Nap at Nursery with Down Syndrome: It Worked

Mr has never fallen asleep without being held. This week, in a room full of other children, he did. Here is how our first full week of nursery went.

A weekend to catch our breath

Mr spent his first four mornings settling into nursery, and then the weekend arrived at exactly the right moment. We visited a family who live close by. I got to talk with their mother while the children played, and B slept through most of it. The neighbours came to visit us too, including our favourite ten-year-old girl. We ate together and Ms played with her especially nicely this time. It was a quiet, ordinary, lovely couple of days.

A free day, and a boy who walks

On Monday morning Ms dug in her heels. She did not want to go to nursery and said so loudly. Mr was free that day anyway because we were driving to the city for his therapies later, so we gave her the day off. My partner went to work and I took the children outside at the first opportunity. We were out before nine, straight after breakfast.

Ms pushed B’s pram. Mr walked the entire long loop holding my hand. I thought about all the people who told me that a child with Down syndrome might not walk at all. He is two years and nine months old, nappy-free in the daytime, and he walks long distances. Nursery has helped too, because he walks alongside the other children there. The one thing he still refuses is holding the loop on the walking rope, which is probably down to lower muscle tone. He has to work harder for almost everything, and he gets there anyway. At nursery he now eats almost entirely by himself. At home he resists more, but I will take the progress wherever it shows up.

A day out, all five of us

My partner came home at lunchtime and we drove to the city together, an hour each way. The seating plan is a puzzle. Mr sits in his car seat in the front next to my partner, because nothing else fits. In the back B is in his infant seat at one side, I sit in the middle, and Ms is on her booster by the other door. The boys slept, I chatted with Ms, and my partner drove.

In the city we went to a shop and ate out. Mr went to his therapies, and Ms and I went shopping together. Ms and I rarely get time alone, so that hour meant a great deal to me. My partner looked after B, and I popped back whenever he needed nursing.

The nap at nursery with Down syndrome that actually worked

Yesterday the teachers decided to try Mr for a lunchtime sleep at nursery. Ms was in her own group. I took B and stayed nearby, ready to rush back if Mr would not settle.

He fell asleep.

At home he simply does not. We try cuddling him to sleep, and the moment I move away he is on the floor. Even in my arms he wriggles and kicks. The teachers stroked him, and he went off. I do not know what their magic is, but they have it. They are very professional and very good.

I used the time well. I took B for a long walk in the pram, had lunch in a cafe, chatted with an acquaintance, let B spend some time on his tummy at the youth centre and nursed him there and in the cafe. The weather was kind.

A couple of hours later they called to say Mr was awake. We had agreed that if he slept, I would be there when he woke, and I was back within two minutes. I hugged him hard. Because he had been dry for so long, I took him to the potty myself and at last he did a wee.

The window full of waving faces

Right then B started screaming in his pram by the window. A teacher held him for a moment but had to return to the group. So I dressed Mr as fast as I could next to a crying baby and we went outside, with one hand holding Mr so he would walk and the other pushing the pram.

The whole group was at the window watching. They watched me lift B out of the pram and put him back in, and they waved at Mr. We waved back. They looked like little chicks lined up in a row on the windowsill. It is one of the sweetest things I have seen in a long time.

What comes next

This morning went smoothly. My partner took them both. I am hoping Mr naps again so that I only go back when he wakes. If it goes well, tomorrow we will try letting him stay for his afternoon snack and come home with Ms. So far it has gone better than I expected. While the bigger two are at nursery I can potter around at home with B at a calm pace, which still feels unfamiliar and good.

B starts solids

B is six months old now, so we have started on solid food. Yesterday the grandparents came to visit and I baked a cake. I gave B some of mamma’s courgette with a little butter. We will do a few days of that and then add meat so he does not run short of iron. The GP appointment is in a few days. He seems to like the courgette. I am not sure about the high chair, since he cannot sit by himself yet and slumps a little, though only for a short time. I will write more about this stage later.

A nap at nursery with Down syndrome felt like an impossible goal a week ago. Now it is a Tuesday. I will take it.

You are not alone.

If this story resonated with you and you’d like to go deeper, you can explore my e-book Our Journey – A Different Path. It offers honest reflections and lived experience beyond this post.

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