Day care adjustment

My babies started daycare today. It was SO hard, but I think the best option for us right now. I picked them up today and they ate well all day but hardly slept at all. My DD slept a total of 1 hour and my DS slept maybe 2 hours the whole day! I couldn't believe this. They said they tried their best to put them down and such but that they just wouldn't sleep.
When we got home they were both pretty wound up, restless and looked like they were overstimulated. I tried to put them down for a short nap before the bedtime routine but they weren't having it. They are sleeping now, and I'm planning on waking and feeding in about an hour, then bathing and putting down. I'm terrified of what tonight will bring. They were doing so well before today, sleeping 8-9 hours per night. It was heavenly and I'm just so worried daycare messed it all up.

So my questions are how long did it take for your babies to adjust to daycare and the new schedule? Any tips for helping them to adjust better? When did you feel like you fell into the new schedule with starting back to work and such?
I'm not a great person with change and I really like schedules, so its hard when it all changes, which it seems to do pretty often with these little babes.

Anyway, any advice would help!

 

I'm going to be honest, but you probably won't like my response . My boys NEVER adjusted to daycare. Granted, they're part time...I think full time kiddos would do better in adjusting. When they first started at 9 weeks, we had a GREAT routine going at home that totally got ruined. My boys wouldn't eat OR sleep well at daycare for a long time (they'd go through phases). Then they transitioned to a new room at 6 mos & it started all over again. At 10 mos, I pulled them out of their 1st daycare for various reasons (although 1 being that they just couldn't get them to nap well there). Their 2nd daycare was great...they adjusted VERY quickly & were taking normal 2 hr naps! I found out a bunch of bad stuff about that daycare (ie license revoked, money laundering, etc) that made me pull the boys right away (sad because the teachers were really great). At 2 days shy of a year, they started their THIRD daycare. They're having the hardest time with this one. I think the big thing is that they really encourage ONE nap at this center at this age & my boys just aren't ready for that. But, I'm hoping within the next week or 2, things should settle down a bit.

In the beginning, I actually picked my kids up early to ensure they got a good 3rd nap in at home since their first 2 naps were total hit or miss. In the days that they didn't eat well, I usually tried to feed them EXTRA in the evening to help overnight. I truly blame daycare for my kids not STTN earlier...the inconsistent/awful naps, the inconsistent eating, the overstimulation, etc.

I'm a huge creature of habit & a huge stickler to our routine. Our daycare(s) have tried their best to follow our routine, while still tending for 6 other babies. There were plenty of days that our routine would get way off & we'd have all sorts of issues when we got home!

I do think I'm in the minority...HOPEFULLY we finally have found a daycare that will work for us. I've heard such wonderful things on here with kids doing great in wonderful daycares, so hopefully that will work for you. Also, hopefully your kids will adapt sooner than mine did....being part time, they'll go up to a week without going to daycare & I really think that hinders them, but I refuse to put them in more to adjust them since I prefer them home with me.

Best of luck with your daycare woes. I'd guess within the next week or so, things will really settle in for your LOs. They need to learn the sights & sounds of the new daycare, as well as their new caregivers. Try not to let my post scare you...but just be aware that difficulty adjusting can happen!

 

Our girls started daycare last week. They also took very short naps, nothing like at home! And they ate kind of funny, but I think they are over that. When we got home the first week they were soo tired and cranky! I hated it because they would eat not long after we got home, then fall asleep and not wake up again till it was time to eat and go to bed! I hated not getting to spend more time with them. I think they are adjusting well though. They still slept all night except Thursday when Hannah spit up all over the crib and woke up at 4 AM. It should get better, hang in there, I know it's tough leaving them!

 

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but... We have been in daycare 2 months now. They still don't eat the same way they do here (one of them is on a 3 hr schedule at daycare despite being on a 4 hour schedule on the weekends - alot of which is related to naps). They also both have reflux and sometimes when the daycare folks are busy and need to feed other babies they let mine stop at 3-4oz when they typically take 7-8 at home. And then they are screaming 2 hours later. And napping is entirely hit or miss. They had a FABULOUS routine before daycare and napped like little angels for almost 5 hours during the same timeframe they are in daycare. Now, I am thrilled if they get 3 x 45min naps. We are headed to our second daycare next week. Let's hope it works out better.

 

Mine took about 2 weeks to get used to eating like at home, and about 3 weeks to get used to napping there. My twins started daycare when they were 8 weeks old.

 

My guys never had a problem eating at daycare. Naps are still hit or miss. They have been in daycare since they were 12wks old.

 

How did last night go?

We started the boys in daycare around 12 weeks. The big adjustment period was around a week and a half then things calmed down to the new normal. We still have some issues though.

DS1 still doesn't nap well there, but he's a power napper anyway - half an hour at a time. If he doesn't take a good afternoon nap we try to make sure he gets a short one in as soon as we get home.

DS2 doesn't take bottles there very well because he's so easily distracted. I just make sure he takes a big bottle before he leaves, he snacks during the day and I give him a big one as soon as I get him home. Now that they are eating solids though, he will eat that there without problem.

It's had it's bumps, but I try to relax about it. Sometimes it was hard, but at the end of the day they are enjoying it and they are fed, safe and loved while they are there and that is what's important.

 

I was coming back to ask how last night went, too.

A little more about our time - I actually cried when we had to leave daycare for the last day since we had all grown so much together. I feel a little crazy admitting it, but we didn't have a lot of non-work friends, and the ladies at daycare had been there for me through all the ups and downs of my twin pregnancy, and was a little like losing part of the family.

I hope you all adjust really soon, and that you have as wonderful of an experience as we did. It can be rough at times, but also a great experience. :hug99:

 

My girls were in daycare from 4 to 6 months. They always ate well while there (the teachers were great about following our feeding schedule), but naps were nuts. After the first few days they gave up on trying to get them to nap in the cribs. They'd let them sleep in bouncy chairs or while being held. I was totally fine with this though, but give it a week and then check in with the teachers and see what they think about napping. I was always shocked when I'd check the sheet of paper where they wrote what the girls did that day- 10 minute nap here, 20 minute nap there, etc etc. GL with the adjustment. It was so much harder on me than it was on the girls, even though they were exhausted at the end of each day

 

QUOTE(jennstwins @ Aug 11 2008, 08:59 PM) [snapback]925316[/snapback]
My babies started daycare today. It was SO hard, but I think the best option for us right now. I picked them up today and they ate well all day but hardly slept at all. My DD slept a total of 1 hour and my DS slept maybe 2 hours the whole day! I couldn't believe this. They said they tried their best to put them down and such but that they just wouldn't sleep.
When we got home they were both pretty wound up, restless and looked like they were overstimulated. I tried to put them down for a short nap before the bedtime routine but they weren't having it. They are sleeping now, and I'm planning on waking and feeding in about an hour, then bathing and putting down. I'm terrified of what tonight will bring. They were doing so well before today, sleeping 8-9 hours per night. It was heavenly and I'm just so worried daycare messed it all up.

So my questions are how long did it take for your babies to adjust to daycare and the new schedule? Any tips for helping them to adjust better? When did you feel like you fell into the new schedule with starting back to work and such?
I'm not a great person with change and I really like schedules, so its hard when it all changes, which it seems to do pretty often with these little babes.

Anyway, any advice would help!


Mine still don't nap well at daycare. Very shortly after they started, we shifted to an earlier bedtime of 6:30 and we just bring them home and get them into bed. The older they get, the more we are able to play and spend some time before bed. Some days they nap well. Some they don't. I did make very clear to daycare that sleeping in a bouncy was fine - I just want them to sleep. But we still have days, like yesterday, where we pick them up and are told they didn't sleep more than 15-20 minutes at a time all day.

 

Mine started at 12 weeks. Their eating settled down after about a week to a week and a half--though they still don't eat quite as well at school as they do at home. However the difference is small enough that it can be made up with two bigger bottles at home in the AM and at night. Naps are a complete disaster still; but my boys have never been good nappers. Yesterday, for instance, my worse napper slept for a total of 1 hour all day. He fell asleep in the car on the way home, as he does most days, and woke up in time for his solids (that kid will never miss a meal!).

Their nighttime sleep was never interrupted, though--they STTN early, and they kept doing it through the daycare transition.

Our issue right now is similar to a pp--they seem to be almost ready for a 4 hour schedule; but their eating is too inconsistent at school for me to feel comfortable sending fewer bigger bottles during the week. So weekends are a 4 hour; and weekdays are a 3 hour, more or less. I'm sure this inconsistency is confusing for them; and I'll have to suck it up and try the longer schedule at school sometime soon. But I'm paranoid about them not eating enough.

Good luck to you--it does get easier!

 

QUOTE(2pugmom @ Aug 12 2008, 08:36 AM) [snapback]925810[/snapback]
My guys never had a problem eating at daycare. Naps are still hit or miss. They have been in daycare since they were 12wks old.


This. Most days they only nap 30-40 min total. Sometimes one will nap for an hour, but usually only 1/week. I don't know what to do about it and I am actually quite bothered by it. Mostly bc they nap so well at home with us and then seem like they're catching up on the weekend taking 2-3 naps for over an hour each.

We're actually considering changing our schedule around to take them out of daycare. I hate it that they never nap there and then have to go to bed as soon as they are done with dinner (usually 6:30) and dinner is often a disaster bc they are too tired. I see other kids in there napping away in their cribs, but not my babies.

GL. It hasn't really affected our STTN, but it has mandated a super early bedtime and tired babies every evening.

 

QUOTE(EmilyM @ Aug 11 2008, 09:55 PM) [snapback]925525[/snapback]
Mine took about 2 weeks to get used to eating like at home, and about 3 weeks to get used to napping there. My twins started daycare when they were 8 weeks old.


Ditto! Mine did this exactly. Occasionally on Mondays they will be a little fussy while there, but then they are adjusted again. They have also had a cold for the past two weeks from Daycare.

 

Thanks for all of your advice. Last night actually went pretty well. I woke them up around 8:30, bathed and fed them. Put them down around 9:15 which was much later than I expected but we were having an off day. Anyway, the slept until 4:45am. So not too bad at all. I know there will be an adjustment period. Tonight I'm going to try to feed them right when we get home so we can eat around 8 tonight and go to bed earlier.
I called to check on them today and Will had been asleep for an hour and Ellie slept for about 45 mins. So not too bad this morning.