Starting daycare does not have to disrupt your sleep. Even if you have less direct control of what your baby’s daytime looks like, you can still work on (and achieve) consistent nighttime sleep via The Full Feedings Method®.

We often hear from parents that they can’t do anything to work on their baby’s sleep because their baby is in daycare but we don’t believe this is true. Just as with sleep regressions, we always believe there is something you can do to work on your baby’s sleep. 

Our top tips for managing sleep when your baby is in daycare are:

1. Clearly communicate your baby’s current age-appropriate routine to the daycare and ask them to follow it as best they can. 

2. Ask them to keep and send home notes from baby’s day so you can know what is going on. 

3. Begin working on self-soothing, so the routine can be more easily carried out without assistance. 

4. Utilize ultra-short catnaps to and from daycare to prevent baby from becoming overtired at any point. This may mean waking up earlier or pushing bedtime slightly later to accommodate. 

5. If baby is eating less at daycare, utilize a dreamfeed as long as needed to ensure baby remains fully fed. 

6. On non daycare days, make sure you are implementing baby’s age-appropriate daily routine.

We always want to do our best to follow your baby’s Optimal Wake Time (OWT) and age-appropriate routine. When this isn’t possible because of daycare, following the recommendations above can help you maintain (or improve) your baby’s nighttime sleep. 

You and your baby’s daycare have the same goals, so communicate with them what your baby needs. 

If you want to learn more about how to establish and maintain consistent nighttime sleep for your baby WITHOUT having to “sleep train” and WITHOUT having to cry it out, learn more about The Full Feedings Method here!

For as little as $9.99/month (3-month minimum) you can give your family the gift of consistent nighttime sleep.

We’ll get you sleeping and keep you sleeping fam!