Baby in the room!!

Dizduke

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 26, 2014
Messages
125
Im wondering how other parents with young children handle going to bed in the same room as the children. In the past we could hang in the living room while they slept in the bedroom when the spaces were partitioned. Staying in a regular hotel room or dvc studio doesn't have separate space. What do other parents do? Just go to bed later with the children? I just can't sleep at 730pm
 
We have a 5 year old and a 16 mos old. We decided against a regular hotel room and got a suite at art of animation.
 
Luckily, our son tends to stay up until about 9:30. But usually, my DH will leave the room to exercise while I'm getting DS asleep. Then, after he's asleep, DH comes back in and we just use iPads in the dark until we're ready for bed about 11.

This works for one or two night stays. For more than one or two nights, we get a real suite though. This is partly so we don't have to sit in the dark but also partly so that when (not if) my DS wakes in the night and wants Mama that DH can get a full night's sleep, so at least one of us is rested.
 
We stay in the parks late until babe is sleeping in the stroller or carrier. Then go back to the room and dump him in the Pack n Play. Watch TV on low, go to bed, repeat.

In more than 2 dozen trips I have never gone back to the room at 7:30 for bedtime.
 
We stayed out later than normal bedtime and put on some Disney Junior for her to fall asleep to. She was so exhausted, and so were we, that it was not a problem at all.

Just for reference, dd will normally not sleep anywhere other than her bed by herself or the car. She won't fall asleep on the couch watching tv or in our bed, tv or not. But Disney is a whole new ball game. ;)
 
When we went to Hershey last year we were super quiet with low lights for a little while after the kids went to bed. I think we took turns showering and using the ipad. Then once they were completely asleep we would watch a show on the ipad. We have a headphone adapter and two sets of headphones if we need them however our kids tend to be out cold after a day at a theme park.
 
When our kids were younger, we'd put them to bed and then camp out in the bathroom and read or play cards until they were asleep. Once they were asleep we could usually turn the TV on with the volume way down. That's definitely one of the reasons we joined the DVC! Now that the kids are 10 and 12, it's usually me who goes to bed first on vacation!
 
We have a suite at AOA, for that main reason. We don't have much of a choice though, with five of us it's either two rooms or a suite anyway. Before our third we would usually just relax and watch a kid movie, inevitably they would fall asleep watching it. Good luck:)
 
To be honest we don't really worry about bedtime at WDW and they are always up later than normal so they usually fall asleep on the bus ride back and sleep through being put in PJ's . After that we just keep the lights low and watch TV quietly. Usually DH and I were ready to go to sleep not long after getting back to the room anyway.
 
We've traveled many times w/ just one room. Some nights/trips we stay out later and they fall asleep in the stroller and we just transfer them to the bed. We've done all kinds of things - pnp in a bathroom, we hang out in the bathroom while they fall asleep, we go out on the balcony, etc. Usually they're exhausted from traveling/touring and once they pass out, they're out. We can then read, chat quietly or whatever. We rarely turn on the TV but that's b/c we don't about it. Usually we don't stay up too much later b/c we're tired, too. But, it's a great time to pack the next day's bag, shower, plan the next day, etc.
 
We put them to bed and tell them the expectation that they fall asleep (hahahahaahaha!!!!) and then I read my book with a small reading light and DH surfs with his smart phone. The rest of the room is dark. We have outstanding sleepers though, and it probably only takes 20 minutes for them to drop off to sleepytown and then we pour another glass of wine, play cards or chat quietly.
 
When my kids were smaller they usually fell asleep on the bus ride back. They would sleep through us changing them and stay asleep until the next day.

If they were still awake I would do bath and PJ's and they would pass out within 5 minutes. I would just lay them down, put the tv on and they were out.

My kids are hard sleepers. They are dead to the world. Once they were born I never tried to be really quiet while they slept so they can sleep through any noise with no problems.

After they are asleep we would do whatever we wanted. Watch tv, listen to music, get ready for the next day, eat, lap top. They wouldn't budge. Often times we passed out shortly after since we have long days at Disney.
 
When my kids were smaller they usually fell asleep on the bus ride back. They would sleep through us changing them and stay asleep until the next day.

If they were still awake I would do bath and PJ's and they would pass out within 5 minutes. I would just lay them down, put the tv on and they were out.

My kids are hard sleepers. They are dead to the world. Once they were born I never tried to be really quiet while they slept so they can sleep through any noise with no problems.

After they are asleep we would do whatever we wanted. Watch tv, listen to music, get ready for the next day, eat, lap top. They wouldn't budge. Often times we passed out shortly after since we have long days at Disney.

My kids are like that too. The last morning of our cruise. 3 of us were up getting dressed, finished packing and my little one was passed out cold until we finally woke him up.
 
This isn't a problem for us. We don't stick to our normal bedtimes on vacation. For some kids, I know that is a necessity, but ours go with the flow fairly easily. If they fall asleep in the stroller while touring, we just let them nap. Typically, by the time we get back to the hotel room, we are all ready for bed.
 
If you're using a pack n play, we've put it in bathrooms when it fits, or we will put the pack in play somewhere that can be "cordoned" off - my husband will gerryrig some sort of curtain so the dark is cut off. Then we can sit in bed and watch tv, etc. At Disney we were at Poly and so we sat out on our patio at bedtime.
 
DH would go get a refill in a mug and we would put the kids down. I would sit on the bed with a book light and just read. When ds was 18 months or so and in a PNP he would sometimes stand up and look at me or ask me a question (since it was unique to have mommy in the room when trying to sleep)...I would answer the first question and end with 'time for sleep now...lie down'....Then I would not answer the second but would say 'it's time for sleep'...then I would just ignore him entirely (usually didn't take this since he was so tired). After such a long day there is no way he could stay standing more than 5 - 8 minutes and would quickly lay down and fall asleep.

After he was asleep for 10 minutes or so I would sometimes turn the TV on low. Often, I'm so tired out from the parks I go to bed much earlier than usual.
 
This is really not something that has been a problem for us. typically, the kids are tired by the time we get to whatever hotel room we're staying out. We do showers, tuck in and lights out. They're out quickly. Dh and I lay in bed and read, use our phone/tablet or watch tv. If we have a room with a patio or balcony and it's nice, we'll sit outside.
 
Last trip we were at POR AB with twin ds7 and ds2. We put the kids to bed around 8 ish, dh was asleep by 9. I usually took a long bath with a adult beverage and went to sleep around 11. I was up first, and then we'd get the kids up, and we'd try to get to the bus with enough time for RD at 8 or 9 am.

No grouchies. No tantrums. We had a great time. :)
 
We have always stayed in regular hotel rooms with our kids, and we've never had an issue. We put the kids to bed and turned off the lamp on their side of the room/bed, then watched tv, talked, picked up the room, whatever we were doing. We didn't always put them to bed at their normal time at WDW, though.
 



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