Naptime woes

[Littledragon]

I am having serious nap time problems and I need help.

I have a 13 month old little boy who won't sleep in the morning. Well, I don't think he's sleeping, and if he is, it's not for very long. I've thought about cutting his morning nap out completely, but he's tired usually around 10, but I can hear him moving around and I'm not sure he's sleeping. I can't go in and check because if he isn't sleeping and I go in there, he flips out.
I also have a son who is 10 months old and he still takes a 2 hour nap in the morning, and I have another little girl coming who will be taking morning naps. Right now I schedule is 10-11:30 naps, 2:30-4:30 naps. If I cut out the morning nap, he'll have to go down at 1:30 because I've noticed that this is the time he starts to melt down. But, if I put him down at 1:30, he'll be up for 3:30, which means I'll only get MAYBE an hour break in the afternoon. I don't know if I can handle that, especially because this little boys is ALOT of work. He's whiny and cries over EVERYTHING. I've decided to let him go once I fill up the daycare, but that could be months from now.

I don't know what to do! My son isn't ready to give up his morning naps, and I don't know that this little boy is either, but he never seems to be able to make it to his afternoon nap, which makes me think he's not sleeping in the morning.

Any suggestions?

[momof4inpink]

Hmm well I know all babies are very different. However i would not eliminate his morning nap, before discussing this with his parents first. My routine is as follows. Morning naps 10-11am (for the younger babies) I too have a 13mth old in care. He sometimes wants to sleep past 11am, however I wake him exactly at 11am. When he started with me amonth ago, he gave me a hard time going down for his naps, cried fussed etc.. I let him cry for a bit, and then went in his room and gave him a stern voice, go to sleep. It only took maybe 3-4days of this and he soon realized he need to go to sleep when I put him down. afternoon naps are 1-3pm nobody sleeps past 3:30pm ever. The dkg I have is 17mths and mom and I just decided to eliminate her morning nap as she was not sleeping well during the evening for her. I feel 13mths is a little young to eliminate the morning nap, however you could try every other day skipping the morning nap, thats how I typically wean the little ones from thier morning nap. Yet again discuss this with the parents first. They may have his routine really mixed up as well, which may be giving you a hard time with him. Good luck

[Inspired by Reggio]

Hmm - ya that is a tough thing about group care - trying to meet every ones competing needs while still meeting the needs of the 'group' ... specially with wee ones who do not know how to rest 'quiet'.

I only ever have no more than two under 2 in care because I cannot physically manage lifting too many wee ones repetitively - so that makes it 'easier' for me with morning naps ... I try to keep my morning naps EARLY because most children who've eliminated their morning nap need to be down by 1pm or they are a mess and you miss that 'window' of being over tired and get a crappy nap or no nap at all ... so I want my afternoon naps to be 1-3ish cause that works best for the group ... so if they need a morning nap still depending on what time they arrive I do it before 9 am OR if they will not go down that early cause they just got up at 8am or something than they cat nap in the stroller while I am out and about with the other older children because we need fresh air and so forth and we leave the house between 9 and 9:30 for outside time or field trips... and that way they are usually awake by 10:30 at the latest cause they do not sleep as long in the stroller and ready to go back down again at 1ish with the rest of my older group....works well for us anyway?

[Crayola kiddies]

I have a 13 month old and she was sleeping from 9-10:30 in the morning and 1-3:30 in the afternoon then abruptly she stopped sleeping in the afternoon and just screamed instead so what I did was I changed her morning nap. I now put her down at 8 and I wake her at 9 which is just enough to get get through lunch and shes still tired for the afternoon nap. Now her afternoon nap starts at 12:30. This works perfectly for my schedule as I have two that go down at 12 and the rest go at 12:30. My pick ups start at 3. I have one that leaves at 3 one at 3:15 one at 3:40 one at 4 and the last one at 4:15. My break is from 12:30 - 2:30

[playfelt]

I would probably be moving the morning naps up for everyone including the 10 month old. Make sure if it is your own child that you are getting them up in the morning at a time that would coincide with the time the daycare kids are getting up so they are on the same daytime schedule if possible. I always started morning naps at 9 regardless of if the child was showing signs of tired. 9-10 was quiet/rest/naptime and they could stay till 10:30 if they were sleeping but no longer. Most were quite content to go back down then. If they were up too long they got over stimulated and no longer tired. They got a quick snack when they got up while the older kids did a table activity. Then we had a playtime that involved the babies making room for them on the floor. Our lesson time was during infant nap time. Then all are ready for lunch by noon. The older kids go to nap at 1 and the babies go to a play yard/exersaucer or some other confinement while I do diapers and put older kids down. Then one at a time the infants get a diaper change/quick cuddle and into bed or a diaper/bottle and into bed. That usually still gives me an hour of naptime overlap - which is all people that work get for lunch hour. The babies usually only sleep 1 1/2 hours if doing two naps so everyone is up at the same time to do snack and end of day stuff.

[DaycareLulu]

I also would move morning nap up to 9-10 am even for your 10month old. This is when I do circle time and crafts with my non-morning nappers. I wake the morning nappers at 10am and we all have snack together and then we head outside to play until lunch. Everyone then goes down for nap at about 12:30/1pm for 2 1/2 -3hours. I also have early pick ups at 3:30,4:00,4:30. When the time comes to take away morning naps which really depends on the kid(13-15months I usually find) you can move afternoon naps up to 12pm if it it helps.

[Momof4]

I would nudge both the naptimes earlier slowly, maybe by 10 minutes every few days. I just transitioned two new babies and neither of them were having a morning nap any more at 10 months of age when they started with me. Once in a while they would fall asleep for a power nap in the stroller when we were out in the morning. But I had everyone down for their afternoon nap by 12:15ish, so I had to move that up from the old 1pm naptime for the three children in the daycare and I did the nudging earlier and earlier for a month before the babies started.

[mom-in-alberta]

I wouldn't cut out the morning nap, but I would cut it back. Naptime here is either 9-10 or 9:30-10:30 in the morning. Just enough to take the edge off, so to speak. And I know everyone's schedule is different, but 2:30 to 4:30 seems sort of late for the afternoon nap?
I was going to say the same as playfelt in that; if he is up at 6:30am to get to your house, and your boy is getting out of bed at say, 8 or 8:30 or later, that will be tough to co-ordinate. I don't mean that you have to haul your child up at ungodly hours (heck, that's one reason I DON'T work outside the home!!), but just realize that you will have a hard time getting them on the same schedule if this is the case. Perhaps you can re-evaluate?
He is also reaching the age where he will transition from 2 naps to one. I hate that stage. There is a period of time where their little body still needs 2, but if they have a nap thats too long in the AM, the PM nap doesn't happen when it should. It's a bit of a balancing act to find out what will work. Ultimately, cutting the morning nap shorter and shorter usually works to wean from two to one.
You may have to play around with schedules a little bit, in order to find what is going to work for all of you.