Naptime Issues - Cry it Out??

I am transitioning a one-year old into care who is not napping! Even worse is that she screams the entire time which wakes up the other kids in my home. I am a new daycare provider and have never experienced this before. I feel terrible making the kids cry it out, but from all the information I've gathered from talking to other dcp it's the best and only option. Last week I tried consoling/reassuring her every 15mnutes or so but that only seemed to make the situation worse.

Naptime is from 1-3 which I think is reasonable.

I should also mention that when we go out to the park, etc. in the mornings she falls asleep in the stroller almost immediately. From everything I"ve read though, one year-olds still need a short morning nap as well as an afternoon nap.

Any advice would be very much appreciated!

What is her 'nap time routine' at home ... this is where I always start because if they are not working with you are HOME to promote self soothing and healthy sleep than it is going to be a LONG HARD ROAD at daycare :(

I think the only solution is to find a place in the house where the others can't hear the crying. Turn on spa music... fans... humidifiers to drown out the sound and hope for the best. I still have one that doesn't know how to get himself back to sleep. (probably because he's fed when he wakes up in the middle of the night still) regardless... the only way I can survive through quiet time is to have him in a part of the house where he doesn't bother anyone. I say goodnight to him at noon and I don't walk near him again until 2:30. It has gotten better over the last few months. But he is too loud to sleep anywhere near the other kids.

Thanks, Inspired by Reggio - it was pretty much a 'free-for-all' before she came into care but I had a chat with the parents last week about the importance of maintaining our daycare nap routine at home too. they are really great people and were eager to work with me to make my life easier. They said she napped over the weekend at the same time as we nap here, but that she didn't have the morning nap and I wonder if that's why... Although I have no idea how to keep her awake when we're outside walking around...

I always start babies at about 1 year of age too and they drop their morning naps quickly because we have such busy mornings. I have problems with them falling asleep sometimes on the way home at about 11am in the stroller but I wake them as soon as we get in the house so they get maybe 20 minutes to sleep. Then I know that I shouldn't hurry them to bed because that baby isn't going to sleep at the usual time.

Gravy, does she walk at all? When you are at the park can you get her out of the stroller (even if she falls asleep) and let her play, put her on the slides or whatever you are doing? I would definitely do my best to help her adjust to the routines at daycare and especially mealtimes and naptimes.

One other tip I have is that when I sign on a new family I tell them exactly the times of our meals and naps and ask them how closely that relates to their schedule at home. I'm willing to nudge our times a bit to make the new baby happy because my established children can be flexible a bit but I expect the families to do their best to get their child on our schedule before starting daycare. It's difficult enough for a little baby to start at a strange new place without having to try to adjust to drastic differences. I always tell the parents it's for the health and happiness of their child.

If it was me I would put her to bed for 30 mins at 8am and that will help her get thru the morning and then I would definately take her out of the stroller at the park or even pull her in a wagon so she's not all cuddly in the stroller ..... That way the fresh air and the exercise in the park will wear her down for the afternoon nap then feed her lots at lunch to promote sleep.

Oh that is a tough one. I think most of us have been there.

Cry it out is usually the best. I had a difficult case a couple of years ago and I would run the vacuum while she CIO and the noise eventually put her to sleep.

It is a lot harder when you have other children also affected though. Hopefully you can think of a place where she can nap that is far away from the others until she gets it.

Thank you all so much for your advice. I think I'll start playing white noise in the room where she sleeps. For now I am able to separate the kids during naptime but if I add another child or two to the mix I am in trouble!
She is not walking yet so taking her out of the stroller is challenging. I am going to severely limit the morning nap today and see what happens this afternoon. I just feel so bad fr her crying the entire naptime but as we all know, I need that quiet time just as much as she does.
I think she is going to bed too late at home too - the parents told me 8pm and I think she's probably overtired. It's 8am and she is already yawning and rubbing her eyes.
The mornings are our time to get outside and the thought o altering that routine just for her makes me resentful, so I'm not going to do it. I'll let everyone know how it goes today :-)

It's funny how so many parents think if they put their child to bed later they will sleep longer in the morning. Not the case. If the child is overtired they don't have a restful sleep.

If she's not walking, bring a blanket and put her on it at the park. have a change of clothes when she get's wet or muddy. She'll probably pick up the walking a lot quicker too!

Try noise in the other kids rooms. So they hear the white noise and not the crying baby.

I also put my crier down first. That way when my second and third go down they already hear the crying and it seems somewhat normal to them.

And if you need to turn the monitor off so you can pretend everythings quiet for 20 minutes... do it! it will save your sanity in the long run.

As for the morning nap, you may just have to give in and give her an early 20 min. Maybe during snack time and give her a snack on the go for the walk to the park. That way she's not falling asleep during the walk.

At the end of the day you just have to train her that 12 - 2 ( or whenever ) is quiet time and she will be in her bed and that's the end of it.

Best of luck. I think we all know how stress ful it is transitioning a new one... especially when they aren't in a good sleep pattern.

I have one non walker and mom sends splash pants and he just crawls around outside .... He loves it. If I put him in a stroller he shrieks cause he wants to be with the other kids