Sleep routines in a day nursery

[Guest]

Do settings follow a routine when children sleep at nursery? Do children all sleep at the same time normally after lunch or do they sleep as and when they would like throughout the day? Do children have sleep limits if the parents wish? Do you 'pat' the children off to sleep?

[Stargrower]

Children sleep when they need to. We try to follow routines from home as much as we can, especially for babies. We do adhere to time limits but if we feel this is really detrimental to the child, or if we struggle to keep a child awake, we would talk it over with parents. Children who need to be settled to sleep are patted, rocked or whatever they need, but we try to get them out of this habit at nursery as soon as we can so they learn to settle themselves and we don't have staff tied up doing this.

Hope that helps! :1b

[Guest]

Thank you! With your 2-3 year olds do you say that they all have to sleep at the same time (after lunch) or do you let them sleep when they choose to throughout the day?

[Stargrower]

No, they still sleep when they need to, but in the normal rhythm of the day, it is often, or usually after lunch. Not all our 2 year olds sleep. It depends what time they have come in, how long they're with us for the day, how well they slept the night before, parents requests etc.

[Guest]

Our Under 2s sleep as and when they need to based on what their usual routine is at home. Our Over 2s all sleep after lunch time (about 12:30) and we wake them at 2pm to enjoy afternoon activities. If the parent wants them to be woken earlier we will do but we don't let them sleep any later. Our parents seem happy with this arrangement as they then don't struggle to get them down to bed in the evening

[MarshaD]

We don't have under twos but most of our two year olds who need a sleep go down after lunch and like Daydreambeliever are woken at 14:00 if they haven't already. We have a child not long turned three who sleeps badly at night. Mum has asked us to do away with his nap but oh my he's in all states by three o'clock! We have a couple of three year olds who still need a nap and if they fall asleep at any point we wouldn't wake them.