Tips for helping baby sleep at nursery?

[kate288]

My 13 month old will be going back to nursery next week after a few weeks off over Christmas. She started in November and has really struggled with naps. There is only one cot at the nursery so she usually sleeps in a pram. I have given them her comforter and dummy as well as her Snooze shade. But she only ever manages one nap for around 30-45 mins whereas at home she has a morning nap (up to 1.5 hours) and an afternoon nap (about an hour). I wouldnt really mind but her nightime sleep is challenging at the best of times so with the overtiredness from nursery it's even worse 🙈. And it also means she doesn't eat her dinner as she's too tired but then ends up wanting to feed more through the night as she's hungry.

I wondered if anyone has been through this with their little one or has any tips?

Sorry to hear, and following with interest. Would a little white noise machine help? Like Ewan the sheep? Is it maybe too noisy over there? Have the nursery staff offered any thoughts?

Nursery should be coming up with some suggestions, your DC won't be the first one to struggle. DS refused to nap in the cot room at his nursery at that age, so they rocked him to sleep andpm put him on a little mat in the corner of the room. He transitioned to 1 nap at 14 months so they used to send him across to the next room up to nap with the others there. Those were both ideas the nursery staff came up with.

Do you mean that there isn’t a proper place for her to sleep in because they only have 1 cot for all the children?! If that’s correct that sounds very strange and I wouldn’t be happy about it. Mine started nursery at 15 months and has a 2 hour nap after lunch every day but each child has one of those floor cots (younger babies have their own crib), she wouldn’t do more than 45 minutes if she was made to sleep in a pram either.

Only one cot at nursery? That’s ridiculous. Ours has little bunk beds- enough for all of them in a quiet area where they can dim the lights.

I’d look at finding a new nursery or childminder! Your little one needs naps during the day and will do so for at least another year.

DD won’t sleep in a pram for any length of time as she likes to be on her front. If we don’t stick to routine it is a complete disaster!

Sorry I should have clarified, there's only one cot but I think the older babies sleep on a mat on the floor. I'm not sure if maybe this would work better for my DD. I'll need to talk to them about it. I'm so happy with the nursery overall it's been really great but there sleeping situation is the only negative. There isn't really a separate sleeping room so it does get noisy. She's got a myhummy here that she do we my really use now so I might try taking that in to see if it helps. I think once she's only on one nap she will sleep better there as most of the babies in her room are older and only have one nap after Lunch.

Sorry I should also add, when it is "sleep time" there is a quiet and dark area of the nursery and I think that's when all of the babies have their post lunch nap but it's only because my DD is still on 2 naps so her naps aren't when all of the other babies are napping, if that makes sense. So might be a case of riding it out until she drops a nap!