We don't have to bring food, but they do breakfast at 9, snack around 10:30-11 and they have lunch around 12:30. Then they nap from about 1:30-3:30 and snack about 4 or 4:30 depending on when they get up. So we are on the same afternoon gap between lunch and afternoon snack, but they are napping in that time. Sometimes Macy will sleep for 3 hours, and once she napped for 4 hours at daycare. I tell them not to wake her up, if she's hungry she will wake up.
This sounds like their schedule, too. But Mc sleeps from 1:30-2:30 and wakes up. They send the kids who don't sleep into the infant room to play, since there's always an infant up. I pick her up at 4, so she doesn't get the snack, but then I almost feel like I shouldn't give her a snack when we get home at 4:30 because it's so close to dinner (5:30), BUT she hasn't eaten since 12. Ugh.
Yeah I would maybe ask if she could have the snack a little earlier like 3 or so. Can't hurt to ask.
I agree, they're pushing it. Most kids are actually asleep/laying down when I pick Mc up around 4. But she sleeps 1:30-2:30, and then they either try to have her lay down at least, or put her in the infant room to play while the toddlers sleep. Since you were a toddler teacher, is it a hassle to ask them to feed her a snack when she wakes up?? Is that realistic? Will I be "that mom"?
Nope, not at all. Like I said, our nap time was 11:45/12-2:30, which snack 'scheduled' at 2:30. But MOST of the toddlers were up at 1:30 at least. If the majority of the toddlers were awake early, we tried to push it a little, to give the other few a chance to wake up.. so maybe like 2 we'd do snack. But if just 1 or 2 were awake way early, we'd let them sit at the table with some crackers or whatever (we usually had plain saltines on hand in our cupboards for these occasions). And sometimes they would be loud, so we would send them to the infant room, but always with a snack of some sort as we didn't want them to be a hassle for the infant teacher because they were hungry. Then we would do the actual snack that was brought once everyone was awake and ready.
Toddlers don't know how to wait, they don't get the 'schedule' of when snacks and meals are supposed to be, like the older kids do. You can't tell a toddler they need to wait until 4 or whenever, because THATS when snack is. No, they are hungry, and they need to eat something.
Now, I dont know your center and how accommodating it is, but if I were you, I would definitely ask. Just tell them you know she gets really hungry right when she wakes up, and if she's up earlier than the other kids, could she at least get a little snack to tide her over? It really shouldnt be a big deal. And if for some reason they're being weird about it, you could even offer to bring a pack of crackers or whatever for times like that.
Thank you!! That's a huge help and a great idea to ask, and if they're weird about it, then I'll send her something.
Anna regularly sleeps until 4 or 4:30 and will still go down by 7:30 at the latest (and sleep 12 hours). We also typically withhold snacks after lunch so that they eat a good dinner. If she wakes up early then I will let her have a very small snack, but not often. I'd rather have them eat dinner than fill up on snacks..