schedule at nursery seems weird

[LolaLolamama]

DS is 10months (just) and starting nursery (doing settling in for a few weeks) and I feel like the schedule is a bit weird...but maybe it's totally normal! Any other parents w/ babies of similar age able to share their nursery schedule?

Our schedule:
Drop off from 0800
Nap 1: 0900 (short nap, 30/45mins)
Lunch: 11:15-1145am
Nap 2: Noon-1400
Home time 1700-1800 (With a few snacks in between there)

9am seems very early for the first nap - We had to push our DS schedule to get him up at 6am just to give him a full wake window before then...that's OK...But then if he naps (he hasn't yet HA!) the next wake window is only 2.5 hours later (9:30am-Noon)...And then no nap before home time which can be as late as 6pm.

It seems like the day is really only catering towards the older toddlers (the room is 10months to 2 years) where they maybe only need 1 nap (lunchtime)? Or perhaps this is normal. My hope is that he'll be so tired from all the play/new stimulation that he will be ready to snooze on this schedule but it feels so different to what we did at home (and what all baby research/advice guides on for this age)

I think when my DS was that age, that was when he used to have his first nap about that time. When I first read it, I was expecting you to say they were catering more to even younger babies.

If it doesn't work for you, you either need to work with them on an option that does, or move.

IME nursery staff are magicians at getting babies to sleep and merging their routines into one. If you're only just settling in and happy with everything else, I'd just be patient for now though.

Seems perfectly normal to me. They'll start the naptime at 9, some babies won't be put down for their nap until a little later if they do them one at a time.

You're putting your baby in with many other babies, they can't have individual schedules, the babies have to match the schedules, not the other way round. If your LO can't sleep at 9am then they'll have a later nap.

Remember the schedule isn't set in stone, they know how to care for babies and your child will adjust.

It looks pretty normal to me except that my DS's nursery doesn't really have an official 'first nap' time, as it's a small nursery and doesn't have that many babies under one. So they'll put them down for a morning nap if you ask, but the main naptime is 12-2. My baby used to have a 9 am nap no problem even if he'd only woken up at 7ish, but he didn't want one at nursery so they've just moved him on to napping after lunch like the other 0-2s. If your baby doesn't want a nap in the morning, he'll probably just have a bigger lunchtime nap.

I've never worked in a nursery where they have a morning nap unless they fall asleep or if parent asks. The child may have an afternoon nap after lunch but then it's upto the parent. Just go with it see if your child falls asleep. We never let children sleep after 4 if we could help it as they have their evening meal at 4 and get picked up at 6pm. Most parents want their children to sleep at home.

I think its a pretty standard schedule - our nursery are the same although they encourage 1 nap from starting and don't put down at 9am unless explicitly told to.
DS and DD dropped to 1 nap when they started at 11/12 months. It took a bit of getting use to but after a few weeks we got into a pattern. Bedtime was earlier for a long while sometimes as early as 5pm but we had to get up at 6am work so it balanced out

Seems quite a normal schedule to me.

Even before mine went to nursery, they'd usually get up about 6:30am and I'd try to put them down at 9:30am for a short 30mins nap (woke them if not awake themselves) so that they could be ready to do a full nap after lunch 12:30/1ish until 2:30/3pm. When they started nursery they had a very similar schedule so it all fit in well.

DS1 dropped the first short nap about 14months
DS2 dropped the first short nap at 12 months

This is, incidentally, a schedule that a lot of the baby books and websites recommed (the likes of Gina Ford, Little Ones etc.) and overall it worked really well for us. I totally disregarded wake windows after baby was 4months, and then just went by time of the clock!

I found that my baby had one routine at nursery and a totally different one at home.
I didn't bother to adapt at home at all unless she needed an earlier bedtime/extra nap to account for not napping enough at nursery.

We do follow close to the home schedule to begin with but babies often develop a nursery nap pattern. The older babies do tend to nap after lunch about from 12.30/1 until they wake again (usually 2/2.30). Some babies still prefer a morning nap and tend to sleep around 10/10.30.

We won’t usually wake sleeping babies although sometimes we do get parents requesting that we do.

Where I used to work we had just the one nap from noon and occasionally some were as young as sixth months. Maybe many babies were falling asleep earlier? I would just tell them he probably doesn't need that 9am nap.

We've just started at 11 month.

Seems a pretty standard routine tbh.
DD went down for a 9am morning nap before starting.
But, at my nursery they go down as and when they want to.

Yeah I'm thinking I just need to try and keep getting him up early enough that he's had time before the 9am nap and then trust the rest to the staff. 6am just seems like an early start! Maybe I'll ask the other parents with similar ages what their scheudle is

@SJM1988 Maybe that's more what I'm concerned about - the whole day vs. just the nursery schedule. I think their nap timings are fine...i just feel anxiety about setting the day around that - waking DS up much earlier, understanding when bedtime can be (we pick up between 5-6pm but that's too late if he's woken up at 2pm from naptime) - We'll work it out over time I'm sure!

I wouldn't be waking him up to make sure he hits the 9am nap.

Just tell them he woke at say 7:30 so he'll need a nap later than 9.

I wouldn't think too much about 'wake windows' and the like. Get him up when you'd usually get up and he'll sleep at 9 or he won't. All the babies won't be napping at 9 (2 year olds won't be).

My eldest didn't ever sleep when the others did at nursery's she'd just go over to a cushion and sleep when she wanted.

Seems normal enough to me - we’ve used 4 different nurseries over 10 years.

When my kids were babies we did the 2/3/4 routine which worked amazingly for naps so maybe that’s what they’re going with - seems to be, ish:
up at 7, nap at 9, = 2 hrs
up at 9:30, nap at 12 = ok, 2.5 not 3 hrs
up at 2, home at 6 = 4 hrs presumably straight into bath and bed.

They have to cater to the majority/norm as far as possible.

Eg my friend’s kid naps 1-4 pm aged 3, but they force it to avoid feeding him lunch (nursery), then naps at home, so they save on afternoon childcare and friend can work. Whereas my DD the same age can never make it past 12, and if she does then she won’t sleep again until bedtime.

Our (2) nurseries both work around the children's schedule, all different. They are very child centred. That was partly why we chose them

Is this schedule what you expected from looking around the nursery before starting @LolaLolamama ?

@KCSIE Well the schedule had been a little different when we originally looked because the room was split (under 1's // 1-2year olds) but bc they only had a few babies under 1 they have instead done two rooms of under 2s. So most of those older toddlers skip first nap and just take a long midday one from what the nursery teachers have said

Thanks everyone! We're making the most of the schedule having moved wake time up in the morning. I think ultimately it will just work better for us in a few months when DS can be awake longer and is less dependent on hitting that first nap. But until then, we'll make it work!

And they do help the babies nap off this schedule of course, but it's within the same room so although it's pretty calm it's not lights off/noise machine on, so a bit hit/miss. Power naps!