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Sleep. From the moment a baby arrives it's a word that dominates early parenting. How much are you getting? How often is baby sleeping? Will I ever sleep again? And just as you and baby might be getting into some semblance of a reliable sleep pattern, it's time to go back to work.
It's no surprise therefore, that high on the list of parental concerns about the transition to child care is how this will affect a baby's sleep routine.
The child care sleep environment
Making sure that children in their care have enough sleep is central to the role of early childhood education and care provider. Providing a comfortable and safe sleeping environment is as important as feeding, playing and ensuring they receive plenty of fresh air and exercise. However, these sleep environments may be very different to those at home. Things that differ include:
Noise: To a child who has their own room at home, a child care sleeping space – where they may share with several other children – could be much noisier.
Sleep props: Babies who are used to being nursed or rocked to sleep might struggle to fall asleep without the same sleep prop present at the child care service.
Routine: Toddlers who catnap several times a day might need some time to adjust to the more structured daytime routine of a child care centre.
Before starting your child at a child care service, talk to them about the sleep environment they provide and raise any concerns you envisage might occur with your child's sleep. Child care providers should be open to discussing alternatives to help your child adjust to the new environment. Some are happy to cuddle and rock every child; others with several children sleeping at the same time may only have the capacity to settle with patting and singing.
Try and find a service that fits with your child's own sleep needs. By having that conversation early, you can not only prepare the child care service, but also look at adjusting your own sleeping environment and routine at home to more mirror the child care situation.
If you have concerns about how your child will settle, pack a comforting blanket or soft toy from home to help young children feel connected and calm. However, remember that toys are usually only permitted for children over 12 months old for safety reasons.
Sleep routine
In a baby room, most child care services allow babies and toddlers to run to their own sleep routines as much as possible. There will be a daily schedule that the classroom follows but because there is a span of children with a range of different sleep routines, some may sleep and others may do quiet activities. Talk to the centre to see how their daily routine fits with your child's current routine, and make sure they have a copy of that routine when you start. If you like to wake your baby from a nap because it interferes with their night time routine, talk to the centre on their policy on waking children. Some centres have a policy not to wake a child when sleeping.
Sleep communication
All child care services will keep some form of communication diary to let you know how long your child has slept. Before starting, find out how this communication happens so you can quickly and easily catch up on your child's activities at the end of the day. This might come in the form of a white board, a class chart, or an individual folder.
Your baby's unique temperament plays a large part in how well he or she settles into the new daycare environment. Some babies have no problem adjusting to the new space and routine, however others are much slower to adapt. If your baby is the latter, and one who has a harder time dealing with change, try to work in as much consistency between home and daycare as possible.
Once a child is settled into daycare, the extra activity and stimulation often means that a child is more tired and many parents find that a child sleep improves. But as with anything, if you find that your child's sleep deteriorates once they are settled into care, talk to your centre to see how well they sleep while at daycare, and what things are happening differently to affect their night time sleep.
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