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Nurseries

Find nursery advice from other Mumsnetters on our Nursery forum. For more guidance on early years development, sign up for Mumsnet Ages & Stages emails.

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Original poster

Adapting to nurseries schedule

10 replies

Ellebel · 25/08/2023 21:10

My almost one year old started nursery this week. For the last few months he’s been on a nap schedule like clockwork of 9am-10am and then 3-3/3.30. Bed around 7.30. We’ve tried various bedtimes and no matter what, he’s up for the day around 5:30am which is earlier than ideal but can’t complain too much as we’re lucky in that he usually sleeps straight through.

We will be dropping him to nursery at 8:30, and the babies usually nap from midday. They’ve offered to try and put him down for a nap on arrival but it’s just not going to work- all the other babies are wondering around and he’s excited to be there and play. So far he’s only managed half an hour at midday, hopefully in time that will improve. Because of the lack of naps we’ve have to shift his bedtime to 6/6:30pm as he is just so shattered!

My question is- is it ok for a one year old to transition so suddenly to one nap? And am I best keeping nurseries schedule on the days he’s not there (he’s there 4 days a week) in a bid to not confuse things? Even though holding on from 5:30am- midday is going to be very tough!!

Any advice much appreciated x

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Workingmumchaos · 25/08/2023 21:14

Sounds pants. Surely they just put baby down when they are tired.

Ours do a morning pram walk after breakfast so he used to sleep then. If it was bad weather and he was grouchy they put him down in one of the cots.

They then all have their afternoon nap together on the floor after lunch.

ShirleyPhallus · 25/08/2023 21:15

It’s just the excitement, the noise and the new environment, he’ll get used to it in a few weeks

Id keep the routine the same as you already do at home, with the 2, he might need to have longer naps on the days he’s with you and have a very early bedtime on the days he’s having just one short nap. My older DD had terrible over tiredness after starting at nursery because of the naps and would wake up more at night. It quickly settled though.

keep consistent and he’ll be fine. Nurseries have magical nap powers

As an aside, 8.30 seems quite late to drop him off

rachelgreen23 · 25/08/2023 21:19

I think you'll be surprised by the noise he can sleep through, once he gets used to nursery and the novelty of it all has worn off. When I dropped my 1 year old off at nursery at 9ish, there were usually several children lying on their mats fast asleep while the chaos continued around them.

DuploTrain · 25/08/2023 21:22

Don’t change your home routine - if he’s getting really tired at nursery he’ll need the two naps on the days he’s at home to catch up!

My DS naps fine at nursery but it still tires him out - he’s always very overtired/hyper when he’s been at nursery.

Notooserious · 25/08/2023 21:26

Mine instantly dropped a nap when she started at the same age and had to be forced into sitting still for 5 minutes in a bouncy chair to get her to accept a lunchtime nap because she has terrible FOMO and would keep going until she fell asleep (often mid- dancing session) while standing up. He may go back to it, he may not, hard to predict. But at the weekends even 2.5 years later she still has a nap, though it has been abandoned long since at nursery. See how it goes but you may well find you can keep the same routine at home as he will learn that he does one thing at nursery and something else at home.

RecklessBlackberries · 25/08/2023 21:55

Our baby was on a similar nap schedule when he started nursery at one. Within a month or so, he'd just adapted to one nap a day (11.30 at first, slowly pushing back to nearer 12.30-1pm) and never looked back.

Amethyst2023 · 26/08/2023 08:51

Mine started with two a day, and was two a day at nursery too. Nursery did accommodate this and went with the flow but he quickly adjusted himself to once a day, somewhere in the middle of the day. He sleeps longer at night too now!.
It will be fine :)

headcheffer · 26/08/2023 09:52

Don't worry. How they behave at nursery is not within your power! Prepare for some cat naps on the way home from nursery if he's knackered and perhaps an earlier bedtime if he's not slept much that day. Just go with it and keep your same routine at home following his cues. Then pretty soon he will drop to one nap anyway.

HamishTheCamel · 26/08/2023 09:59

IME my DC naturally went to one nap around 13/14 months. So although it's a little early and forced, it would probably be happening anyway in the next few weeks. I'd play it by ear on his non nursery days - it's fine for him to have one nap some days and two naps on other days.

Original poster

Ellebel · 27/08/2023 09:19

Thanks all- really helpful advice. We’ve stuck to his usual routine and he’s been taking extra long naps so clearly catching up on all the missed sleep at nursery!

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