Sleep dilemma 13 month old

[Crabbyboot]

My 13 month old daughter is starting nursery next week 7.30-13.00 three days per week. They eat lunch at 11.30. The only trouble is, this is the perfect time for my daughter to nap. They have said it is fine for her to sleep through lunch if I want her to. It's not far from home so I can feed her when I get back. However, I feel like it is a bit of a shame for her to miss out on lunch, but also don't want her to be forced to stay awake. A really long afternoon nap at home after nursery may also impact bedtime.

Has anyone else had this dilemma or have any suggestions of how to ask the nursery to schedule her naps?

I’d just roll with nursery. It’s no bad thing to move away from a very structured routine. A bit more flexible.

My two daughters were morning nappers (10.30ish) but I left it up to nursery to do their thing. They were both absolutely fine. I thought they’d be tired & grumpy but they are so busy & distracted at nursery that they get on just fine. And they shifted to a 12-2pm nap at home pretty quickly after that. It did move bedtime a bit later but not much, maybe 30 minutes. I don’t let my DD nap past 2pm, no matter what time she goes down. I wake her up.

Most toddlers shift to an after lunch nap at some point. Lunch can be earlier than normal. Mine eats about 11/11.30 if we are at home.

It’d be a shame for your DD to nap through her morning at nursery, she’s not there long. If she was there all day, maybe.. but a good nursery should work with you & DD. Maybe ask them for a trial run, see how she gets on? If they think she seems exhausted, then it’s fine to let her nap. If she’s ok, then let her carry on!

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I agree with you I should try to roll with it, I am a worrier by nature! I will suggest a trail run of keeping her awake over lunchtime and see how she gets on. The main thing is she gets to bed at a decent time and sleeps well at night!

I had this dilemma. I left nursery to it and just gave him a sleep when at home.
It's done him the world of good eating with his friends.
As pp he was having too much fun to think I about sleep and would just crash at home.

Thanks. Yes I think it's nice for them to be able to eat together. I'm hoping it will help with her fussy eating too.

@Crabbyboot

Thanks. Yes I think it's nice for them to be able to eat together. I'm hoping it will help with her fussy eating too.

It will 100% My DS just ate toast, salad and fruit. He's now having everything they offer him and is having different things at home. It took about 3/4 weeks for him to eat a meal there but I'm amazed by what he's eating now. Curries, hunters chicken etc. I'm sure your LO will be the same!

I really hope so, she is surviving on baked beans, shreddies, yogurt and poached eggs...no other eggs will do at the moment !

I would definitely let her eat lunch with her friends. They love it. We adjusted our toddler's routine to fit in with the nursery's. Then she can get the full benefit of her time there.

My toddler eats virtually nothing at home. At nursery he's a massive greedy guts apparently. Eats absolutely everything.

Thank you for your responses that is reassuring. She has eaten wonderfully today. Sleep not so good though as she fell asleep near picking up time and then woke up when I collected her. It was a very long afternoon with an overtired baby. Hopefully things will settle when we get into a new routine.