Longgggg napper

[Shannie]

Hello! I just have a question about my dcg. She is 22 months old. I have had her in my dayhome since she was 8 months old. Anyways, she has always been a decent napper. 2 hours most days, 2.5 others. Her mom changed her diet in August (not sure if this is coincidental) anyways, since then she naps 4 hours most days. I asked mom about this and she said oh that's ok, she has no problem going down at night so no worries. I asked if I could wake her early because it is hard to do outdoor time in the afternoon when it's warmed up outside. I was told to go ahead and wake her after 3 hours or so. This still doesn't give us time to go outside after doing snacks and prepping for home time. Would you wake her after the other kids get up anyways? And would you tell the mom?

[mom-in-alberta]

Normally, I would say leave her, if it's not interfering with sleep at home.
If it's really getting in the way of your afternoon routine, though, I would let her sleep as long as you can, but wake her when you have to.
What is she like when she is tired? Can you put her down a little earlier? That way she still gets the big nap that she apparently needs?
Just curious; mom says she goes down ok, but is she wakeful at night?

[playfelt]

Can you give us a little more insight into the changes in her diet as it does seem odd that the change in nap happened about the same time. Is the food too gassy or in some way upsetting her from getting a full night's sleep? I would give her a morning nap of a couple hours even if that is all she does at your house and then she should only need the 2-3 in the afternoon the others are getting.

[AmandaKDT]

I have a 16 month old that all of a sudden was sleeping longer than usual and falling asleep every day at the table at lunch time. Mom took her to the doctor and It turned out her diet was deficient - she was anemic and vitamin D deficient. The mom started giving her vitamin D drops and supplemented her diet with iron rich food, two weeks later she was back to normal and sleeping a regular amount of time again.

[5 Little Monkeys]

IMO, at 22 months, a 4 hour nap is too long. My naptime here is 2-2.5 hrs. I wake any child up after 2.5 for sure as I don't want that to interfere with their evening bedtime which than in turn affects the next day.

I would think that if she is napping 4 hours and still sleeping normal at home that maybe something is up and I would suggest seeing a doctor just to rule out anything. That's a lot of sleep!

[Sassygirl]

I'm very curious about the dietary changes as well.
However... I have a fabulous group of nappers here too aside from my own son (isn't that always the case).
I have all toddlers 13-19 months including my own son. All of them arrive between 6:45-7:30 and my 7:30 arrival's parents commute from about an hour away and my daycare is halfway to their work and right off of the highway which makes it convenient. This means all of these kids have been up from at least 6am before they arrive to me. I would say almost all of them are kept up later at night so they are still needing a morning top up nap here as well as an afternoon nap.
It can get frustrating because I feel like most days we don't get to do too much as a group someone is always sleeping. I have tried making morning nap only an hour 8-9 and I am always waking the kiddos up. Sometimes one is so miserable I have to put them back to bed for another half hour. During morning nap, I spend the time with my own son, clean up, prep lunch. We have lunch here at 11 and afternoon nap is 12-3 and they all STILL need to be woken up at 3!
I don't get it! Not that I am really complaining but I understand your situation.
I would suggest doing a morning nap again for this one and keeping it 1-1 1/2 hours then using that time to do crafts or another activity.
I have also okayed with all my parents that if their child is still asleep going out into my backyard with the baby monitor on with the other children for playtime outside so that the others dont miss out.

[apples and bananas]

I have to admit that I LOVE it when they have a long nap. Especially on those rainy dark cold days. But, regardless or what we're doing or the type of nap the child normally has I wake them all up after 2.5. No later. It's easier for me to get them all up at the same time.

Do what works in your home and yes, let the parent know. "I need to wake her after 2.5 hours so we can get some fresh air." The parent probably doesn't really care. The child is probably just a good sleeper.

However, if you wake her after 2.5 hours and she's very lethargic and hard to deal with then I would suspect an issue with her health.

[mickyc]

no sleeping in here! I usually put all my kids down around 12:30-12:45 and they sleep until 3. I never let kids sleep past 3 as we have things to do. I stick to routine no matter what. I would be waking her up when your nap time is over.