The WonderWorks Blog

Our experienced team at the WonderWorks share their training, research, knowledge and passion for all things early years in our blog

The WonderWorks Approach to Sleep and Rest

Between infancy and adulthood, we will spend more than one third of our lives asleep. These are far from wasted hours. It is during sleep that the body conserves and replenishes its energy stores, and the brain re-structures itself, reprocessing the multitude of experiences stored during waking hours. This process is all about re-charging and downloading. Indeed, sleep has a restorative function, and is as important as nutrition for the growth of both brain and body.

At The WonderWorks we want to do all we can to ensure that children are primed for learning, are physically healthy and have their basic needs met, such as getting sufficient sleep and rest during nursery day.

Children will often give up their naps at the weekend long before they give up their naps in nursery; this is because a day at The Wonderworks can be much more physically, emotionally, and mentally demanding than a day spent at home. At nursery there are many play and learning opportunities on offer and lots of friends to socialise with. This takes a huge amount of battery power, and so batteries drain faster at nursery than at home.

Children need to be well rested, with full batteries, to participate fully and safely in the variety of learning experiences on offer at nursery. Tired children with low or empty batteries are more likely to have accidents, trip over, struggle to regulate emotions and to play with other children positively.

What is sleep?

During sleep, some parts of the brain quieten – like the pre-frontal cortex, which underlies attention, working memory and planning which we as humans need to navigate our complex world. However, other parts of the brain wake up – like the midbrain, which acts as a relay station for visual and auditory information.

Sleep helps us to organise the information of the day, allowing for better memory retrieval later. And that means sleep actively supports learning and development. All learning is about gathering and remembering knowledge, building on it, and applying it to new situations. The building blocks of learning. No one ever becomes an expert without experience, practicing, remembering and refining previous learning that went on before.

Throughout a night’s sleep, our brains move through a series of stages during which brain waves slow down. This period of slow wave sleep is accompanied by relaxation of the entire body. Heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature all fall. It is this stage that we generally think of sleep – the relaxation, the unconscious state. After these stages however, brain activity changes radically from that deep slow wave sleep to rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. This is when active dreaming occurs.

This stage is characterised by brain waves that are startlingly like those observed during waking. The younger you are, the more time you spend in REM sleep. Given that infancy and childhood is a critical time in learning, there is a strong suggestion that the brain activity occurring during REM sleep may be important for actual physical brain development. In other words, a child’s brain changes during sleep.

How do young children sleep?

Throughout early and middle childhood, sleep patterns become more consistent and stable, like those of adults. Yet, in early childhood (from one to five years) children continue to need a sleep cycle that is comprised of multiple naps during the day and an extended period of sleep at night.

According to the UK national guidelines, young children need on average 10 to 13 hours of sleep, in a 24-hour period to function at their best.

Although sleep requirements do vary across individuals, these guidelines are based on a vast amount of pediatric and child psychology research.

How much sleep should my child need?

Below are the optimal sleep times over 24 hours for children aged from four months to 18 years, as set out by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2016)

·         Infants aged 4 to 12 months: 12–16 hours of sleep (including naps)

·         Children aged 1 to 2 years: 11–14 hours (including naps)

·         Children aged 3 to 5 years: 10–13 hours (including naps)

·         Children aged 6 to 12 years: 9–12 hours

·         Teenagers aged 13 to 18 years: 8–10 hours

I am worried that sleeping at Nursery is having a negative impact on sleeping at night, will The WonderWorks stop my child sleeping in the day?

It is The WonderWorks approach and policy in line with best practice in early years to allow children to sleep as they need to whilst in nursery. Our whole approach is based around ‘listening to children’ and we believe that all children can show us what they need through their behaviours, actions, and words. If your child is showing signs that they are tired, we will support them to learn that resting or taking a nap will help them feel better. This is called co-regulation and will lead onto self-regulation. When children have mastered self-regulation, this means that they have learnt to recognise their own needs and to resolve the problem for themselves. Just in the same way that as an adult if you feel thirsty you will grab a drink of water, if you are cold you put on a jumper, if you are tired you go to bed or have a rest on the sofa.

If your child is fast asleep and not wanting to wake, we would consider that this is your child telling us they are still tired and have not got enough power in their battery yet. Obviously if your child sleeps for much longer than usual or is not responsive we would consider whether your child is unwell and needs medical attention. We visibly check all sleeping children regularly- looking at their breathing, temperature, and comfort. If there are any concerns, we would act immediately.

We will of course happily discuss any concerns you have over your child’s individual sleep patterns and routines. The WonderWorks policies and procedures are based on research and early learning theories, and we are a child centered nursery which means we will always put the needs of your child first, and we passionately believe that this will provide high quality care for your child. If you feel that your child’s wellbeing, learning, or development is being negatively affected by our routines, procedures, and their time at nursery, we really want, and need to know about it so that we can work with you to resolve any concerns and maintain a quality experience for everyone.

We believe that if a child sleeps during the day, and is well rested, then they are much more likely to have a restful night’s sleep than if they have been kept awake during the day, without the opportunity to properly rest and sleep. Some parents believe that by limiting or cutting out daytime naps, their children will go to bed earlier at night. Research suggests this is not usually the case. Your child’s bedtime routine and what happens in the two hours leading up to bedtime has a much bigger impact on how ready and settled your child is for their night sleep. There is lots of helpful advice out there for parents around quality bedtime routines for example Children - The Sleep Charity

 Sleep deprivation can cause increased hyperactivity and other behavioural problems, as well as damaging physical and mental development. Poor sleep habits from an early age can lead to long term sleep problems.

Children’s sleep needs and times may also change periodically if there are extra pressures draining their batteries. For example, if they are feeling poorly, experiencing some stress, or in times of very hot weather. Children will become more tired and irritable and will need to re-charge their batteries for longer or more often. As this is likely to be a short-term change, children will usually return to normal routines once they are feeling better, the stress has passed, or the weather has cooled down a bit.

The WonderWorks sleep environment

Our under 2’s room has a dedicated sleep area, which is set up to provide responsive and quality sleep for our babies and youngest children. This includes:

·         The WonderWorks Sleep pods- cosy, safe and comfortable

·         Curtained area to control light and distractions- dark and quiet

·         Lighting- soft with dim lamps and twinkly lights

·         Sound- soft classical/calming music will usually be played to create a soothing ambiance

·         Temperature- this area plus each induvial sleep pot is monitored to ensure they are not too warm 16-20°C (Lullaby Trust)

·         Individual light bedding for each child (or their own sleeping bag)

·         Their Comforters are available

·         Visual sleep check carried out every 10 minutes and recorded by our teachers

·         Follows the individual needs/routines of babies and toddlers

Our over 2’s room has furniture such as bean bags, sofa, and cushions for children to rest on if they want to seek out a nap during the day. But our routine and room moves into a ‘sleep zone’ between 12.30pm and 2.30pm every day:

·         Children will be asked to go and wash their hands and faces and go to the toilet or change their nappy before sleep

·         Blinds are pulled down and lights dimmed to create a soft, sleepy atmosphere

·         Children have their bed mats laid out in the story/lounge area- this is considered a protected space, away from the rest of the main room.

·         Children have fresh bedding, including a lightweight blanket

·         Children have their comforters available

·         Some relaxing music may be played softly in the background

·         Teachers will sit on the floor with children, encouraging them to sleep, reading a story, doing some relaxation breathing, stroke their back, speak quietly, and encourage children to lie down, snuggle and relax

·         Sleep is something done with the children- not to them. They are guided and supported so that sleep time is seen positively and is not a battle.

·         Children who do not want to sleep, are encouraged to recharge their batteries through quiet play and rest.

·         As children awake, they can get up off their sleep mat and return to play at their own pace. They are encouraged to have a sip of water and take a slow relaxed transition back to play.

·         Teachers supervise sleeping children- they are never unsupervised; in addition, they visually check each child regularly to check they are safe and comfortable.  

Usually by 2pm the room is beginning to return to its awake state as most of the children are awake and playing, and at 2.30pm the room moves out of its ‘sleep zone’ and all usual activities have fully recommenced. If a child wanted to stay asleep, we would not actively wake them up, but we would anticipate that the change in atmosphere and noise in the room is likely to bring them to a waking state naturally.

Please note if your child attends the nursery for the afternoon or is older and not requiring any sleep or rest period our teachers ensure they are able to play and learn by using the other areas of the nursery room and gardens. Their experience is not negatively impacted by the ‘sleep zone’.

Transition in and out of sleep times are very important to us. They should feel:

·         Calm

·         Gentle

·         Unrushed

·         Child led

·         Respectful

Children are offered a drink of water and cuddle when they wake up, to help them slowly return to play. Children will never be woken abruptly or suddenly.

If you would like to find out more about sleep, please head to our policy on our policy page. There is also helpful sleep information online. We would always recommend you access reputable and safe advice from reliable organisations. Here are some suggestions of websites which you may find helpful.

Children - The Sleep Charity

The Lullaby Trust - Safer sleep for babies, Support for families