like the idea of working 4 mornings but do you think the afternoons will be wasted and go quicker and won't be as nice as having full days together?
Sorry for the rambling, I can't stop thinking about how shattered he was last night and how awful I feel that he wasn't able to lay down and have a sleep like he can when he is with me.
Thanks a lot.

Hi Jake, sounds like you've got two issues here:

1. Nursery routine is stopping him having the sleep he seems to need
2. What it would be like working half days?

And to sort out the second one you really don't need to be distracted by the first.

Definitely have a word with nursery, regardless of your potential change in hours. Certainly in our case (ok sample of one not necessarily conclusive but..) DS still needed a nap right through until shortly before he started the full day reception class. Even whilst at nursery (the 2 1/2 hr one) he still needed a nap after lunch. So just because he's coming up to 3 doesn't mean he's ready to drop his nap.

I've done working half days as well as full days, and there are pros and cons. I didn't feel as relaxed because you're still winding down after work, and work becomes very intense as you feel you've got to work harder as you're only there for 3 1/2 hours.

I'm not sure any of that helps!!! DH has been trying to hold a conversation with me whilst posting this, but I do wish you well in sorting this out.

If you go half days and pick him up, he may go to sleep for a couple of hours in afternoon, give you some time to do anything you have to do and then play for the rest of the afternoon. Our DD does this and she gets 3 ish ours undivided attention fro after nap until bed time.

Thanks for your replies, you've been very helpful.

Think I am definitely going to change my working week to 4 half days rather than 2 full days. Does anyone else have any experience of working 4 mornings?

You made a valid point TB about winding down after work and fitting it all in, hmmm such a big decision to make!

Thanks x

Hi jake

Agree about insisting your DS naps at nursery.

I work 5 mornings 8.30-12.30 and DS has been in nursery with this routine since he was 2 (he's 3.2 now).

Up until about 4 months ago we would come home straight from nursery, and he would nap for 1-2 hours, then he would get up and have a good 2 hours of playing or doing things like going to the library, park, or running errands.

Since he turned 3 he has pretty much dropped his nap although will still sometimes sleep in the car on the way to / from somewhere. If he is exceptionally tired he still has a nap at home, or sometimes just falls asleep for half an hour at about 3pm. If not he has an hour or so "quiet time" vegging out with Cbeebies when he gets home.

I like the fact that we have the same routine every day, and we spend a lot of time just winding down at home, pottering, without feeling like we have a whole day to fill, iyswim. I get chores done too.

However I do save proper days out, swimming etc for the weekend because atm DS would simply be too tired for those type of things in the afternoon.

The brilliant thing about 4 days is you can get your chores, shopping etc done on the 4 afternoons and then do something special on the 5th day - best of both worlds imo.