Daycares and nap times

Submitted by Mindful_Mom_36 t3_11bx63t in rva

I have a 10.5 month old and will most likely be putting him in daycare around 18 months. I really like the Montessori schools, but the Primrose near us has a nap time of 1-3, which is really late IMO. Our baby is an early riser so he’s up at 5:30am. I know this could change but even if he were to sleep later, 1-3 still feels late for a toddler nap time.

Does anyone have experience with a Montessori daycare and do they all really do such late naps? Also, any daycares/schools you really love and why?

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Megh2984 t1_ja0i5mo wrote

Not in Montessori but 1-3 is the typical naptime for all the other daycares we’ve been to at that age. Our get up at the same time as an FYI and they adapted fine.

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Goatpunching t1_ja114yj wrote

If you are non in a waiting list, it’s gonna be a while. All the daycares we’ve used has 1-2:30/3:00 nap time

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Tayl44 t1_ja0prli wrote

Ours was 12:30-2 and that was a long stretch for my early riser. Some do 12:30 but many do seem to do 1.

No recs because I haven’t seen any openings in the 15 places I’ve called.

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coldblackmaple t1_ja1fbj3 wrote

Nap and sleep schedules constantly change as they get older, so he may be completely different in 8 months. But yeah, this is also an issue when babies move from the infant to toddler rooms at daycare. They figure it out and adjust.

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SnooPets7712 t1_ja1okkt wrote

Just to clarify do you mean Montessori schools vs the Primrose daycare? There are quite a few Montessori options in Richmond and a few of them have toddler classrooms, but Primrose is not Montessori. Just fyi.

In my experience working in early childhood, 1-3 is the usual nap time for a full day program. the earliest I’ve seen naptime start is 12:30. It is one of those things about daycare that’s just not ideal, especially since many younger toddlers are still taking 2 naps or transitioning from 2 to 1 nap, but 🤷🏼‍♀️

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Mindful_Mom_36 OP t1_ja4ggzd wrote

Oh yes I forgot that Primrose isn’t technically Montessori, although I feel their style is very similar!

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runfreedog t1_ja35cgg wrote

What is his typical home nap schedule?

He’ll probably be exhausted upon starting a program but adjust after a week or so. You could consider slowly stretching his nap to start closer to 1 to help prepare yourself/him/the caregivers. A lot can change with sleep by 18 months.

I’ve worked in daycare and Montessori schools and a late nap isn’t a “Montessori thing,” usually it’s a kids lunch and teacher break schedule thing. Although I’m not sure how much earlier you expect the nap to be?

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Mindful_Mom_36 OP t1_ja4g5at wrote

Right now he’s on a morning nap, about 9-10:30 and an afternoon nap from about 2:30-4. He’s always been an early riser so I just feel like 1:00 is late for my kid, but maybe it’s not so bad for others

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runfreedog t1_ja51gjr wrote

The two nap schedule is very normal and needed for his age. Typically around 18 months - 2 years children drop their need for a second nap and are sufficient with one. Even the early risers. It might be hard to imagine at this point in his life, I know!

If the caregivers are knowledgeable about child development and typical toddler experiences they’ll be empathetic and helpful during his natural adjustment to one nap during the day.

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RedditUser092120 t1_ja0wsje wrote

If I’m not mistaken, when my son was 18m his nap was 1-3, though it’s now 12-2 at his current school. Also a crack of dawn kid, but he’s done great with their nap schedules!

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Mindful_Mom_36 OP t1_ja14vpn wrote

His night sleep didn’t go crazy from being overtired? The last time I tried to stretch my son’s nap time later, he had a horrible night

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RedditUser092120 t1_ja2k9r6 wrote

He wasn’t a great sleeper at that age, but around that time is when it slowly started to improve. He didn’t nap well in the infant room, but once he moved up and started the new schedule we tried to mirror that on weekends and it went better than we expected.

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Potential-Height582 t1_ja2ryox wrote

It’s going to be an adjustment. But, it’ll be fine. Kids adapt. At least mine did.

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ediblerice t1_ja2u7xe wrote

Sleep schedules change so much. Our baby at 10 months was getting up at 5:30-6, and by 13 months they sleep until 8am or so. (It's 7:45am right now and sound asleep.) Then transitioning to one nap will be like... One day the first nap will end up being 2+ hours long and they'll want to skip the second nap. Then you push that first nap back later in the day. The transition is messy and they'll probably bounce back and forth between 2 and 1 naps for a little while, which can make planning your day difficult.

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Jsprdn t1_ja145m5 wrote

We have a 17 month old and she naps 12:30-3:00 ish.

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atl_bowling_swedes t1_ja2nler wrote

My kids' school does naps from 12:30-2:30. We started her there just after she turned 1. It really never impacted her nighttime sleep, and she did fine with the transition. By 18 months I think that should be appropriate sleep for your little one. It's hard to see now, but your baby will change a lot between now and then.

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lowrider4life t1_ja1davt wrote

Check out leaf spring school. It's a private school that teaches up to the 8th grade and has infant and toddler care as well. Infants nap at 10 ish and 2 ish. Not sure about toddlers.

They have three locations, with nurses and licensed teachers on staff. They are accredited with the National early childhood program association.

Depending on your location, the JCC and Sprout School have great preschools too. They are both accredited with NECPA. Not sure about nap times.

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