[emilymagnolia]

hello, i am new around here, but i just wanted to say thank you for all of your beautiful support. My daughter Magnolia will be turning one next month and this fall I must return to college and she will be in daycare on campus. I have breastfeed and coslept her since her first days and she is complety attached and dependent on me to fall asleep.. I am very worried how she is going to handle taking a nap if im not going to be there. I am wondering if there are any mamas out there that have experienced this. Maybe someone has any advice on how I may be able to prepare her to be away from me. thank you.

 

[Jacob'smomma]

I have experienced just that with my son. I went back to work when he was a year old and couldn't bare the thought of having him somehow nap without my milk like he always had. I started out by seperating myself from him little by little. The first week I left him there for 2 hours,then I increased it to 4 and finally 6. During the seperation I did not provide him with any other milk sourse and did not pump. He managed to fall asleep just fine in the Daycare provider's arms. It was quite incredible actually. He started to identify with the difference between me being around and not. I never used bottles, pumped. He was always given the breast and still cosleeps at 16 months. Anything is possible, Good Luck!!!!!

 

[Ravin]

I'm in a similar situation, DD will be starting daycare at 10 1/2 mo. for 6 hours a day while I'm in school. I'm so jealous that you can get on-campus care so young, lol!!!No biggie.

I'm going to build her up gradually, too. I figure w/ respect to naptime she may simply not nap until we're on the bus on the way home.

 

[merrick]

My son has never been to daycare, but i have been in a similar situation. When he was younger he always nursed to sleep. I thought I would not be able to leave him anywhere for naptime or past his bedtime, but I found that if I was not around he could sleep with nursing just fine. He would probably prefer nursing, and demand it if I were there, but it was not necessarry. I think this happens a lot.

 

[Janessa]

I thought it might be helpful to hear a childcare providers experience

If not then ignore
I've done childcare for 4 years. Just because I'm very picky with who I will watch all my parents and kids have breastfed and co-slept been very natural etc. Anyway they (the kids) range in age from 4 months to 2 years and all have done wonderfully. Kids are very smart and very adaptable after the initial adjustment period they all napped great. I have always given bottle if hungry then rocked babies to sleep even with my nursing kids thats my routine (well minus the bottle nursing instead edit to clarify I only nursed my kids lol). Most of my childcare kids loved it though I did have one who prefered the sling to fall asleep. Most people in childcare work very hard to help the babies feel happy and secure and will keep trying things till they find what works for that baby to fall asleep. Ask the daycare what they do if a baby has trouble falling asleep even in the daycare center I worked in for a year before kids would rock babies that had a harder time falling asleep (most of the kids fell asleep on little cots with someone patting their backs)

Anyway hope that helps oh and definitely tell the daycare what your little one likes, I love it when parents give me hints sometimes it doesn't work but it's a starting point.

hth
Janessa

 

[Alison]

I started my DS in daycare at 11 months when I returned to work. I too was very worried about him falling to sleep without me to nurse him, because when I am around, he ONLY falls asleep while nursing. I talked to the daycare teachers about this, and so they were aware of it. He started out by needing to be held by them to go to sleep, but by about two weeks, was napping perfectly for them every day! Right on schedule--he never had scheduled naps at home, but I can see why they would need them at daycare. They say now that as long as they stick to their routine, he seems to understand that it's nap time, and with a little back patting from them, he goes right to sleep! Now, at home, he STILL needs to nurse to go to sleep! Your DD is an intelligent child. And they are so adaptable! I am sure you will have no more problems than I did. My biggest problem was my worrying! DS had no problems whatsoever!

Alison

 

[Quirky]

Ditto to all the above - my ds just started daycare at age 20 months and has never gone to sleep for me without nursing (I'm nursing him down for a nap right now!). In fact, many naps he insists on staying IN my lap - I can't put him down - and many nights he sleeps on me. He's one attached kid! So I was terrified that he wouldn't be able to adjust to daycare.

He has, though - although it took a couple of days of the provider holding him - now he just goes right to sleep on his cot! I wish he would do that for me....

Another ditto from the above is that I think it's so important to transition your child gradually to daycare if at all possible - for a couple of weeks ahead of "the big day," to take them there and spend time with them, gradually leaving them for longer and longer. I know sometimes it's not possible to do this, but a sign of a great daycare provider is that they are willing to work with you to do what you know is best for your child. I so disagree with the whole "just leave quickly, they'll get over it" thing - your baby needs to trust you and the DCP!