Sleep at childminders

[Hanster85]

Hello!

My 11m old has recently started with a CM. The CM is lovely and really like/trust her with my LO.

My LO usually has a 2, 3, 4 schedule at home & sleeps in her cot in the dark. But because of school run etc, it's usually 3/4 hours before my LO finally falls asleep for her first nap. She has the opportunity to - in the buggy etc, she just chooses not to. It's just because the circumstances are so different to her home routine.

She has been overtired and grumpy when she comes home, as she has only had one nap, instead of two.

It hasn't effected her night sleep at all, which is good. But just wondered if anyone else has been in the same position & whether their little ones settled down into some kind of routine with the CM?

It isn't the childminder at all & I know she is making every effort to get my little one to sleep. I think I'm just looking for reassurance that my LO will establish some sort of routine there & how long this took your tots?

I don't know what a 2, 3, 4 schedule is, but dc generally adapt to different routines at CMers very quickly.

Thing being, they also have growth spurts etc. and their routines change naturally as they grow anyway.

It is an anxious time when you first hand your little one over to someone else, but all my CMers over the ears were fantastic.

My DS went to one lunchtime nap around 10/11months which wasn't all that long after he started nursery. We didnt really have a routine before but going to one nap made my day so much easier. It meant he was actually tired so not fighting sleep and took at least a 1.5h nap (before that it was 40 minutes max). Plus most activities for above 1 year tend to be morning or later afternoon as most toddlers settle into one lunchtime nap so you can plan your day much easier.

He is almost 3 and has just given up his long lunchtime nap recently much to my dismay

Ah thank you!

The 2, 3, 4 routine - is having a nap 2 hours after waking up in the am - next nap 3 hours after that & bedtime 4 hours after that. She's a good napper & usually has about 3 hours a day.

You are probably right that she could just cope with one long nap a day - maybe I should be reinforcing that at home too, so it's not different between me & CM? Or does it not matter?

No wonder baby sleep is a multi million pound business - what a total nightmare

Yes, I would, if practical, try to keep to similar nap times / length of naps each day - ie whether with you or with the CMer - as far as possible.

What you find out when you have dc 2, 3, or 4, is actually these things we all worry about so much with our first dc, take on less importance with subsequent dc, as they have to fit in to older dcs' lives - such as the school run the CMer is doing - anyway

My DS was the same when he was with CM. One long nap was the best outcome on those days.. then he caught up at home. He'll soon be ready for one nap all the time but I wouldn't push it yet, just keep it the same at home.

My eldest was in nursery at that age and quickly dropped the morning nap as she didn't want to miss out on what the others were up to. She would be a bit grumpy at the end of the day but she went to bed very easily and it didn't last long - I switched to one nap at home at around 15 months just to make the transition between nursery and home a bit easier.