Plan for the day

**Bex1** · 06-04-2009, 06:16 PM

Hi
Its me again asking yet more questions

Ok so I would like to have a plan for the day but I have started minding a little girl who needs to nap but wont sleep in a cot and will go to sleep either being driven around in a car or pushed in her buggy! Thats ok but she usually sleeps at home about 9.30am but on the days she is with me that is when she is being dropped off and therefore the excitement of new toys etc keeps her awake and so its hard to get her to sleep unless I get my DD together and go off for a walk...in the rain not so good! Therefore to plan the day at the mo is a little hard because I dont know when she is going to want to go to sleep! she rubs her eyes and shows all the signs for tiredness but wont give in!!

Any ideas what to do...I am not sure if I explained it enough to make sense!!

**huggableshelly** · 06-04-2009, 06:22 PM

I have one like that too .. Mum wants her to sleep 10 - 12 but I go out at 11:15 for nursery run.

she wont sleep in her buggy or the travel cot so now Mum has relaxed and accepted that she will sleep when ready.

last wk was her 2nd wk with me, no sleep monday but slept tues then no sleep for the rest of the wk but Mum said when she didnt have a sleep she was going to bed at 6pm and sleeping all night rather than falling asleep at 11pm till 5am.

Its hard to stick to a sleep routine shen the child is too busy taking in different surroundings ... I certainly wouldnt go driving in the car or for a walk in the rain just to get her to sleep, but thats my opinion and i have other children to consider too.

**Bex1** · 06-04-2009, 06:24 PM

Thank you. I guess I am lucky in that my DD will go to sleep when she is tired so I've never come across this problem! I will see what happens next time she is with me!

**huggableshelly** · 06-04-2009, 06:28 PM

same with my mindee .. my own daughter didnt have a daytime sleep ever .. she slept 5pm till 8am from 10 days old, my son catnapped when he felt like it and had no real sleep pattern .. still doesnt lol

when i was in a nursery all children were put on a mat to sleep after lunch, amazingly they all slept but as a cm having parents state a sleep pattern its hard to stick to when the child has other ideas!

hope something works out for you soon which will make it easier for you all xxx

**Buzz Lightyear** · 06-04-2009, 06:57 PM

I sympathise Bex. I too have a mindee who refuses to go to sleep and just cries and cries which breaks my heart. So I have to sit with him until he eventually goes off through shear exhaustion I imagine. Like you, my DD will just go down in her cot and get herself off to sleep - bliss!

It's a tough one. I guess until our mindees get used to us and a new-ish routine, we'll just have to plough through.

**loocyloo** · 06-04-2009, 07:31 PM

what i have tended to do, is to try and find a 'window' in which to fit a sleep! be it, in the buggy on a school run/walk to activity or at home, and put the child down for their sleep at that time! i ended up with one LO who slept at 8.30-9.15 each morning !LOL! (well, he did get up at 6am!)

in my house all children under the age of 3 (and over 3 if i can manage it!) have a rest after lunch in bed/cot. from the word go i put them down, and they quickly get used to the idea! i also always give them a muslin ... so, if we are out and its sleep time, they learn to sleep where ever, as long as they have muslin!

this seems to work, even for children who don't have comforters at home, or a regular or different daytime sleep pattern. i have always explained to parents that the children need their sleep, and i fit it in as best as i can, at a time to suit everyone!

good luck, persevere, and you will get there! babies and little children are creatures of habit, and they soon learn the routines of your house!

xxx

**mushpea** · 06-04-2009, 08:02 PM

my only plan for the days is 8.40am school drop off, 10 am toddler groups,
3pm school pickups the rest is add hock.
I have plans as to the activiteys i am going to do like i might plan to make easter cards but not at a set time, if the kids sleep in the afternoon then we will do them after school or vise versa, kids will sleep when tired , the little one i have crashes at all times of the day, somtimes she gives in on the school run other times i put her in the buggy and take the mut for a walk so she will give somtimes i put her in the buggy in the back garden and she crashes, just depends on the day and what we have done so far that day.

**helenlc** · 06-04-2009, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by loocyloo

what i have tended to do, is to try and find a 'window' in which to fit a sleep! be it, in the buggy on a school run/walk to activity or at home, and put the child down for their sleep at that time! i ended up with one LO who slept at 8.30-9.15 each morning !LOL! (well, he did get up at 6am!)

in my house all children under the age of 3 (and over 3 if i can manage it!) have a rest after lunch in bed/cot. from the word go i put them down, and they quickly get used to the idea! i also always give them a muslin ... so, if we are out and its sleep time, they learn to sleep where ever, as long as they have muslin!

this seems to work, even for children who don't have comforters at home, or a regular or different daytime sleep pattern. i have always explained to parents that the children need their sleep, and i fit it in as best as i can, at a time to suit everyone!

good luck, persevere, and you will get there! babies and little children are creatures of habit, and they soon learn the routines of your house!

xxx

And are parents happy with this? Do they just accept it or do you have those that dont want you to do this? I had an 18 month old mindee that mum asked me to keep awake. I did one day which became an effort after 4pm and I had him til 6! I did say to mum that he will end up falling asleep in the car as soon as you drive off and surely it would be better for him to have had a nap at lunch time, but she wasnt having any of it.

I have a just turned 3 yr old mindee who mum said would have a nap if he needed it. He would fall asleep in the car on the school run in the afternoon or going home. I thought he still needed a sleep but he doesnt stop when we are indoors, so the idea of getting him to lay down for half an hour seems impossible.

But I can see the benefits of your method of just making them do it from day one and then they just think its part of how you do things. I like the idea of the muslin too as a signal for nap time also.

I am about to jiggle my policies about so I might introduce this. Thanks

**LisaH** · 06-04-2009, 08:12 PM

I have a regular nap time for my mindees too.

They are 3 and 2 at the moment and they all go down for a nap after lunch

I've done this from the start too so they now automatically collect their cuddlies after lunch ready for 'nap time', bless 'em.

**Chatterbox Childcare** · 06-04-2009, 08:17 PM

Personally I would break the routine of not going to sleep in a cot and put her there.

If she is not tired when she gets to you then let her stay up a bit.

**donnadoo2004200** · 06-04-2009, 09:08 PM

Mine always sleep after lunch 3 x 2yrs. I have 2 in the cots upstairs and one which would not go in a cot as she had come from a nursery and slept on a mat, so for her I get the mattress out of the travel cot and put on the floor in the lounge she gets on there no problem asleep in 5 min. I always put a cuddly toy in the cots upstairs in the morning ready for after lunch, when they go upto bed they say to me 'I wonder whos waiting for me today' (cute).
They look forward to nap time. Start how you mean to go on.

**loocyloo** · 07-04-2009, 10:27 AM

Originally Posted by helenlc

And are parents happy with this? Do they just accept it or do you have those that dont want you to do this? I had an 18 month old mindee that mum asked me to keep awake. I did one day which became an effort after 4pm and I had him til 6! I did say to mum that he will end up falling asleep in the car as soon as you drive off and surely it would be better for him to have had a nap at lunch time, but she wasnt having any of it.

:

i tell the parents that a small child needs adequate sleep in order to enjoy their day and to learn to the best of their ability. plus a child who has had enough sleep, will sleep better than a child who has had sleep withheld. plus, we walk the school run, so any child who was tired, and is then in a buggy, instantly sleeps then, which DOES effect night time sleeping!

i haven't had a problem with any parents over sleeping! i have one LO who comes to me 4 days a week ... has a good 2 hr sleep after lunch each day, and has to be woken ... but the other 3 days ... doesn't sleep AT ALL! day or night! think he comes to me for a rest!!