"Finn goes to daycare two days a week. We take care of him ourselves on the other days, including my mother-in-law, who also looks after Finn for one day. Finn really enjoys being at the daycare center. He makes friends and comes home with the most interesting things. I often think to myself: I need to be more creative as a mother, haha. We always leave Finn with peace of mind. And that's why we hope there will be a spot available for our second child next year.
Not sleeping
In the beginning, we struggled with Finn's routine. The nights went well fairly quickly, but the daytime was a challenge. He wouldn't sleep, not even at the daycare center. We had to figure out how to handle it. Finn's caregivers at the daycare helped us with that. And I soon noticed that there was more structure in our days when I returned to work and Finn started going to daycare. As a result, Finn started sleeping better during the day.
More stability
To maintain a good routine, we follow the same "schedule" at home as at the daycare center. For example, we start the day at a fixed time and have a fruit snack in the morning. You can really tell that a consistent structure brings much more stability. Finn is more relaxed as a result, and daytime napping improves. It's important to keep aligning our routines with each other.
Two hours
The sleep times are changing now. At home, Finn goes to bed after lunch at 2 p.m. because he wakes up quite late in the morning. At the daycare center, they adjust Finn's sleep schedule accordingly. He can't sleep at 12:30 p.m. It's probably too early for him. So now they put Finn to bed at 2 p.m. at the daycare center as well. We'll see if that works better.
With a second child
With the baby, it will undoubtedly be a bit of a challenge to establish a routine again. Especially because it will be a completely different child. But I expect that the baby will mainly adapt - or actually has to adapt - to the routine our family already has. The challenge will probably be managing the drop-off and pick-up of two children (and leaving on time). Fortunately, Finn already understands many things and is becoming more independent."
"Daily routines determine the daily rhythm"
Joyce is a pedagogical employee at Partou Hoograven in Utrecht. She works at the mixed-age group (0-4 years) where Finn is also enrolled. Therefore, she is wel experienced dealing with different routines. "Babies still have their own rhythm. When they first come here, we ask the parents about their sleeping and feeding routines at home. We adopt that rhythm. At some point, when they start joining the table for meals, the children adapt to the group's routine. Daily routines determine this daily rhythm. For example, we sing a specific song when it's time to tidy up, and everything follows a set order. Around 12:30 p.m., all the older children go to bed. With Finn, we do things a little differently – in consultation with the parents. He can't sleep at that time, so he goes to bed at 2 p.m., just like he’s used to at home. If a child doesn't sleep at all or only sleeps very briefly, we always inform the parents. This way, they can take into account that their child will be very tired at the end of the day."
In collaboration with ‘Ouders van Nu’ (Today’s Parent)
Every day, ‘Ouders van Nu’ (Today’s Parent) selects interesting news from within and outside the country specifically for (expecting) parents. They focus on tidbits that make (expecting) parents better, happier, or wiser. This article was written in collaboration with ‘Ouders van Nu’.