30min naps continue...

Babies have been in full-time daycare for 2 weeks and 2 days. We REALLY hoped that all the activity and experienced (??) hands would help get my LOs to nap. I was home alone with them for the last 4 months and never achieved a nap longer than 30 minutes without allowing them to sleep on/with me.
I was even diligent to try and get them down within 2 hours of wakefulness.

Well, the short "catnaps" continue...and it sounds like they are still fighting going down for naps. Someone PLEASE tell me this is something they will grow out of?!? They are napping a total of 2 hours a day...and nighttime has been all over the place. Generally they are down around 7pm, wake 1-3 times at night to nurse and then we are up for the day at 5:30am. I am just so worried that they aren't getting enough cumulative, restful sleep!!!

When I called daycare today, they said that they were both pretty fussy this morning and fighting naps. Now I am sitting here so worried about them...I struggled on my own to get them down for naps. If it isn't emotionally challenging enough to go back to work and leave your babies with "strangers," now I have to worry that they aren't getting the sleep they need.

Will they ever "learn" to sleep longer during the day?

(I have also asked daycare to try and get them to sleep after 2 hours of wakefulness...I am unsure how diligent they are with that request.)

 

Hang in there. Naps get better (just like everything else). I was constantly stressing about my babies' naps, both in daycare and out of it (but especially in it). On a bad day, they would nap 20-30 minutes all day. At least at home it was 20-30 minutes a few times during the day!

At home at least, naps got dramatically better around 6 months (just like a lot of other moms told me they would). I didn't really do anything differently, it just seemed to be a maturity thing.

I have to say that daycare naps continued to be spotty until they went to one nap at about 13 months. The teachers were never good at following the "2 hours of wakefulness" rule (and I can see why, with 8 babies in the room) -- instead they would wait until a baby looked about to crash. And they could never leave them to fuss for a few minutes (hoping they'd go back to sleep) if they woke up 20 minutes into a nap, because they'd wake up all the other babies in the nap room.

But they did still get somewhat better. Also, the babies just get better at tolerating the stimulation (which at first makes it HARDER for them to sleep, not easier), so that even if they don't nap well, they are not as cranky at the end of the day.

I also don't think they necessarily need cumulative sleep at that age -- you do, but they don't. And even if they are kind of sleep-deprived for a few weeks or even a few months, it isn't going to hurt them permanently. :hug:

 

I'm finding persistence and consistency helps. Give it a month, and maybe things will go better. Ask the daycare to just keep trying the same routine for the babies. . . talk to them about the routine so you can duplicate it at home when you are with them. My little guys are still working out some kinks with their daytime napping and I'm a SAHM.

See, I always thought folks who sent their kids to daycare got off easy because somebody else had to do the dirty work! But I guess I am wrong, haha, it's hard for everybody!

I hope things get better!

 

How about trying for naps after 1-1.5hrs of being awake? At that age mine honestly couldn't be awake for more then 60min before needing a nap! And, mine only napped for 45min at a time, so they had about 6 naps/day at that age - but it worked, because they were generally pretty happy when they were awake. I think it was around 5.5-6months when napping got more routine and consistent.

hang in there!

 

QUOTE(SMax @ Nov 25 2008, 05:23 PM) [snapback]1086727[/snapback]
Will they ever "learn" to sleep longer during the day?


I'm certain they will over time :hug:.

 

I am sorry that you are struggling at home and at daycare for naps. They will get better. They need to mature into it. It is a long road. :hug: At about 6 months mine started to get better and a bit longer.

 

I just posted that my girls just started taking longer naps. All I did differently was be consistent. Always in their cribs and 2 hours after they wake up. After a while, they just figured it out. It might be their age too. Who knows? Some days are better than others. Hang in there. It will get better.

 

At that age mine needed to sleep after 90 minutes also, but DD still started fighting naps. It lasted about 2 weeks, and I had to use CIO. I don't think she's fussed more than twice since... although naps are still anywhere between 45 minutes and 2 hours.