no more sleeps

[juejue]

I have 3 mindees 18 mths. 26 mths and 30 mths and now all their mums have said they don't want them to have a sleep any more in the day .

Do you think its important for young children to have a sleep?

Some days they only have 30 mins ......a hour at the most.

Trying to keep a 18 mth awake all day from 8 to 6 is ready hard.

Just so they will go to bed early.....I dont think its fair on them

What you you think .....do you have mindees who cant have a sleep ?

[gigglinggoblin]

I would give it a try and if the child is suffering I would have a serious talk with the parent and make them realise the impact it is having on them. Some kids dont need a sleep during the day

[FussyElmo]

I think its very important for young children to have their sleep. Keeping them awake doesnt guarantee them going to sleep early it just makes them over tired.

You could point out that sleep deprivation is a form of torture worked with my last mindee when asked why I hadnt stopped ds's nap :)

You know the children do you still think they need their sleeps?

[Doofuz]

Not registered yet but I work in a nursery and we have this issue with some parents every day - they don't sleep at night so we must keep them up during the day so they will sleep all night. By hometime they are dead on their feet half the time and told the next day that they were so overtired they didn't sleep anyway. I would recommend sleep for the 18 month old, an hour - hour and a half a day at least. Our 26 month olds get an hour, some parents have asked for it to be cut down to half an hour. The oldest one may not need a sleep at all, maybe just a rest. It depends on their activity during the day. Is it possible to suggest to the parents for their children to have a sleep earlier in the day, as long as they are awake by a certain time, agreed by the parent? Or to at least have time of sleep cut down, if they have an hour, cut down to 45 minutes, then half hour and so on? Good luck with all that, it's impossible some days at work dealing with overtired children, it doesn't benefit them at all :(

[kel1983]

I have a 21 month old whose mum has always said get her to have a sleep in the afternoons. She says that even if she has a 2 hour sleep she still goes to bed really easy in the evenings.

The little one plays up when I put her down in the cot but eventually gives in a sleeps for 2 hours :clapping: which is lovely. She can be very grumpy if she is tired

[Noomie]

I think children need sleep - it helps them develop and grow. How much or when depends on the child. I would say that an 18 month old needs some sort of sleep, I would say at least an hour. I don't think day time sleep equals bad night time sleeps at this age.

I can see that parents who work have a point in that they do need some evening hours to themselves. I've been there. But good sleeping habits (like a bedtime routine that is stuck to!) and set procedures for night wakings means that children can have a day time nap and still a good sleep at night.

I am a big advocate of sleeping but can already see that my DD at 24 months is ready to through the day without a nap, although she's very tired if she doesn't get them. Or perhaps a nap every other day? She's just hard to get to have a nap now. It used to be around 11.30 she was ready, but now, you can put her down at 12.30 and half an hour later she is still playing with her teddies and blankets in her cot. Today I found her wrapping them up and saying night, night with her mussie on her head! 15 mins later however she was sleeping. It's a hard call when they get to a certain age.

Hope this ramble makes sense.

[miffy]

I have 3 mindees 18 mths. 26 mths and 30 mths and now all their mums have said they don't want them to have a sleep any more in the day .

Do you think its important for young children to have a sleep?

Some days they only have 30 mins ......a hour at the most.

Trying to keep a 18 mth awake all day from 8 to 6 is ready hard.

Just so they will go to bed early.....I dont think its fair on them

What you you think .....do you have mindees who cant have a sleep ?

I'm lucky atm I don't have any mindees who aren't allowed to sleep.

I have had parents in the past who've asked that their child doesn't sleep but what usually happens is the child falls asleep at 4.30pm because they are exhausted. Of course if that happens then they often won't go to bed early so really it's better all round if they have a little sleep after lunch :D

Miffy xx

[Ripeberry]

Most days I drive to softplay or other places and they are at least 20 mins drive away. If mindee sleeps in the car, so be it. Too dangerous to keep trying to keep them awake when you are driving.

My 2yr old mindee at the moment won't sleep in a cot, but if he is tired he will go out like a light in the car. Find myself (on days when it's just me and him) just driving for a bit and sitting in a car park with a book, just to get him to have at least 1hr nap.
I have him from 7.30 until 6pm and if he does not have that re-charge around 1pm, he goes bonkers later and literaly throws himself around as he is so tired and ends up hurting himself :(

[rickysmiths]

I currently care for 10mth old, 2yr old, 4yr old. The all have a sleep during the day, they wouldn't survive until 5pm without. The 4yr has two full days at pre-school now and I know tomorrow when she has a 1/2 day I will collect her and she will be asleep in the car in the 5min it takes to get home.

My own two were different. My dd always had a morning sleep and an afternoon one and then my mum passed away and I was travelling back and forth from London to the West Country and so her routine went to pots and she didn't want to sleep at Mum and Dads house without Grandma, she was nearly 3 so I used to have a quiet hour after lunch snuggled up on the sofa with a video or a plie of books, she loved books.

My son on the other hand had a long pm sleep right up to going to school and still went to bed at 6-6.30pm and slept through. When he went to school the first term he was often asleep by 4.30pm so I would put him to bed-no tea and then he would have a bath in the morning followed by a full English!

I think you have to go with what the los need and try the new regime for a while and if it isn't working speak to the parents.

I agree with others that children need sleep to thrive and depriving them of it is reguarded as child abuse. Ofsted frow on a child being woken and not being allowed to wake naturally. If a parent is addement then I would get it in writting and put it in the childs file.

I find one of the reasons the los don't go to bed early is the get wound up and excited seeing mum and dad which is understandable as they haven't seen them all day. Then there is no established bedtime routine like tea, bath, read a story bed gradually dimming the light and winding down. A lot of my parents will do everything hi doe and wonder why the children won't settle.

[The Juggler]

can you download some leaftlets/info about how short, earlier daytime naps promote good night-time sleeping maybe.

Nursery world did an article a few years back which I handed out to my parents at the time. You should be able to find it on their archives.:) I had a child like this but she had quiet time every day and if she did sleep I just woke her after 45 mins. :)

[JCrakers]

I agree..young children need their day sleep and 18months is very young to try and keep awake 10hrs a day.

Its really difficult to keep a child awake if all they need is a nap...they get grouchy and dont want to play.
and agree with everyone saying by the time bedtime comes they will be so overtired.
If you feel they are still needing sleeps, i would say something to the parents...I bet they still have naps at the weekend :p

Becky

[gigglinggoblin]

Have just reread my post and I dont think it came out right.

Not all kids need a sleep, my youngest gave his up beofre 18 months but he has always been a really bad sleeper. I dont think it was really a good thing, however my parents said if I even got 5 minutes I was up until way past midnight which is also not a good thing.

In general I find that if a child needs a sleep during the day and doesnt get it they sleep worse at night rather than better.

Depending on the parents you might have to give it a go before they will listen. I have known several sets of parents who have tried to tamper with the childs natural rhythm and have ended up going back to what works for the child but they have needed to see what happens first.

My biggest issue with kids not having a sleep if they need one is that then they become unable to cope with a normal day and my policy is that children must be fit for what we would normally get up to. This is technically my sickness policy but I wonder what other people would think about this and if parents dug their heels in would you consider sending a child home (obviously in extreme circumstances!). I have never had parents so unwilling to let their child sleep when the child needs it so it isnt one I have really come across, however I dont think I would want a very tired child when we have to do the school run etc.

[Vickster]

Goodness me, my 19 month old daughter sometimes starts asking to go to bed at 11am, I struggle to keep her awake until after the nursery run at 12.30 some days. My son did drop his naps at 2 though but was fine without one. If the children can cope without one fine, if not I would honestly say to the parents that it is affecting how you care for all the children you look after.

[ziggy]

my 4 year old mindee has a 2hr sleep after pre-school and if he doesnt he falls asleep in his mummy's car on the way home. I have never understood why parents would deprive a child of sleep, they wouldnt deprive them of food when they are hungry:mad:

[Louise0208]

i wish my DS (2) had a nap still.....she drives me insane come teatime :angry: on the plus side she does go bed at 6.30 & sleeps till 7 the next morning. shes not napped since 9 months old but thats because shes a nosy so&so & thinks she will miss something.....not because i have kept her awake!.....iv just been wheeling her around the streets in the fresh air trying to make her sleep as shes full of cough & cold but she was having none of it! :rolleyes:

my nearly 4 year old mindee still has a sleep every afternoon but mum doesnt put her bed till she goes bed so needs it! mum has told me on many a time that LO has been running the house at 2am! :rolleyes: