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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Keeping Infants Quiet During Toddler Naps
robinsoninfl 09:33 AM 02-24-2011
I'm a little frustrated! I have a 20 month old daughter of my own who has always been a light sleeper. I have a 11 month old infant here who wakes up from his nap right before she goes down for hers and I just can't seem to keep him quiet. If I play with and interact with him he squeals and yells with excitement so I try to just put in a baby einstein video during that time and give him toys to play with but sometimes its just not enough. I've got a little white noise thing in my dd's room but it doesn't help much. I think the white noise actually makes her sleep worse! Hoping somebody might have suggestions. What do you do with infants while the toddlers are asleep? I don't think I will ever do infants again once the two I have here are grown! I miss having a break during nap time so much!
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lil angels 09:39 AM 02-24-2011
I love my nap time too. So I only let my infants sleep for about half an hr in the morning so they are ready to go back down when the others nap it works great for me. I have eight and 2 are under a year and I normally always have my down time.
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Zoe 09:41 AM 02-24-2011
I don't really blame you. If I don't get my "break" I'm so cranky! Not fun for the kiddos!

Are they napping in the same room? Is there any way you could play with the infant further away from your DD's room? It might just be something that your daughter will get used to after the infant has been around for awhile! My DD used to be such a light sleeper until her little brother was born. Now she sleeps through thunder storms and fireworks!
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nannyde 09:52 AM 02-24-2011
I don't do light sleepers.

If I have a light sleeper I make sure they are as close as possible to the loudest kid in the house for a good long while. The only way to get them to sleep thru noise is to have a sleep time that is set while there is noise going on.

Sleep thru quiet
Sleep thru loud

I'm gonna put my money on sleep thru loud that way I'm covered when a newbie comes and is adjusting or we have a schnittle mookie newborn.

I don't even TRY to be quiet. I go in and out of the room many times thru nap and my Staff Assistant cleans during nap. We vaccum, do rearranging and cleaning right next to the kids and they snooze right thru it.
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robinsoninfl 10:02 AM 02-24-2011
The playroom that I keep the infants in is on the complete opposite side of the house from where she sleeps. I always tried the being noisy while my kids slept and napped and it worked fine for my boys but my daughter has always been very spirited and that just doesn't always work. If she gets woke up she will not go back to sleep!
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AnythingsPossible 11:13 AM 02-24-2011
Originally Posted by nannyde:
I don't do light sleepers.

If I have a light sleeper I make sure they are as close as possible to the loudest kid in the house for a good long while. The only way to get them to sleep thru noise is to have a sleep time that is set while there is noise going on.

Sleep thru quiet
Sleep thru loud

I'm gonna put my money on sleep thru loud that way I'm covered when a newbie comes and is adjusting or we have a schnittle mookie newborn.

I don't even TRY to be quiet. I go in and out of the room many times thru nap and my Staff Assistant cleans during nap. We vaccum, do rearranging and cleaning right next to the kids and they snooze right thru it.
No offense Nannyde, but sometimes your posts remind of a scene from Mrs. Doubtfire where the Mom is interviewing potential nannies. One of the nannies is an elderly woman who goes through the interview saying, "I don't do diapers, I don't do reading, I don't do...."
A lot of your posts seem to have that reference too..."I don't do"
I thought of that the other day when I read something of yours, and here it is again!! Again, no offense, just an observation!
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nannyde 11:17 AM 02-24-2011
Originally Posted by AnythingsPossible:
No offense Nannyde, but sometimes your posts remind of a scene from Mrs. Doubtfire where the Mom is interviewing potential nannies. One of the nannies is an elderly woman who goes through the interview saying, "I don't do diapers, I don't do reading, I don't do...."
A lot of your posts seem to have that reference too..."I don't do"
I thought of that the other day when I read something of yours, and here it is again!! Again, no offense, just an observation!
YES

We need to be clear of what we DON'T do as well as what we DO do.

You see that I said what I DO do too... right in the post?

I don't even TRY to be quiet.

I go in and out of the room many times thru nap and my Staff Assistant cleans during nap.

We vaccum, do rearranging and cleaning right next to the kids and they snooze right thru it.
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MG&Lsmom 01:08 PM 02-24-2011
Originally Posted by nannyde:
I don't do light sleepers.

If I have a light sleeper I make sure they are as close as possible to the loudest kid in the house for a good long while. The only way to get them to sleep thru noise is to have a sleep time that is set while there is noise going on.

Sleep thru quiet
Sleep thru loud

I'm gonna put my money on sleep thru loud that way I'm covered when a newbie comes and is adjusting or we have a schnittle mookie newborn.

I don't even TRY to be quiet. I go in and out of the room many times thru nap and my Staff Assistant cleans during nap. We vaccum, do rearranging and cleaning right next to the kids and they snooze right thru it.
How long does it typically take for your methods to work? I ask because I had a baby that for 4 months would not sleep at all no matter what. She was a first and only child used to sleeping in complete silence and being entertained 100% of the time at home. I termed her but I always wonder if she would have eventually just adjusted.
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nannyde 01:24 PM 02-24-2011
Originally Posted by MG&Lsmom:
How long does it typically take for your methods to work? I ask because I had a baby that for 4 months would not sleep at all no matter what. She was a first and only child used to sleeping in complete silence and being entertained 100% of the time at home. I termed her but I always wonder if she would have eventually just adjusted.
Yikes

I've never had that.

Usually by the third day of the second week as long as they are full time. The older the baby the longer the adjustment.
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daycare 01:28 PM 02-24-2011
i play soothing music in the back ground at a decent levelm this way all the kids sleep through whatever I am doing in the background.. the 2 year old I hve still sleep in the PNP because the child is not able to lay on a mat for a nap. the child also screams when going to sleep and wakes..

first time a child won the battle....lol I gave up on trying to get them to sleep on the mat after a month long battle and the DCK went back into PNP. I will let one more month pass and try again...

The music in the background works well for me.....
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blueclouds29 01:46 PM 02-24-2011
I feel like the DCK's won't let each other sleep. When one child is asleep the others are so loud. I have 1 baby and 3 toddlers. My 23 month old dd takes a 1-3 nap everyday i've gotten one toddler on that schedule but the two (baby and 9 month) take spiratic naps. They are all in separate rooms. Two sleep in the spare room in pnp's, my dd in her room and the baby is in our room.
I cringe at having them in one room for they would all wake each other up and that would not make for a good day!!
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MG&Lsmom 01:58 PM 02-24-2011
Originally Posted by nannyde:
Yikes

I've never had that.

Usually by the third day of the second week as long as they are full time. The older the baby the longer the adjustment.
She started at 13w and I termed 4 months later. This child never ever slept well. Our state regs require babies under 6 months to sleep in our sight. So napping was a huge issue since it had to happen in my main room. She was overly alert when awake too. It was weird.
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robinsoninfl 02:10 AM 02-25-2011
This infant has been here for 4 weeks now and it still wakes my daughter everytime he gets loud. She sleeps fine for the first hour but after that she stirs a lot and wakes easily and she's been waking very grumpy if she doesn't get enough sleep. When she doesn't get a good nap she sleeps crappy at night too. On the weekends my daughter will usually sleep for anywhere between 2-3 hours but during the week I'm lucky to get 1 1/2. Maybe I'll try the music instead of the white noise. I'm thinking too about possibly talking to dcm about the dcb's nap schedule since he's 11 months now maybe its possible to start transitioning to 1 nap instead of 2. But then I've got a 6 week old starting Monday so hopefully I can train him to sleep during that time as well.
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