How do i organise their nap?

[Estelleinlondon]

Hello All!

I am preparing to hopefully become a childminder and I am not too sure how to organise things for the children's nap. Of course they might not even sleep but i would like them to have a quiet time after lunch...

I guess I could either use travel cots in the living room or get folding sleeping mats. I initially thought of putting up travel cots in our bedroom but I can't easily child-proof that room in case a child climbs over the travel cot so that would probably not work (I think?).

What would you all experienced CMs recommend please?

- travel cots in the living room?
- sleeping mats in the living room?
- travel cot in the bedroom for the very little one(s) who surely won't climb over, and the bigger ones in the living room?

Also, how do you encourage them to have a quiet rest even if they won't sleep?

Many thanks in advance!

[dette]

i do a combination of all of the above.i use big dog beds(never been used by dogs) in the living room after dinner ,at the rear of the living room there is room for travel cots ,i put one LO upstairs in travel cot as he likes it to be really quiet and i use reclining pushchairs either in the hall or living room depending on the child.usually after dinner ,wee and a wash then nap time,anyone not napping goes into the kitchen for art and craft while i wash and clean up after dinner.once LO's are all sleeping i give the older ones the option of some quiet tv and a blanket on the sofa

[mary49]

Hi there I have been minding for nearly 4 years and I have a travel cot with grow bags upstairs for little ones, i have a 2 year old who sleeps in there at the mo, i just check on and have a baby monitor. others sleep on the sofa. Some children like to sleep in the buggy, my own daughter did and I just faced her in the conservatory looking out over the garden. Hope this helps, good luck!

[TAZ]

I currently have 2 travel cots and a mattress. All the pre-schoolers that I currently have, have day-time naps (2 age2, 1 age1 & 1 age9mnths) They all sleep in travel cots, none have climbed out yet, if I thought they would I would ensure that they were on the mattress instead - just a case of continually risk assessing. Depending on which combination I have I set the cots up in different rooms (so that they don't disturb each other). I use the bedrooms, play room & lounge as required.
Basically it's a case of doing risk assessment of the children you have at that time and what works for you & the children.:)

[blue bear]

You can't really make a concrete decision until you have mindees, you will need to work with what routine they are already into and take parents views into account. What if baby sleeps the same time as a pre school pick up? You're not going to be able to leave lo in the cot then. I'd make sure you have money to buy travel cot or mattress and make your purchases when you know what mindees you have and their preferences.

[Little Puddings]

I have been using sheep skins on my livingroom floor for over 4 years, the children have their individual small pillows and blankets and the children I used to have would get the sheepskins out and blanket and pillows out of the basket on their own and then put them back after. At one point I had 2 sets of siblings one day a week and I used to have the baby asleep in cot and the other 3 on a sheepskin each all at same time :-)