Your Child's Sleep and Daycare

Starting your child at daycare is a big step for your child and you as well. This can be a stressful time filled with anxiety. One of the key concerns is how your child's sleep will be affected by attending daycare. I have a few helpful tips in this department.

1. All daycares are not equal, take time to find a daycare that suits your family's needs. As a sleep consultant, I see a wide variety of childcare options that my clients choose, they all have pros and cons to weigh out. Shop around, ask about their daily schedule and make sure it is something that you can stand behind. See if your daycare would be willing to work with you to keep your child’s sleep at a healthy spot. Some daycares offer flexibility when it comes to daily schedules, and others do not. These are all factors to take into consideration when choosing a daycare.

2. Don’t be afraid to have an open and honest line of communication with your child’s daycare teachers. After all, they are part of the team that helps your child thrive on a daily basis. If something is not working for you, tell them. They are a great resource to get sleep advice from- after all, they put many children down for naps each day.

3. Give yourself some grace, and give your child some grace. Starting daycare is a big change! If you notice your child is cranky or extra clingy after a day at daycare, take a deep breath, order take out and give them the snuggles they need. As time goes on, they will adjust to being in daycare and be back to their happy selves in no time.

4. If you know you will be starting daycare, ask them what the daily schedule looks like. Once you are about 2 weeks away from starting daycare, slowly try to transition to the schedule your child will be on while at daycare. This two-week grace period will allow your child to adjust slowly so that when they do start daycare it is not a huge change.

5. Keep the schedule consistent. I always preach to my clients, consistency is key! Keep their daily routines and nap times at around the same time each day. I know that some of you might be waking your child super early for daycare during the workweek and would like to sleep in on weekends. I would encourage you if you are a parent of an infant to try to stay on schedule as much as possible. As your child gets older, they will be able to adjust to schedule changes a bit easier. If you do let your child sleep in on the weekends, be sure to match the same wake windows that daycare is using, which means bedtime might get pushed back a bit.

Once again, daycare is a big change for everyone in the family. Hopefully, these tips will help to make that transition easier for all involved.