Why is napping so important at daycare?

If you have ever had a discussion with a parent about whether their child should still be napping at daycare... you are not alone. I will be using this explanation of the reasons for nap the next time a parent asks me to not let their child sleep. I thought I would share so it can help someone else too.

I saw this article on Facebook. The original is in French, you can see it here: http://www.formeduc.ca/enfant-dort-a-garderie/

I used Google to translate it, and did a bit of further editing because the translation wasn't really great.


My child sleeps too much at daycare!

Many parents feel unprepared when their child seems unable to fall asleep at night or refuses to go to bed. The nap is a standard routine in child care services, so it may seem logical to think napping is responsible for the refusal of the child to go to bed at night. However, often, the contrary is true, this nap in the afternoon is a guarantee of a successful night's sleep.

It is not uncommon for parents to ask their teacher to no longer nap their child during daycare hours. These demands place the educator in an awkward position of having to choose between respect for the needs of the child and meeting the desire of the parent. The educator has a mandate to meet the needs of the child, and rest is a basic need, just as important as eating. Napping allows the child to rest his body, strengthen the immune system, develop his brain and be better prepared to continue his day.

In the child care setting, all children are invited to take a break. The child can stay awake and not sleep, but he must remain on his mattress without external stimulation (book, TV or games). If, after 45 minutes, the child is not sleeping obviously he does not need to sleep. He is allowed to take a book or a quiet game for the rest of the nap in order to respect those who are sleeping while indulging in a quiet peaceful activity. The teacher does not wake a child who has fallen asleep. They should wake up themselves or else be woken by 3 pm.

If a nap is not responsible for the difficulties encountered to bedtime, why does my child refuse to go to bed ??

• The child is exhausted ...

A child who is prevented from sleeping accumulates nervous fatigue that is detrimental to sleep. A child who does not sleep in the day alternates between phases of excitement and exhaustion. He is so tired he can not fall asleep.

• The child has not learned to sleep alone ...

The problem lies not in the inability of the child to fall asleep, but in his inability to fall asleep alone (sleep without a bottle, without being rocked, or without a walk or sleep with his parents). The child who falls asleep alone will discover autonomy. Let him sleep alone, without outside help even if he cries a little. Routinely helping him to fall asleep maintains his dependance on someone to find sleep.

• The child just will not be separated from his parents ...

The child who spent the day away from his parents may want to get their attention at night. He wants to spend more time with them. He may also want to test the limits of the parent, he may feel fear at the thought of being alone in the dark or jealousy of the time devoted to the spouse or other children in the family.

• Signs of sleep are not met ...

The time chosen by the parent to put the child to bed may not be the one corresponding to the time the child feels sleepy. When the child starts to yawn, to blink, or absently sucks his thumb ... it's time to go to sleep. This is the time when you put the child to bed. When we go beyond this period of readiness for sleep, which means that the signs of fatigue given by the child were missed, the child will have to wait for the next cycle of drowsiness, about 1 hour 30 minutes later.

• The child is simply not tired ...

If the nap lasted more than 3 hours, if waking from nap happens after 3pm, or if the child has not had the opportunity to be physically active during the day, it may be that the child has more difficulty falling asleep. In childcare, the noise level is higher than at home, the child is constantly interacting with other children, passive activities such as TV viewing are virtually nonexistent and there is time spent outside daily ... these challenging days are demanding for the child. Life at home is often much less hectic than at the daycare, it is possible that the parent has the impression that her child does not need to nap in the afternoon, while the teacher observes a different dynamic in children when at daycare.

What to do when problems arise for the sleeping child's night?

• Put the child to bed as soon as he shows signs of drowsiness. Until the age of 12, children need 11 hours of sleep per night. If the child has to get up at 6 am to go to daycare, this assumes he must have gone to sleep around 7 pm the night before. If the night sleep of the child was too short, he will accumulate a sleep debt and display all the more the need to nap in the afternoon.

• Be firm. Being a parent means to educate. The child has the right to disagree with tears, but his parents should not feel guilty either! Coaching and constant reassuring of the routine have an effect on the child. Over time the child grows and becomes rebellious and conscious of the limits of his parents. The challenge then is higher for parents. The child manages his desires ... the parent must manage the needs of their child.

• Establish a pleasant ritual for bedtime. Bathing, reading a favorite book, listening to quiet music, a massage in the back, talking quietly ... that quality time spent with the child will become a routine that he looks forward to. Ensure that the bedtime ritual happens in the same order every night, it lasts 15 to 30 minutes maximum and it takes place in the child's room. The glass of water, the last hug (ok, this time it's the last!) And the umpteenth visit to the toilet are not necessities, instead they are tactics to delay bedtime and mobilize the parents.

• Avoid stimulating the child before bedtime. At bedtime, this is not the time to jump on the bed or have a tickle fight. Turn off the TV, remove the bed toys and turn off the light (you can still leave a night light on if the child wants).

• Do not give a bottle in the bed for the child to fall asleep. If the child starts this habit, when he wakes up at night, he will have trouble going back to sleep if he finds his bottlke empty. Also, letting the child fall asleep with a bottle increases the risk of choking and promotes tooth decay.

• Lay the child in his own bed. The child has to wake up at the same place as where he fell asleep. The child who falls asleep in the arms of his mother will be destabilized if he wakes up elsewhere. The parent must put the child to sleep where he will spend the night. If the child has a nightmare or gets up and goes into the parents' bed, then reassure him back in his own bed.

• Do not use the bed to punish the child. He might associate bedtime to punishment.

• Do not forbid the child to his nap at daycare. Children who are forbidden to sleep learn to fight against the signs of fatigue and also fight against sleep at night. Contrary to what one might think, the more the fatigue level is high, the more difficult it becomes to fall asleep.

Remember that the teacher who is napping a child at daycare does not do it to upset the parent, but to meet the needs of the child. With a little perseverance, this difficult period will soon be behind you!

Very good points , Thanks Kindertime

I have had parents ask that their child who's ready for JK in Sept. give up naps during summer months prior.... I have had older kids still sleeping solid up til JK, even if I give them things to do. I tell the parents I can give them quiet activities but I can't entertain them to keep them awake. They're fine with that. Many of them still fall asleep, and sleep fine at night....I guess JK afternoons are quite adjustment but they probably have them go outside.