Childrens Sleep Times

[TigerElly]

Hi Everyone:)
I work in a Pre-Kindy room, 2.5-3.5yr olds!
I was wondering what an appropriate time for sleep is,
We have a few children who are only allowed 30minutes or sometimes no sleep,
As a centre we are under the impression that 30 minutes isnt good for their health and wellbeing whereas a 45minute sleep is beneficial and will actually assist their night sleep,

We were wondering if there was any links or handouts we could provide our families with to explain to them our reasonings

[Lorina]

It's so hard with sleep time, especially at that age. It is recommended that children at that age get around 11 - 12 hours sleep per day and that includes naps. With naps, it really depends on the individual child and as a parent of a 3 and a half year old, daytime naps do impact night time sleep. If a parent only wants their child to sleep for 30 minutes then you may have to follow it. For those children who don't sleep get them to stay on their sleep mats but give them quiet activities to do while the other children are sleeping.

In regards to the 45-minute sleep, you could suggest it to parents and see if you could try it with their child... If it makes no difference if their child sleeps for 30 or 45 minutes then that's a bonus!

The whole daytime nap can be a touchy issue for some families. Some children, even if they nap for 30minutes they are up till late at night compared to not having a nap and going to sleep earlier. For e.g. my preschool has a nap (30 minutes - 1 hour) she is up until 11:30pm at least. Not playing or anything. Laying down awake until 11:30pm. However, if she misses out on her nap she is asleep by 9:00pm - 9:30pm at the latest. Although she is asleep early she may get grumpy and tired towards the evening. So, it's hard to work out a balance at times...

,
Lorina