Napping at day care, but not at home
PineappleBabble asked: "Why does my infant always nap so well at daycare and so poorly on the weekends?! Srsly - there must be a medical reason."
Kim West, the "Sleep Lady" of Severna Park, had some suggestions:
"That is not an unusual comment! I find the answer is often twofold: First your baby is happy to see you and prefers spending time with you over napping. Pick connection time (touching, playing, nurturing) over errands and house cleaning -- do those things during nap time. Ask your daycare provider what time your baby naps, how long, and most importantly how they put him/her to sleep or back to sleep if she awakens from a short nap. If the daycare nap schedule is consistent and at reasonable times then aim for the same times at home. Include a soothing pre-nap ritual. Important side note - make sure your baby knows how to put him/herself to sleep independently at bedtime, which will help with naps."
(Photo courtesy of chimothy27's Flickr stream via Creative Commons)
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Comments
Day and night sleep are actually handled by two different parts of the brain, so what works at night may or may not work well during the day.
It is common and expected for babies to know things are different with other caretakers. It can be as simple as allowing 5 minutes of fussing when they wake from a short nap that the baby goes back to sleep. Fussing between sleep transitions to the next sleep cycle is common and often, parents can run in there a lot quicker than possibly a caretaker with other babies to worry about. When my younger son was young, I had to tend to my older son and could not get to him right away and he went back to sleep within 4 minutes flat. Sometimes we interrupt that process.
Posted by: Nicole | July 6, 2009 12:59 PM
We have the exact opposite problem. My now 17-month old has always napped well at home and not at daycare. Since she was probably 8 months old she has only taken one nap a day at daycare for about an hour. At home she still takes two hour and half to two hour naps. I've actually never heard of the opposite problem, all my friends babies nap better at home.
I know at daycare she's much more interested in the other kids than sleeping, but it results in a very crabby baby at night.
Posted by: Cara | July 22, 2009 9:14 PM