Question about naps

Hi there! I was just wondering if anybody had any suggestions as to how to get everyone on the same nap schedule or what is the best way to work everyone's nap in without feeling like a slave to their individual naps. Ideally, I would love to have everyone napping from 1-3 but I'm unsure if that is realistic because of the age differences. Just wondering what others thoughts are on this...

I have just opened my day home and next week I'm going to be starting a full time 2 year old (who will probably have a nap at about 1-3) and then a month later I will be starting a part time 10 month old (who from what I understand sleeps sporadically throughout the day). Plus, I have a 15 month old son who takes 2 naps (one at 10:30-11:30ish and then the other at about 2:30-3:30/4ish).

I'm thinking it might be easiest to try and and work my son down to one nap however right now he seems like he still needs both as he gets to be quite the crank without them (especially his first one). I do realized that in a handful of months he will probably be down to one nap but until then I figure I should probably figure something out.

Thanks so much for your help!

Totally pausible to have them all on same schedule ... I have had kids as young as 8 months and as old as 6 and they ALL have quiet time from that 1-3 frame ... I try to have those needing morning nap down early and up by 9:30 or 10 at latest so all are ready to go at 1.

Part of the reality of may leave routine verses work routine for families is that you are up and babe is up way earlier as a result cause you need to get to work and so forth so they are ready earlier for nap ... the reality of GROUP CARE is that you need all the kids on relatively same schedule cause you are only one person and well it would be bedlam if they were not!!!

I agree! I usually have 5 daycare kids between the ages of 11 months and 3 years. If they still need a morning nap then it needs to be fairly early. I do 9-10am and it is the perfect time to do circle and a craft. You may need to wake your little one by 7 am at the latest so he will be tried enough to go back down at 9am. Then everyone goes down for nap together at around 1pm until 3 or 3:30even. You can definitely get them all on the same routine!

Oh yes, definitely start changing your son's schedule immediately. Put him in bed 10-15 minutes earlier every couple of days in the morning in the afternoon until you get him into the 1-3 naptime routine. You will lose your mind if you don't have everyone napping at the same time so you can also have a quiet time break. You can't just expect him to changeover drastically so do it a bit at a time like that.

I would not allow individual naps here and by the way, I have not had any problems with 10 month old babies dropping their morning naps because we are so busy in the mornings. However, I have had to get them into bed by noon when they are small like that so I just nudge lunch up to 11pm and naptimes to noon for everyone. As I said, if you do it a bit at a time they don't even notice. They have no idea.

In my daycare we have breakfast at 8am, go outside at 9am so any tiny babies who still have naps can have a stroller snooze, then we come back for lunch at 11:30 and I have the children into their beds by 12:30 napping until about 2:45, then 3pm snack and freeplay until pickup times which are between 3:20 and 4:45. Then I have to do all the dishes, vacuuming, sweeping, laundry, food prep for the next day, etc.

It is a LOT of work and LONG days. You NEED the middle of the day break to survive or you will burn out. Trust me!

I would also be sending an email tonight to the parents of the 2 year old and the 10 month old starting soon to check on their naptimes and get their parents to nudge them in the direction that you are going so you have them asleep at the same time. I always get parents to do that before a child starts with me.

Yup, everyone here naps at the same time too. Those who need 2 naps have their morning nap from 8:30 - 9:30 and then they go down again from about 12:45 - 3. I do not cater to naps. They nap on my schedule...no ifs, and, or buts about it.

I have the kids napping mostly at the same time ... I have one that started with me at 9 months and is now 15 months ... She is still on two naps but I have to wake her after an hour in the morning or she wont sleep in the afternoon then I have one that goes down at 11 and one at 1130 and the rest go at 12:15 .... The first one I wake up at 2:30 so I have from 12:15 -2:30 for my break..... It sounds confusing but actually its very stress free ....first one gets out of the chair gets hands and face wiped diaper change off to bed then the next one and so on. I like it better then having to do all five at the same time. the same goes for leaving it's one at a time
I too would contact the parents of the children yet to start and give them your schedule and tell them to start getting the kids adjusted to that.

I also have a large range of ages. Here is my schedule - maybe it will help you.

Babies (under 18 months) nap between 9-11. I take this time to do crafts or things with the older kids that we have trouble doing with the babies around.
At 11, we have outdoor play then lunch at noon, play for 15 mintutes after, and story time at 1. Then EVERYONE goes down for a nap at 1:30.

I DO NOT think it is unrealistic to have everyone nap at the same time. It will take time for everyone to adjust, but the point of daycare (for me anyways) is to instill stability and consistency. I think it's important that they all have quiet time at the same time everyday (for them AND YOU). You just have to rearrange the schedule so that you can fit everything in. I've been tweaking my schedule for a while now and I think I have it PERFECT. Everyone gets a perfect amount of learning time, outdoor play, free play and so on. If you like, I can send you my schedule. (My youngest is 10 months and my older is 2.5). So far, the schedule is working GREAT! For me, the trick for the little ones to get proper naps is to ensure 2.5 hours between naps. They all arrive at 7:30 (presumably they've been up for AT LEAST half an hour) so we have free play till nap and then they sleep for an hour and a half. Up at 11, activity for 2.5 hours then another nap. Works great!

There is one kid, however, who is on the line between no morning nap and morning nap, so I put him down between 10-10:30, but he's still up for 11.

Let me know if you want me to send you my schedule and maybe you can get some ideas from it :)

Thank you so much! I can definitely do that!