Post nursery meltdowns

[JosieB68]

My daughter is 13 months and in nursery 3 days, been half days and coped well but done a full day yesterday and will be going forward and basically from dinner onwards she was inconsolable.
I have genuinely never seen her so upset 😭 it was awful to see, she was obviously exhausted and over tired and it all just came out but this lasted all night. She did sleep eventually at 9pm but every few hours she was up hysterical.
has this happened to anyone else? What can I do? She’s only sleeping an hour at nursery and that obviously is not enough!
I know it’s early days but seeing her like that was so upsetting. It was like she was just so overwhelmed.

Is she in nursery because you're working, or could you take her out? She's very young to be in nursery and as you say, ages obviously not coping with it. If you work, can you change hours or maybe find someone who can look after her in your home so she's in a familiar place?

You don't need to take her out of nursery, and 13 months is a perfectly normal age to be in nursery.

She's probably knackered - she isn't used to nursery yet and all her tiredness will be coming to the fore once she's home with you. Just try keep things as calm and soothing for her as you can and know that this stage will pass.

@Boxina yes I work and no family close by so I have had to use childcare.
@wp65 thank you. Hopefully you’re right and just a phase and will get used to the big change soon.

As wp65 says, she’s just knackered. Many children are like this on the initial stages. They have to get used to a new routine. It can be a little overwhelming for them at first until they settle in properly. Lots of children are in childcare at this age, and even younger, so parents can work. Some children are in childcare for a full week as it’s not so easy for parents to change their working hours and not everyone has family to help. Once your lo starts to settle in it will become much easier on her, you just need to work through these initial stages.

It may well be she's holding it together all day at nursery and finally with you she can let go of all her emotions, you're her safe place.

It's so upsetting but I think it's normal. Had the same with my little one. Still get days like that but not as often. It's just a huge change in routine, being overly tired and not napping as long as they may at home. Once she's settled you may find she naps a bit longer at nursery and the meltdowns should start to become less frequent after a few weeks. It's so hard, but you just have to comfort them and ride it out 💕