Falling Asleep During Lunch

I would get the daycare to give her lunch early. Maybe she just needs her nap earlier than the other kids. All kids are different in their sleep needs. I know my daughter used to want her nap at 11:00 and took a long time to get her to take it later than that. She could stay awake a long time in the afternoon but the morning times she just was sleepier.

I would definitely want her to eat lunch. Snacks are good but I would hate to get out of the habit of eating lunch. That's just my opinion. Hope it helps.

Hi, you didn't really mention her nap schedule. Maybe she still needs a little nap in the morning. Usually by 18mths they transition to 1 longer nap a day but she may not be ready yet. Have them lay her down about 9:00 or so for 30 min and that should hold her until after lunch for her long nap. I wouldn't change the feeding schedule, I would look at the nap schedule. Good luch to her.

I had this problem with my daughter at daycare too. She was and still is a night owl. I'm a teacher at had to be at school around 7:15 so I had to drop her off before that. I would put her to bed early but she wouldn't go to sleep and would get up and go downstairs with my mom, the other night owl. My parents finally had to start taking her a little later so she could sleep later. I know this is not always an option, but could be the problem.

Good luck to your friend.

Sounds like this little one is not getting a good sleep routine or enough sleep at night. its probably her nap time and shes just tired... maybe shes going to bed to late or just not a good sleeper... I would feed her later and let her sleep unless the parents can change her sleep routine and put her to bed earlier. she needs 12-14 hours of sleep at night at that age. my 6 year old still sleeps about 12 hours at night from 8-8 so an 18 month old for sure needs that much.

HTH
A. J

I have a home day care and what I see is children this young take two naps. This week seems to be the children are sleepy all of them. The younger ones fall asleep about the the time I am fixing lunch. I let them sleep for about an hour and wake them up about a half hour or hour before lunch. After lunch I wait a little while so they use up energy and they have bowel movements before the second nap. They sleep longer and it seems most little ones can play hard for about 3 hours then are tired again. I just give them lunch later. It just depends but they get pretty crabby without naps. They need to eat about every 2-3 hours. They run it off and nap and over and over. I think the changing weather this week has them all off. Monday all of them slept a long time. Either parents drug them around on the week end or it is the weather. G. W

I feel that kids need to eat when they're hungry, and sleep when they're tired. I think that's the best habit to get into for us all!

Hi M.:

I am a preschool teacher to 18-24 month old babies.

Honestly, it just sounds like your friend's child is ready for her nap! Sometimes the nap schedule at home and preschool differ and it really effects the little ones. We actually had to move our naptime up b/c our little ones were barely getting through their lunches b/c they were yawning so much!

If the little girl isn't hungry and lunch, what's wrong with her eating it after naptime? How about a larger, healthy morning snack to get her through? Flexibility is the name of the game with toddlers!

Good luck to your friend!

the child is probably still taking a morning nap. instruct the day care to allow the child to take a morning nap and then wake her up for lunch. after all who is paying the day care? good luck.

At 18 months old - I think that is a great idea! If she is tired at that time, why not let her nap? She can eat later, and enjoy her day. She will be more likely to gain more from her experience at the daycare if she is well rested and comfortable. She is still soooo young!!!

She'll have enough time later in life when an early nap will not be an option : )

The challenge with daycare is that they have a set routine for all the babies in the class, which would work great if all babies were alike. Unfortunately, they're not. Some, like your friend's baby, have a different circadian rhythm. Maybe she's getting up earlier in the morning than the other babies and is pooped by lunchtime. If I were your friend, I would ask that they save my baby's lunch till afternoon snack if she doesn't finish it and let her lay down and nap when she needs a nap.

If there is a concern about undernourishment, I market a product that may help. It puts fruits and veggies into gummy treats that kids love! Take a look at my Mamasource profile for details and let me know if you'd like more info.

Good luck to your friend. A good daycare provider will do what they can to accomodate her child's needs.

M.

Sounds like she needs to eat a bit earlier and take her nap...I don't know how possible that is in a day care. How long has she been in day care? Perhaps she will get on the day care's schedule eventually.

Another idea would be to ask your friend to move the bedtime a little earlier, may be that will help. Although, kids have their own schedule and if she feels tired at lunch time, maybe she should let her sleep... just remember that charts for weight and height are just that charts and all kids develop different.
Good luck!

I think feeding her earlier or later is just fine. But maybe the real issue is she's not getting enough sleep at night. Maybe suggest your friend put her to bed 30 minutes earlier at night and maybe that 30 minutes of sleep will help her stay up through lunch. She may actually have to work up to 30 minutes though because I know when my kids were that age, their little bodies were definitely on their own time clock and they pretty much got tired at the same time every day. Even now, my 4 year old still gets sleepy at the same times each day. Your friend may have to change bedtime 5 or 10 minutes at a time until she's going to bed 30 minutes earlier. This is assuming your friend has to wake her daughter in the morning and not that she wakes up on her own. If that's the case, then she's probably getting enough sleep at night and she'll just have to eat lunch at a different time until her internal timing changes, which will probably happen soon enough. :-)

Mine did this for a while. Poor thing probaby still needs a morning nap! I would feed her lunch earlier or feed her after she takes a nap. No child fits a box. Some need more naps than others. I know mine probably still needed a morning nap after 1 year; however, b/c of daycare they were trying to transition her to nap later. She would sometimes fall asleep at the table; they would just lie her down and feed her lunch when she woke up.

First of all, it's more common than you realize. A lot of times children are just worn out by lunch, especially at daycare. They're just ready for nap. If her teachers will let her go ahead and nap when she falls asleep, maybe she can finish her lunch during afternoon snack time when she wakes up. She won't starve. And if this happens at home, maybe mom could move lunch and nap time up a little earlier.
It's more the fact that she is exhausted than not hungry.

Hi,
I do remember my DS transitioning from two naps to one at this point. I'm not familiar with how day cares work, but I would make sure he got a big snack before he took that nap. Then, after nap, he would have his lunch. Lunch might be at 1:00 or 1:30. It's not a bad habit. I think your friend's kid is in transition.
M.