Waking sleeping babies/toddlers

[kymberly]

Hi all,

Haven't been on in ages, so busy, just wanted to ask you lovely ladies your opinion....

Do you think it's fine to wake sleeping children ie only give them a half hr nap when they usually sleep for 2hrs and seem to need it.

Is it not best to let children wake naturally?

Thanks in advance x

[phoebe-alice]

I'll be watching this post as I have been wondering the same, some of my mindees are really drained and need the extra sleep but parents aren't keen on them having over a certain amount of time as they don't go down as easy at night.
But when they have been busy or have these colds that have been going round I always feel that they need all they can get, as they are never too happy to be woken up.

[Blaze]

A nursery was pulled up a on this ...who fought it & lost...

I'm sure if you google it more info will come up as it was highly publicised!

It is against the children's human rights & breaks the UN Convention on the rights of a child - to deny a child sleep, so unless there is a very valid reason ie school run (& obviously you can't leave the baby behind), then you are not meant to wake a sleeping child - they should be allowed to wake naturally regardless of what the parent's want you to do!

http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/918365/Nursery-caught-clash-Ofsted-parents/

HTH:)

[Penny1959]

Well said Blaze

I have this 'discussion' with nearly all parents at some point.

What gets me is - if their child has not slept for some reason or not had enough sleep they just fall asleep in the pushchair or car on the way home - so end up with an even later sleep.

I tell parents that I will try to encourage the children (once at toddler stage) to sleep / rest after lunch but if they want to nap at other times then I will let them.

Babies (read under 2's) sleep as and when they want to / need to

If any parent gets a bit stroopy with me then I quote the UN convention - they can not really argue with that - and if they want to they can 'complain' to Ofsted. LA whoever they wish as I know I will be supported on this one.

Penny :)

[jelly15]

I have a parent who doesn't want 18m to nap after 2pm, another who only wants 2.5y to have 1/2 hour and another whose 3.5y naps as and when she wants (usually for an hour or two each day) and it is the 3.5y who sleeps althrough the night for 11 hours. It just goes to show.

[Stella Mc]

I just don't have the heart to wake sleeping children, I hate having to wake my own 22 month old up for the school run each day, when I know at weekends he will sleep for nearly an extra hour, I've tried putting him down earlier but that doesn't work as he's not tired enough at that point. To be honest I find that the better sleep children have in the day, the better they sleep at night, I've had parents trying to make me feel guilty when their child has slept more than they would have liked during the day, the next day I can guarentee I'll get 'oh we had a terrible night, he wouldn't sleep at all'...
Stella x

[snufflepuff]

I haven't had to deal with this with mindees yet but it won't be long!

My son is a nightmare with sleep recently. He has just tuirned 2 and has always napped as and when he wants to really- theres nothing I can do about it. If he is tired it is impossible to keep him awake, and once he is asleep it is impossible to wake him up! He wakes when he is ready! It's awful though, if he sleeps after about 2pm, even just for a couple of minutes in the car, he will still be wide awake at 10.30pm or later!