What to do about naps when your toddler is in childcare?
Usually the staff in daycare centres or the people caring for your toddler are keen to support you, and to fit in with your family's needs.
However, daycare staff, nannies, family daycare providers, babysitters, grandparents or the others who help you look after your child might believe that the best thing they can do for your little one and your family is to make sure your toddler has long blocks of sleep during the day.
As a result, depending on how much time your little one spends with his carers, your toddler's body clock settings might become disrupted after a few weeks, resulting in excessive night waking for you and your family. Long blocks of sleep during the day might also result in unmanageably late bed-times in the evening. You can find out about this here.
You could take a laid back, wait-and-see approach, allowing your little one to fit in with the running of the daycare centre or the carer's own style to see what happens. However, if you find problems emerging, you'll need to have a conversation about your family's needs.
Often parents who use The Possums Sleep Program speak with the carers in advance, explaining that their little one is accustomed to napping only when the sleep pressure is high, in the midst of daylight, noise and activity. Some daycare settings still use blinds to make the room dark when the little ones are sleeping. I generally say to parents that it may be too much to ask that the sleeping room isn't dimmed, since the carers are trying to manage larger groups of children, according to their own policies.
But it's not too much to ask the carers to wake your little one so that she isn't sleeping for longer in total than she does during the days when she's with you. I suppose you might call this capping the nap! Limiting the length of your little one's daytime naps when she spends time with carers can be a very important strategy for protecting your family's sleep health, over time.
Selected references
Thorpe K, Staton S, Sawyer E, Pattinson C, Haden C, Smith S. Napping, development and health from 0 to 5 years: a systematic review. BMJ. 2015;100:615-622.
