Nursery and sleep - what are your experiences

[Liv316]

Hi all! Just wondering how much starting nursery impacted your little ones sleep? My turning 1yo tomorrow (sobs) starts nursery next week and my husband starts a new job the same week and is away for the week training. He did a settling in session yesterday and was fine whilst he was there but was beside himself when I picked him up and ever since has been very needy/moany with me. I have given him all the cuddles to reassure him but I’m quite scared for him being the same when my husbands away and night wakes to be worse.

Thank you!

It didn't impact at all, she started at 10 months. She naps well there which I think helps

Mine started at 10 months, and never napped as long there as she did at home so would catch up with extra long naps on the days we were at home. No impact on night time sleep

My first started at 15 months, my second at 7 months. Both napped really well there, my youngest so much better than at home. Night time sleep wasn’t affected and they continued to sleep through as before.

Started at 7 months. Had a few weeks of unsettled nights, people seemed to think it was to get extra time with me to “catch up” but soon settled. It was hell at the time but didn’t last long
Always napped great there.

Mine started part time a couple of weeks ago and to be honest she’s not settled with her sleep, the longest she’s done at nursery is an hour when she’ll do a 2 hour nap at home. She’s transitioning her naps so I’ve decided to take her back to a couple of naps the days she’s at home even if it’s a struggle. I’m told they always settle after a little while!

It partially depends on how they nap at home and whether that fits in with the nursery timetable. How often is he in? It might be worth changing your routine to be similar to nursery if you think it’s worth it / feasible.

My toddler is older (just turned 2) and only goes twice a week. Normally she doesn’t nap and goes to bed about 7. They nap after lunch at nursery though and she tends to have about half an hour / 45 minutes and then doesn’t go to bed till about 9 🙄
I don’t have the heart to tell them to keep her awake as if she’s falling asleep she must need it but it’s a right pain!

Mine napped better at nursery than home once he settled down (which was a matter of a couple of days). He was a little bit clingy at times but it didn't really impact his sleep; he was normally so shattered at the ends of the day that he conked out.

Didn't affect sleep at all. We gave our sleep schedule but they just adjust to what nursery do.

He will get used to nursery, kids are resilient.

DC didn't nap well there the first week or so but since then has slept quite well. On his nursery days though he's exhausted coming home and wants to sleep straight away. His bedtime is usually quite a bit later so he falls asleep early and then we have a rubbish night with more wake ups than usual. But in all honesty his sleeps never been great.

Thanks all.

@ForkedIt he’s in 3 days a week for 7:30am-5pm so quite a long day. He’s got two more settling in sessions this week. Nursery have said that they’ll do what he does. He can either do two 1 hour:1 hour 15 min naps at home or 30 mins in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon so can do either.

My toddler is older (just turned 2) and only goes twice a week. Normally she doesn’t nap and goes to bed about 7. They nap after lunch at nursery though and she tends to have about half an hour / 45 minutes and then doesn’t go to bed till about 9

Isn’t it such a pain! Our eldest is now in preschool room so the issue has resolved, but honestly such a nightmare from 20 months to 2.5 when they finally moved her across. Luckily she only goes once a week, but I’m a primary teacher so need to work at least three hours an evening to keep up, and on nursery nights I was having to work 9-midnight 🤦🏻‍♀️

My DD is 22 months and has been in nursery for 6 months. Unfortunately for us, her naps at nursery are not good at all. She can easily do 1.5-2hrs at home but the most at nursery is 1hour - and that’s rare. More often than not it’s between 20 and 45 mins! Which isn’t great as they all nap after lunch, but lunch is super early (around 11/1115) so by the time she gets home she’s already been awake for a long time. Dinner, bath, bed can be a struggle and her night sleep is very often impacted. Currently considering moving nursery 🙈