@blissfulsleepacademy if both parents are sleeping, that isn't covered for the credit. The expense is permitted if it "allows" you to work, and since the expense is occurring when neither parent is working, it isn't covered by the tax credit. In effect, simply having a job doesn't make the expense covered under the credit; rather, the parent has to be working when the expense is occurring.
see the link below and read through "work related" expenses on page 6. Esp. see example 2; if one person is working while the other is sleeping, then the expense is covered for the tax credit, since the expenses "allow" one parent to work. But the implication is if both parents are sleeping, the expense doesn't "allow" either parent to work!
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p503.pdf
