Starting daycare is a milestone moment for your baby and family. If you’re feeling emotional, overwhelmed and nervous about how daycare will impact your baby’s sleep, or simply how your baby will adjust to sleeping at daycare (what about their dark sleep space they’re used to?!), you’re not alone.

Depending on where you’re located and your family dynamics, the daycare transition may happen around 12-18 months, or maybe even in the newborn stage! There’s a wide range of daycare transition times but the worries are similar. HOW is my baby going to sleep in a new environment, with new people, with new sounds?! 

What you’ll learn from this blog:

• Questions for your daycare provider
• Safe sleep at daycare
• A new sleep schedule
• Troubleshooting with daycare sleep
• Weekend sleep tips

Questions for your daycare provider about sleep

You’ve made the decision to send your baby off to daycare and now it’s time to ask alllll the questions to a potential provider. Whether you’re choosing a home daycare, a centre daycare or having a grandparent be a caregiver during the day, it’s important to ask your child’s provider sleep specific questions along with other safety and programming questions. 

A few questions to guide you may include:

1. To see the sleep space in the daycare space/home.
2. If your child is having difficulty settling for a nap, how do they support or respond to this?
3. What is the provider’s general philosophy related to baby and child sleep (and development)?
4. Is there a set classroom nap schedule or are individual schedules accommodated?
5. If your child didn’t sleep at all that day, how would they respond? Keep trying? Send them home?
6. Are they open to items from home being available to support sleep? If yes, consider bringing their sleep sack, pacifier, lovey, etc. 
7. For younger children sleeping in a dedicated sleep room, how often are safety checks done during sleep time?
8. Does the sleep space use a sound machine? Where is it positioned in the room and how loud is it?

Before touring a daycare, write down all your questions so you can remember them. It’s ok to be overwhelmed during a tour but having something to refer back to may help you feel grounded throughout the process.

Safe sleep at daycare

When touring your child’s potential daycare, it’s important to evaluate the sleep space from a safety perspective. Licensed home and centre daycares follow rigorous safety guidelines and are subject to frequent inspections. Unlicensed daycares may not have as close supervision but provide a more intimate setting for your child to be cared for. Regardless of your choice, your child’s safety during sleep is paramount. 

Here are a few guiding questions you may consider asking and observing the space for:

1. Inspect the cribs/cots and ensure they are in good condition without broken pieces
2. Where is extra bedding stored? How often is the bedding being washed?
3. If your child was to bring a pacifier or lovey from home, how are these items stored when sleep time is all done?
4. Do an environmental scan – are there any cords around the sleep space? Is there anything mounted on a wall that your baby could reach when in the crib or on the cot?
5. How do they arrange the cots in the classroom? Where would your child be placed in the class? 
6. Is there a monitor/video system in the classroom/sleeping area to monitor the children?
7. If at a home daycare, ensure your child will be sleeping on an age-appropriate mattress, not an adult mattress. 
8. Do they follow the AAP guidelines of nothing extra in the crib before 1-year? If under 1-year, will they always place your baby on their back to sleep?
9. If there was an emergency (e.g. fire) during nap time, how is this handled?

A new sleep schedule at daycare

If you’ve chosen a larger, centre-based daycare, there may be limited flexibility with regards to sleep schedules when at daycare. Some child care centres have flexibility, while others have set daily schedules with regards to sleep (and outdoor time, etc.) This is often because larger centre = more kids = more staff that require breaks/lunches and group sleep time offers the opportunity to drop to reduced ratios for staffing. 

For many children, daycare sleep often results in prematurely transitioning to fewer daytime naps/total daytime sleep. The most common transition is a 1-nap daily schedule, for a baby that may be on 2 naps at home (this happened for both my kids – not ideal but it had to happen). 

If your baby is facing a nap transition as a result of starting daycare, you can expect some short naps during their day. This is because they are likely going into their nap extremely overtired (and in a new environment, with new sounds and distractions). Over time, anywhere from 4-8 weeks, your baby will adjust to their new daycare sleep routine and schedule. 

Troubleshooting with daycare sleep

Communication with your daycare provider is essential to keeping your little one’s sleep on track as they start and continue on their daycare journey. 

If your little one is just starting off daycare, it’s important to recognize their daytime sleep may be rocky for a few weeks which could impact their nighttime sleep. Your baby may require more support than usual to settle for sleep, increased night wakings or wake earlier in the morning as a result of starting daycare and adjusting to a new sleep schedule.

During the daycare transition time, consider a few options.

1. Offer a mini cat-nap around 4:30/on the car ride home to support them and bedtime will be bumped out later as a result of this nap.
2. Offer an earlier bedtime (e.g. 6:00pm) to ensure your child has time to make up lost daytime sleep and be within range of their total 24-hour sleep needs.  

If your little one has been established in daycare for a while, and is facing sleep difficulties at home, communicate with your care provider and be open to collaborating with them to find solutions that work for your child in both environments. For example, if you’re requesting your child not sleep at daycare, the daycare may not be able to prevent your child from falling asleep but they may be open to waking your child from sleep after a set amount of time or having them woken up by a specific time on the clock. 

Weekend sleep 

If your child’s sleep was going smoothly before starting daycare, it’s ok to continue with this schedule on the weekend to help them catch up on some extra sleep. For my son, he started daycare at 13 months, slept at daycare with a 1-nap schedule and remained on a 2-nap schedule till he was 18-months old. For my daughter, she started daycare at 13-months, and now at 15-months old, she is continuing to show she loves and needs (and so do I!) her 2-nap schedule. We will see how long this continues for her. 

Once your child has adjusted to their daycare sleep schedule, you also have the option to adjust their weekend sleep, too! This means bumping out their morning wake window time to offer a mid-day 1-nap schedule. Your child will likely take to this fairly easily because their body is used to this routine already from daycare. 

It’s going to be ok

Starting daycare is a HUGE transition for babies and parents, and it will take time. Be patient and flexible (as needed). This may mean less evening plans and slower weekends the first few weeks while your baby is making an adjustment. Your child’s sleep may be disrupted temporarily at home when making such a big change. Continue with your consistent bedtime routine and support your child as needed. This phase won’t be forever. If your baby’s sleep is still challenging a few months in, book a free call. Let’s dive deeper to see how your sleep journey can be improved. 

Wishing your family all the best on this emotional journey. As a mama of 2 who has walked this road, I know how hard this transition can be. It will get easier every day. 

Rock on, mamas. You got this!

Chelsea