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View Full Version : Asked to limit Mindees sleep



Katiekoo
08-03-2012, 02:55 PM
Parents of Mindee A have asked me to wake lo after an hour and a half. This is because A won't go to sleep at night, sometimes for hours after bedtime.
A usually gets two hours minimum at my house and only wakes because I clatter about before school run!
I have agered to gently wake A, but I hate it. The child to me clearly needs more sleep (shudders when lifted out of the cot and falls back asleep in my quiet corner) and this is something I always said to myself I'd never do.
I work ever so hard to maintain our routine, and I feel like this is why the children all go to sleep easily in my care.
I have always worked well with parents and was complemented on this in my Ofsted report, I want to continue to support parents but I'm finding this hard.
I know others have had these problems, how did you resolve it?

catminder
08-03-2012, 03:06 PM
I would follow parent's request. If they are struggling to get lo settled in the evening then it may be because he's had too much sleep with you. It'll help to get him into the routine of sleeping at night and needing gradually less sleep during the day.
I know what you mean though, it seems cruel to wake them but some of my mindees would sleep all afternoon if I let them :)

rosebud
08-03-2012, 03:16 PM
I always wake them if parents ask and not if they don't. At the end of the day its the parent's child and they are the ones who have to put them to bed at night, they are entitled to some time to themselves in the evening and its just as important that the child has a good routine at night as it is during the day. I have had a child who needed a sleep at 3 years old but I was asked to limit to 15 minutes and ensure it was before 2 o'clock, I had no problem with this and this routine was spot on for this child. I would always follow parents wishes unless I was really sure they were wrong about what the child needed in which case i would try to find a compromise.

QualityCare
08-03-2012, 03:41 PM
How old is the child? a minimum of 2hrs sleep in the afternoon does seem a lot for a child especially if its as late as the school run when you wake them. Can you put child to sleep earlier it may mean you have to give child an earlier or later lunch and then wake them after 11/2 hrs and then cut it down to an hour. have you discussed with parents what they do at weekends.

Ripeberry
08-03-2012, 03:46 PM
At least they are not asking you to limit it to less than an hour. Just do it over a few days, waking the child 10 mins earlier each time. Half and hour is nothing and should be do-able :)

caz3007
08-03-2012, 03:50 PM
I had this request after one night LO stayed awake until after 9 but it was mums birthday and she had been hyped up by daddy blowing up balloons and stuff.

Anyway, we agreed that she wasnt to sleep after 2pm. So I wake her after an hour and a half. Mum was sort of heading towards stopping her nap, but after last weekend when she didnt go down and was horrid by 5, she has knocked that idea on the head.

I dont mind waking if I feel its been a reasonable time and sometimes LO sits quietly on my lap for a cuddle for a while until she is fully awake. School run time does seem a bit late to me

wendywu
08-03-2012, 05:47 PM
My little ones go down at 1.15 and i wake them just before 3 to go on the school run. :)

Helen79
08-03-2012, 07:29 PM
One of my mindees sometimes needs a longer sleep so they have an early lunch and an early sleep so that they're not sleeping too late into the afternoon.
I wouldn't deny a mindee sleep but am happy to wake them once they've had a good hour nap if parents want me to.

Katiekoo
08-03-2012, 07:45 PM
Thanks all, so much help as usual. I'm so lucky with families I work with, I'm sure we'll work it out. I think today has been the worst as the lo has been suffering with a cold, and really didn't want to be woken :(
I can't really settle lo for a nap any earlier as I have a lunchtime drop off. I'll carry on with parents request and allow plenty of time to wake gently, hope the lo adjusts to it soon. Thanks

Katiekoo
08-03-2012, 07:54 PM
To clarify, lo is 22 months. And I start clattering about to get set up and ready for school run at about 2.35pm

AgentTink
08-03-2012, 08:08 PM
Katiekoo there is a lovely leaflet in the free downloads section of this forum that has a booklet called sleep problems. Here is the link

http://childmindinghelp.co.uk/freeresources/Free%20downloads/sleepproblems.html

I have printed this for a parent in the past. The average time for a 1 to 3 year old to nap for 2 hours and 15 minutes, so i would feel uncomfortable waking any earlier than this.

Katiekoo
08-03-2012, 09:07 PM
Katiekoo there is a lovely leaflet in the free downloads section of this forum that has a booklet called sleep problems. Here is the link

http://childmindinghelp.co.uk/freeresources/Free%20downloads/sleepproblems.html

I have printed this for a parent in the past. The average time for a 1 to 3 year old to nap for 2 hours and 15 minutes, so i would feel uncomfortable waking any earlier than this.

That's a really good leaflet, thank you, printed it just now :)