Just CRAZY!

[makap]

Anyone else have kids that sleep a LOT!

I have 5 full timers 4 of them go down for naps in the morning and sleep anywhere from 830 until 10 30 and then they go back down from 1 until 3. The one who does not go down for a nap in the morning needs it but won't. He does sleep though from noon until about 4 pm! They are all so exhausted EVERY.SINGLE.DAY!

It has been like this with all of the little ones I have gotten for the past 2 years. I have been a provider for over 20 years now and I never had a group like this. I feel like the parents pay me to supervise their kids while they sleep all day!

The ones I currently have are 13m, 16m, 18m, 20m and 2.75 years old.

[Blackcat31]

Wow! NONE of my kids under age 13 months sleeps twice a day.

That is a lot of sleep for some of those kids....

Maybe the parents put them to bed really late ?

[cheerfuldom]

I have this problem too. My kids dont transition to two naps till 18 months or later and I have about 50% of the kids over the past 6 years sleep a lot at my house and need it desperately. I have a 3 year old right now that will sleep easily 4 hours when she is here. My biggest issue with parents that I have worked with, even the best of parents, is that they have no routine for sleeping. Lots of kids up late, not napping on weekends, getting up early, getting up at night and wandering around their room or even the house so yeah, its pretty common in my experience. Either the parents just dont know what to do or they are too afraid to say no in word and action. i have had several parents that tell me whenever baby gets up is when the family gets up. If they want to get up and play at 2AM, the parents get up and play with them for a couple hours. Most of my families drop naps at home before 2 years old, even before 1 year old!

[Starburst]

At the FCC I worked at she had most of the children under 2 take morning naps for about 1 hour during preschool (about 9am-10am). Once they no longer slept through morning nap she would let them sit in for preschool lessions as long as they werent disruptive to the teacher and the other kids. But she also had some babies that would come in at 6 am so they would get a little sleepy. And then they would take a 2 hour afternoon nap with the other kids from 1pm-3pm. Most of them would sleep through both.

I think some kids just need more sleep than others, even school age children tend to get sleepy more when they go through growth spurts.

[jenn]

Originally Posted by cheerfuldom

My biggest issue with parents that I have worked with, even the best of parents, is that they have no routine for sleeping. Lots of kids up late, not napping on weekends, getting up early, getting up at night and wandering around their room or even the house so yeah, its pretty common in my experience. Either the parents just dont know what to do or they are too afraid to say no in word and action. i have had several parents that tell me whenever baby gets up is when the family gets up. If they want to get up and play at 2AM, the parents get up and play with them for a couple hours. Most of my families drop naps at home before 2 years old, even before 1 year old!

I have 2 (18 months and 2 1/2)that don't sleep at night. They go to bed "when they feel like it", wake up during the middle of the night for family play time, get up and stay up at 4am...no wonder they are exhausted when they get here. It's like pulling teeth to get them to stay awake until nap time. If I let them sleep when they get here, they are awake during nap time and bother everyone else. The same 2 do not nap on weekends, because the families are too busy to work in a nap. To me, sleep is a basic need and they are neglecting their child's need for rest. They can't learn well, play well, or feel well when they are so sleep deprived.

[coolconfidentme]

I wish I had your problem...

I have a 17 mth that comes at 5:30am & will not go back to sleep when she gets here. Nap time I'm lucky if she sleeps 30 minutes. I have to keep her separated, in a PNP with a sheet over it. She will talk LOUDLY like she is doing right now. She will wake the 7 mth old every other day. Today is one of those days. UGH!!!!

[melilley]

Originally Posted by cheerfuldom

I have this problem too. My kids dont transition to two naps till 18 months or later and I have about 50% of the kids over the past 6 years sleep a lot at my house and need it desperately. I have a 3 year old right now that will sleep easily 4 hours when she is here. My biggest issue with parents that I have worked with, even the best of parents, is that they have no routine for sleeping. Lots of kids up late, not napping on weekends, getting up early, getting up at night and wandering around their room or even the house so yeah, its pretty common in my experience. Either the parents just dont know what to do or they are too afraid to say no in word and action. i have had several parents that tell me whenever baby gets up is when the family gets up. If they want to get up and play at 2AM, the parents get up and play with them for a couple hours. Most of my families drop naps at home before 2 years old, even before 1 year old!

The 2am family play dates crack me up...I just don't get it! I had a child whose parents did that. The dad would come in and say A was up at 4 this morning. We had a snack and played for an hour or so! And he would say it like it was no big deal. I would/could never do that..lol I now have a parent of a 10.5 month old who says she gets up every 2 hours to breastfeed him! I'm all for breastfeeding, but that just seems crazy at that age. The parents must be sleep deprived!

[melilley]

That is crazy...lol! I have a 10.5 month old who takes a morning nap for a few hours and sometimes an afternoon nap. My own 11 mo. old is starting to transition to one nap (on his own) when my other 4 go to sleep between 12:30 and 1:00, but does take a little nap around 6. The rest of my dck's are 21 mo, 22 mo and (2) 2.5 year olds and they sleep from around 12:3/1:00 until around 3:00! You get to have a nice break!

[AfterSchoolMom]

Originally Posted by cheerfuldom

I have had several parents that tell me whenever baby gets up is when the family gets up. If they want to get up and play at 2AM, the parents get up and play with them for a couple hours. Most of my families drop naps at home before 2 years old, even before 1 year old!

I can't imagine ever doing this. Sleep is precious in our house, and I teach mine right away that night is for sleeping and day is for play. I'm serious about my sleep training...my kids know that waking up Mom makes her mean and scary, lol. Unless you're bleeding, vomiting, broken, or being chased by zombies, GO BACK TO BED.

I LOVE good nappers! Don't knock it, they're probably getting way more rest with you than they ever do at home...and they obviously need it.

[Meyou]

All my kids nap for about 2.5 hours in the afternoon and most nap in the morning until 18-20 months. I wean them as soon as they can make it to lunchtime without being a total disaster. We're very active...I'm not sure if that's way my kids nap so well but they always have.

All children under 18 months sleep sleep between 9:00a.m.-10:00a.m.and again from 12:20p.m.-3:00p.m. Children need lots of sleep and some parents refuse ro set a good bed time routine.
I had one little girl who went to bed every night at 10:00p.m. and woke up at 5:00a.m.because she wanted to watch t.v.
To say she was exhausted was an understatement! I finally told her parents that if she was unable to participate they would have ro pick up.It was ridiculous,she came one morning and I decided I would let her sleep as long as she wanted.
She slept from 7:30a.m.-11:00a.m.,woke her up for lunch and put her back to sleep with the other kids at 12:30p.m. thinking she would never go back to sleep,nope,she slept from 12:30p.m.-4:30p.m. when they came and got her off her bed. Kids her age need between 10-12 hours of sleep at night and a two hour nap.
She was so tired throufh out the day that shefell asleep during every acrivity.She actually fell asleep while swinging and fell flat on her face and hurt her self.
I talk about the importance od proper aleep for children,hand out information to parents and hope and pray they get it.Kids need sleep!