Rest Time at Childcare: How We Support Sleep (and What Happens If Your Child Doesn’t Nap)

In the nursery, babies set the pace

Our Golden Wattle room cares for babies from six weeks to around twelve months, and they sleep in cots, each child with their own cot and their own bedding. There is no group sleep schedule. A baby who has two long sleeps a day gets two long sleeps; a baby who catnaps four times gets four catnaps.

We follow Red Nose safe sleep guidance throughout: babies are placed on their back to sleep on a firm, flat mattress, with no pillows, bumpers or soft toys, and with their face and head uncovered. Educators carry out and record physical sleep checks throughout every rest period. Our guide to starting daycare as a baby walks through a full nursery day.

Toddlers and beyond: low beds and a predictable rhythm

Once children move on from the nursery into Splendid Fairy Wren, and later our Kangaroo, Viola and Eucalyptus rooms, they rest on low-height beds rather than cots. That change matters more than it sounds. A low bed is one a child can climb onto and off by themselves, which turns rest into something they do rather than something done to them.

Rest follows lunch, when bodies are naturally winding down. Blinds come down, the lights soften, quiet music goes on, and educators sit alongside the children, rubbing backs and reading.

But my child doesn’t nap anymore

Good news: that is completely normal, especially from around three, and we plan for it. Children who don’t sleep are not left lying on a bed staring at the ceiling. After a short settling period, because every educator has met the child who insists they aren’t tired and is asleep four minutes later, non-sleepers move into quiet experiences: books, puzzles, drawing, threading, quiet table games, or heading outdoors with an educator.

The slow-down itself is the point. Even children who dropped the nap months ago benefit from a genuine pause in the middle of a long, busy day. It is rest we are protecting, not sleep.

What if home and centre don’t match?

Sometimes they won’t, and that is worth talking about rather than working around. If a two-hour sleep at the centre is pushing bedtime at home out to nine o’clock, tell us. We can cap the sleep, wake your child gently at a time you are comfortable with, or bring rest forward.

Equally, if you are in the middle of dropping the nap at home and childcare days are undoing your progress, we can work through it with you week by week rather than all at once. The only thing we ask is that we hear it from you rather than have to guess.

Supervision, ratios and record keeping

Children are supervised for the whole of rest time. Educator-to-child ratios in Victoria do not relax because children are lying down: one educator to every four children under three, and one to every eleven for children aged three to five. A darkened room is still a fully staffed, fully supervised room.

Sleep and rest is a documented part of our practice rather than an informal one. Educators record when each child settles, when they wake, and the physical checks in between.

How you’ll know what kind of day they had

We use the OWNA app to communicate with families, so your child’s rest times go into their daily record during the day rather than being pieced together from memory at pick-up.

The app never replaces the conversation, though. The educator handing your child back at the door was in the room, and can tell you how the settling actually went.

Four things that make rest time easier

• Send the comforter. A familiar blanket or soft toy does more for settling in a new room than anything we can offer.
• Tell us your words. If you say “night night, sleepy time” at home, we’ll say it too.
• Expect a wobble in the first fortnight. Short sleeps at the start of care are normal and almost always settle.
• Keep us posted. Teething, a new sibling, a house move, a holiday. Sleep is usually the first thing to show it.