Nap/Rest Time Length

[Blackcat31]

In light of the thread about napping, I am curious as to how long everyone requires their daycare kids to nap/rest. I am not talking about infants or toddlers but what amount of time you require all the kids to stay laying down. (Sleeping or not)

For those of you who don't require EVERYONE to lay down for a specific amount of time.....I am not talking about you then.

[lilrugrats]

Whoops I voted 2 hours, well they do lay down at least 2 hours, but require... well there is not a set time here. See I am difficult! Sorry!

[daycare]

I have all kinds of sleeping issues as you know. Presently, my sleeping problems with the kids are far and few.

Average of the year, I would have to admit that I had kids sleeping at my house 5+ hour days.

Parents had their kids up all hours of the night and then would drop them on me with as little at 6 hours of sleep. Of course, some of them would say, please don't give my child a nap that I don''t have a set bed time for....

I thought it might be that they were doing their sleeping hours here, nope I was wrong. It was just a lot of parents not parenting their children. Of course I was the blame for it....

So now, it's back to our normal 2 hour rest time and all of my kids drop like flies...I have to wake them all up at 3....

[tweedledeedum]

At least two hours. Once they wake after two hrs they can look at books on their beds until everyone is awake. My dcks are 2-5.

[Meyou]

About 60 minutes. I have one who naps for about an hour and another than only naps sporatically (he's outgrown them unless really tired) so when the hour napper wakes up I let them both watch a movie in the playroom for the other 1.5 hours. They have to be quiet or they go back and lay down in their beds for the rest of naptime. I clean after they are up.

Some kids really do outgrow the nap. But I need a quiet house for the group to sleep so this is our compromise. Mine and the dck's, not mom and dad. They can get up when the short napper wakes but only if they can be quiet as mice until it's time for everyone to wake up. I've been doing this for about 8 months with them and it works for us.

I had the parents of my oldest dcb question naptime about 6 months ago because dcb was giving them trouble at bedtime. I told them if he didn't fall asleep after an hour he could get up with the other two but if he fell asleep then he needed a nap and I wouldn't wake him. They said that made perfect sense and that was the last of the talk.

[Country Kids]

I have so been battling naptime lately-tired kids but no one sleeping. I have tried everything under the sun. This week it is a earlier lunch, tv time while laying down (please don't jump on my case about that) and then total quiet/nap time. It has been working for all but one. The ones that are truly tired and ready for a nap fall asleep during tv time. The older ones fall asleep almost immediately after the tv is turne off but they seem to finally be tired.

Then the parents are fine with them sleeping till whenever they wake up! This has worked out wonderfully for me-except for the one that doesn't sleep.

Also, it really cuts into our preschool time by an hour because I have pushed lunch up by an hour so still trying to tweak that.

[Cat Herder]

My reg is after 30 minutes, if they are not sleeping, I am to allow quiet play (dry erase boards, felt stories, small manipulatives, coloring, etc.).

It RARELY happens. Usually within a couple weeks of a child aging out (4).

My guys giggle as I pull the nap mats out. They run to face plant into their pillow, cover up and snuggle in.

I have to drag them off their mats at the end of naptime. We are very physically active.

[Ariana]

One hour is my requirement. I have had parents voice concerns about nap affecting night time sleep so sometimes I will let a kid who hasn't fallen asleep up after 20 minutes, but it's not a rule per se.

ETA: I should add my official rest period is 2 hours but a non-napping child is onyl required to rest quietly for 1 hour...sometimes less....see above

[AnneCordelia]

I have 4 1yos and 2 3yos. All sleep from 11:30-2pm. Their little heads fall asleep as they hit the pillow (so to speak) and I have to wake every one for the school run at 2pm.

We don't have regulations here and I don't have a policy in my manual aside from "Everyone naps".

[Hunni Bee]

My required rest period is from 1 to 3...but my poor babies are dishrags by 12:30...so its whatever they need. And everybody was still dishrags at 3:30 when we had to wake them...I think it was the combination of the weather suddenly changing and coming down from the Halloween high.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I have 2 hours scheduled for nap/rest, and everybody has to be settled and laying down by 1pm. There are 3 that routinely wake up by 230, they are allowed to play w stuffed animals or look at books, but NO talking, NO noise making or the quiet items go away and they will have to go lay back down until 3pm. They range in age, the 3 short nappers are 2, 4 and 5. But I also have an 18 month old and a 5 year old (!!) that always crash hard and even 2 hours is sometimes not enough.

[Nellie]

Per regulations I can only "make" them sleep for 30 minutes. I have some bad sleep habit children here that normally only sleep for an hour if I'm lucky.

[Blackcat31]

I am really surprised that there are so many providers who require 2 or more hours of rest/nap time. I know kids would sleep that long if they were little but I guess I don't see a need for my preschoolers to have such a long rest period. I suppose it all has to do with how much activity you have going on and whether a child is actually getting a decent amount of sleep at home.

I have a 3 yr old in care now who goes to bed "when he feels like it" (moms exct words) and most the time, he doesn't feel like it until atleast 11 PM or so. He would sleep here for more than 2 hours if I let him.

Interesting information though.

[nannyde]

Originally Posted by Blackcat31

I am really surprised that there are so many providers who require 2 or more hours of rest/nap time. I know kids would sleep that long if they were little but I guess I don't see a need for my preschoolers to have such a long rest period. I suppose it all has to do with how much activity you have going on and whether a child is actually getting a decent amount of sleep at home.

I have a 3 yr old in care now who goes to bed "when he feels like it" (moms exct words) and most the time, he doesn't feel like it until atleast 11 PM or so. He would sleep here for more than 2 hours if I let him.

Interesting information though.

I do 2.5 hours and they sleep like lambs.

A 45 minute walk every day and floor based play + a sunday dinner lunch + cave dark room is what works for me. They are out within a few minutes and we have to wake them up when nap is over.

Two hours wouldn't be enough for mine. They need 2.5.

99 days out of a 100 all eight kids sleep the whole nap. Occasionally one is not feeling well or off schedule but it's only a couple of times a year. (Newborns not included of course... YMMV with them)

[Solandia]

My 4 & 5 yr old must lay down (on a couch with their pillow and blankie) for a minimum of 20min w/o talking. They can read, look at a book, or have a stuffed animal, but they MUST shush.

The 4yo will look at a book for maybe 2min, roll over and go to sleep....for about 2 hours. The 4yo is up at 6am, I have him Tue/TH and doesn't go to bed until 10-11pm on a typical day. The 5yo (when there is no school) *tells* me he is o-so-sleepy and has to take a nap, but never does.

After 20min, they can sit up, and play quietly to themselves...no talking. Sometimes I will turn on the TV, but it depends who is here & if anyone is actually awake.

[Blackcat31]

Originally Posted by nannyde

I do 2.5 hours and they sleep like lambs.

A 45 minute walk every day and floor based play + a sunday dinner lunch + cave dark room is what works for me. They are out within a few minutes and we have to wake them up when nap is over.

Two hours wouldn't be enough for mine. They need 2.5.

99 days out of a 100 all eight kids sleep the whole nap. Occasionally one is not feeling well or off schedule but it's only a couple of times a year. (Newborns not included of course... YMMV with them)

I think I need to seriously start re-thinking my nap/rest time here.

I would love if they all slept soundly for 2 hours. I do a 90 minute nap/rest time but am lucky if we get a full 60 minutes of silence.

[Country Kids]

Originally Posted by Blackcat31

I am really surprised that there are so many providers who require 2 or more hours of rest/nap time. I know kids would sleep that long if they were little but I guess I don't see a need for my preschoolers to have such a long rest period. I suppose it all has to do with how much activity you have going on and whether a child is actually getting a decent amount of sleep at home.

I have a 3 yr old in care now who goes to bed "when he feels like it" (moms exct words) and most the time, he doesn't feel like it until atleast 11 PM or so. He would sleep here for more than 2 hours if I let him.

Interesting information though.

I was thinking the same exact thing!!! Very surprised at the 2+ hour replys that have been received. I do have one (about the only one that sleeps lately) that will sleep 3+ hours sometimes and the parents are fine with it. Child goes to bed still at 8:30 and sleeps through the night!

[SunflowerMama]

Mine are 1.5 - 5 and all nap like logs for at least 2 hrs...1p - 3p. I have 2 that sometimes sleep as late as 4p. Like Nan and some others we are super active during the day and have dinner size lunches so by the time the sleep music starts and the windows are darkened most are out.

[hoopinglady]

Mine always sleep for 2 or more hours. Even when I have school agers visiting they normally sleep pretty much the entire time. If they wake early they can come into the workshop and play quietly but I try to wait until at least 330. They normally lay down a little after 1.

Ten years ago when I had a different daycare home it was the same deal,everyone slept a good long nap.

I had a nap room then but not now.

We PLAY all morning. I put on soft music or stories and they sleep throughout the playroom on mats. I clean them up from lunch and send them to their mats while the music/story is already playing. While I'm tidying a bit I allow them to get their last few wiggles out. If they are particularly restless, I'll read a long book without pictures and that tends to help them relax.

There are a few who I will allow to have a book or magna doodle because I know they need more of a winding down.

No one has ever complained about child not sleeping at night and my kids take the same nap and are in bed by 930. My kids now are 2-5

[nannyde]

Originally Posted by Blackcat31

I think I need to seriously start re-thinking my nap/rest time here.

I would love if they all slept soundly for 2 hours. I do a 90 minute nap/rest time but am lucky if we get a full 60 minutes of silence.

It's HEAVEN

Not only do I completely enjoy the break but the kids are sweet as pie after a snooze like that.

It's not free though. It's not special. It's just plain ole WORK to make it happen.

The outdoor walk is EXPENSIVE.

The food is EXPENSIVE. (intensive labor and $$ for food)

Floor based play takes intensive supervision and WORK to make it happen generation after generation.

Paying for the SPACE to have kids separated by age and in the best equipment.

It's work, money, and time that nets the big break every day.

[e.j.]

Most of my kids sleep a full 2 hours and some would sleep longer if I let them. I have to wake most of them when I do in order to have them awake (not groggy), snacked and ready for pick-up time when it comes.

If an older child has a hard time falling asleep or won't sleep at night if they've had a day time nap, I have them quietly lay on a mat until the younger ones fall asleep. Once they're asleep, they can look at books, listen quietly to music, watch tv quietly, etc. For the most part, though, the older kids fall asleep before the younger ones do!

[Blackcat31]

Originally Posted by nannyde

It's HEAVEN

Not only do I completely enjoy the break but the kids are sweet as pie after a snooze like that.

It's not free though. It's not special. It's just plain ole WORK to make it happen.

The outdoor walk is EXPENSIVE.

The food is EXPENSIVE. (intensive labor and $$ for food)

Floor based play takes intensive supervision and WORK to make it happen generation after generation.

Paying for the SPACE to have kids separated by age and in the best equipment.

It's work, money, and time that nets the big break every day.

So this was our day so far:

• Arrival
• breakfast (Steel cut oatmeal with fresh peaches, soft boiled egg and milk.)
• free play
• outside time (we went for a walk and collected leaves and acorns) everyone except my 10 month old walked. We walked for almost an hour.
• outside play back at the daycare for 3-5 yr olds and littles had free play inside (using the ball pit/jumper) while I prepared lunch
• lunch (chicken fettichini alfredo, spinach salad, broccoli, mandarin ornages and milk)
• teeth brushing
• story time
• nap/rest time

It is now 1 hour into nap time and I have

• 1~ still awake and alternating between playing and fussing in the PNP (age 10 months)
• 2 ~age 18 mos, starting to stir already
• 1 ~ age 2, awake (rarely sleeps more than 30 mins but will lie quietly)
• 5 ~ ages 2-5, sleeping (but will be up as soon as the stirring ones are fully awake since they are kinda loud).

I just can't seem to get a handle on this group. They are all full time and here every day for anywhere from 7-10 hours each.

All these kids are full timers and in all honestly sleep worse than the group I had last year who were older?!? (I lost 5 to Kindy so I have a new young group)

I USED to get a loooong wonderfully peaceful nap/rest time but not this year so far.