Reception 2018 starter and naps!

[Bapooo]

Anyone else’s summerborn started needing naps again? My July-born is starting in September and while I’m happy overall with the fact he’s going to school, I’m a bit worried he’s going to be tired. He often wakes very early and with the summer heat of previous and a growth spurt he’s started napping (or needing a nap) at lunchtime again 🙈

Hi Bapooo

Does the school do a staggered start with the Reception children having half days to begin with? If so then it may be that the naps can still happen for a while.

Having said that, you may find that he copes without, provided he goes to bed really early (before 7). Children tend to settle into the rhythm of the school day after a while. It may be that he will need a nap on the weekends for a while.

Quite a few manage to fall asleep in class!

DS2 used to fall asleep at the afternoon story most days for the first term. He'd fall asleep on DS1's lap as they'd put the classes in together.

It’s a very slightly staggered start Cru, it’s afternoons only the first week, then a slightly shorter day the following week (9-3), then the week after it’s the full school day.
His sleep has been a bit tricky since birth - as a tiny baby naps were short and had to be worked hard at, and as a toddler he would sometimes be up for the day at 4am. I’m really hoping a nice predictable routine will help with an early night, and then a good night’s sleep.

spaniel and frayed that sounds adorable, DS once fell asleep in his lunch at nursery after resisting naps all morning!

That's what the reading corner is for. Although many was the time I had to retrieve my August born child at the end of the day from his face plant nap on the desk

You can always continue with shorter days for a longer period of time, even if the school don't usually offer it.

I'm an Early Years teacher and we are very flexible for the first few weeks (or longer if a child needs it). We like the children to come to school every morning, and although most children start full time from day 1, we always offer parents the opportunity for their child to do shorter days if they feel it would be beneficial.

My autumn-born dd was still having the occasional nap when she started school. They had mornings only for the first few weeks, and she continued napping 2-3 times a week. When they went to full days dd got very tired indeed. I would give her a snack and drink on the walk home from school and she would have a short nap as soon as we got in. Even 20mins helped. I didn't let her sleep more than 45 mins, and she still went to sleep around 7-7.30 every evening, and slept 12h. Weekends, she had two full 2h naps.

By spring half-term she had dropped the after-school naps, but the weekend naps continued well into Y1.

My friend, OTOH, brought her dc's bedtime earlier, to 6 o'clock.

A sb doesnt need to be in school until yr 1. (After april yr r to hold the place though).
So you could do pt the whole of yr r.
Obviously difficult in terms of childcare though.
Im hoping to defer my jul born to a CSA start.

I just called in if my summer borns were too tired on a particular day. DD also had Wednesday afternoons off for the first couple of terms (school weren't massively keen I just put my foot down).

They may be fine though.

It was very cute. I'm hoping his move to secondary in September doesn't see a return of school naps as I don't think it would go down as well there.

My mum was horrified that he was starting school as both my brother and I started after we were 5. (Also summer borns). But it was fine.

Yeah he’s a late summer born too, he only turned four a couple of weeks ago. I will bear that in mind Naty1, if he’s struggling at all I’ll look at reducing his hours for a bit. He’s used to nursery, but he only does 2 full days a week there. He stopped regularly having naps (apart from the odd car snooze) when he turned 3, but when it got really hot he started seeming to need them again, plus he’s generally up for the day about half 5 😴

Ahh I’m sure it’ll all be fine, we’ve all dozed off somewhere we shouldn’t

My D's was 4 and 2 weeks when he started reception. He did a couple of half days until Christmas and then in full time.

He did often go to bed about 6 pm especially in the dark winter months when it is easier to settle them.

He was always starving hungry and very moody when he came out of school so I always took a snack still do now.

I also didn't do any after school clubs for the first year.

He's going to be tired, I'm an Early Years TA and have never yet met a reception child that isn't tired the first few weeks. I wouldn't plan anything for after school for a while.

We've had children doze off in school, we've had others that do half days for a bit longer, we know reception children are still very small and are very flexible about getting them settled in. It could just be the heat and the growth spurt though, my 9 year olds been having afternoon naps most of the summer, coz its been so hot in her room at night that she hasn't slept properly and shes had a massive growth spurt which takes a lot of energy.