I have noticed that my 5 month daughter sleeps 4-6 hours during the day at daycare and doesn't sleep through the night. When we are home with her during the day on the weekends we have to try to make her take a nap and she only sleeps about 2 1/2 hours. She seems to sleep through the night more often when we have had her during the day. Is it a good time to have a set time for naps? My daycare provider thinks she is to little for one and to let her sleep whenever she wants so we have but we would like her to start sleeping through the night. This is our first child so we don't know how old is a good time to have a set schedule. Any suggestions please.
I think you should remind your daycare provider whose paying who and I definitely agree with Jaqui M. don't let the sitter push you around. Stand firm and tell her to wake your daughter up after 2 hours. If she won't then find a new one.
It's important to establish a schedule even at 5 months. Our daughter is now 10 months and she is beginning a one nap schedule but until now she took 2 naps a day even at daycare. The naps usually took place once in the am between 8:30-9:30 and in the afternoon following lunch. She usually only slept for an hour or an hour and a half at each naptime. What you are doing when she is at home-once daily for 2-3 hrs should be fine. I would let your daycare provider know what you expect no more than X amount of hours napping. Maybe she needs to be entertained or given tummy time to keep her engaged and awake. Each child is different but you know what works best for your child so let the daycare provider know what YOU want. Good luck!
I agree with the comments so far. From the time babies are born you can start adjusting them to a schedule. Don't let you sitter try to tell you what she's ready/not ready for. she probably says that because if your dau. is sleeping then she's not having to watch her. I don't know how many other kids she watches, but maybe try to determine if she's saying that because she has too many kids and just can't quite keep up or that she's burning your dollars by doing nothing.
I would definitely ask your day care provider to put your child on a schedule if you feel that is best. Tell her what time you want your child fed and what time you'd like her ideally to go down for a nap. I.e. If your child falls asleep right after eating and you want her to nap at 11am...then tell her to feed her at 10:45.
I couldn't have survived without a schedule!
Good luck!
I am a daycare provider and I would never let a baby sleep 4-5 hours a day in my house. You need a provider with a good schedule, or one that can follow your childs schedule. A five month old needs to have time being held, talk to sing to, play on the floor with toys, they should be getting ready to crawl in a month or two or three...I have watched children from infants to school age and all my kids from 0-4 have the same schedule...they need it and so do I...I need that 2 hours a day to recoop and clean up...all my kids take naps from 12:30 - 2:30 and it is not difficult to get them started..I have had smaller ones take a morning nap and afternoon nap about an hour each when they first start but I eventually change that..so I think you need a new daycare provider!
I dont think your daughter is too young to start a sleep schedule. And, your babysitter is definitely getting the better end of the deal as she is sleeping half the day away for her! Babies seem to thrive better when they are on a schedule and they look forward to knowing how their day is going to unfold, so starting one now is a good idea. I have found from reading up on it that they recommend that a child is ready for a nap about 2 hours after waking in the am. And again for a few hours in the afternoon. My son now sleeps about 11-12 hours each night with one nap of 2 hours during the day and he is hardly ever cranky! I would just be really careful that your babysitter knows not to let her sleep all day! But, if she is getting plenty of sleep at night she would probably take a shorter nap during the day. Well, Good luck and I hope you enjoy the nights of longer sleep that are heading your way!
