Should we cancel trip? posted on families too!

[LiteBrite]

And, I would only use medicine if you've used it before (some drugs that should make them sleepy may backfire in some children, I believe).

I believe the OP said that benadryl does usually make her DD sleepy, so that may work for her. However, for anyone else who's thinking of trying this, I want to say that the above statement is true - my (now 18yo) DD was one of the kids for whom the "sleepy" medicines had the opposite effect. We tried this on a car trip when we knew we'd be driving late into the night - she got completely hopped up on the stuff, bouncing around in her car seat, repeatedly bouncing her head against the back of it, chattering nonstop for hours! This was a toddler who usually went to sleep every night at 7:00, and she was like this in the car until after 1:00 a.m.

I would also suggest keeping the 2 rooms at Pop, for a couple of reasons - 1)you could either have one of you sleeping in there with her, or else let her have the whole room to herself (assuming you've got connecting rooms, and could leave the door between them cracked open so that you could hear her, but she couldn't see you)
2)hopefully after a couple of nights she'll settle into the new routine, and if you stay at Pop the whole time, you won't have to go through a whole new readjustment with her.

 

[Jenny]

i have had the same exact problem w/ both of my kids, now 17 mo. & 3 yrs., & we still travel despite many horrific nights....gluttons for punishment, i guess. i remember falling asleep during rides like Pooh & Philharmagic b/c I had been up w/ the screaming kids. A few things made the nights more bearable for us....

if you can afford 2 rooms, then i'd do that. we now stay off-property in a 2 bedroom villa so that the baby can't disturb the older child. 1 parent w/ the baby, the other w/ the older child. (we're going to WDW in late jan. 06).

bring your own sheets, baby blanket, favorite stuffed animal, baby pillow.

place a towel or 2 under the fitted crib sheet to add comfort.

i have given water during the night w/ a hint of juice in it for taste in a bottle or sippy just to stop the screaming from disturbing others, mostly in hotel situations.

when all else fails, use Motrin or Benadryl before bed.

put 1 parent on-duty w/ the baby per night. switch every night. this really helped me & DH to stay alert during the day.

buy & use ear plugs for the older children & the parent who isn't on duty.

allow baby to sleep w/ you if that's the only way. i personally don't like to do this b/c i really can't sleep w/ her in the bed but if she sleeps this way, i have no choice....as soon as i go to move her back to the crib, she wakes up.

good luck!!

 

[Jenny]

one other thing that we've done when we had to share a room is to put the baby's crib as far away as possible (out of sight) from our beds.....bathroom alcove, etc.

 

[loriandmatt]

OP - we had the same problem.

i too am a very light sleeper so both kids have slept in their own room in their own beds/cribs from the get go. neither of them sleep well with us in the same bed because they are so used to their own sleep space.

i gave our then 15 month old a few trial runs by taking her camping in the pop up with us. pack and play set up on the un-raised dinette. No Good. she could see us and therefore wanted to be up. very miserable. Other trial run was at a condo in MD for a weekend. one room. Pack and play in between two twin beds. Again, NO GOOD. she could see us and this would not work. she did go down ok, as we put her down way before the rest of us went to sleep. once she was out we could sneak in and crawl into bed. but when she woke in the early AM, instead of taking a peak, seeing no-one of interest and rolling back over until a decent hour, she would see one of us and be up and shinny at 5am. OY!

MY SOLUTION for our WDW trip in Sept/Oct.......stayed at POP. resort provided pack and play. i bought a small tension rod (the kind for curtains or shower curtains, only smaller - about 2 bucks at wallmart.) and brought along an old shower curtain. (a darker shade curtain works great.) set the pack and play up in the vanity area going into bathroom. string shower curtain on that tension rod and put it up in open doorway to vanity. her own little space, where she can't see me. i generally had the rest of the family vacate the room for while (go to pool or arcade) - have some quite down time with the lights down low. stick her in her crib, draw the curtain and hang in the room. Worked like a charm. she slept all night and didn't see us in the early AM while stirring, so she went back to sleep until a decent hour. rest of family sneak in and go to sleep when they are done at the pool or arcade.

I didn't think of it until afterwards, but i wonder if a baby monitor would work thru all that concrete and distance? that way you could monitor your critter while spending some time with the rest of the fam at the pool. if not, we would take turns and stay in the room after we put her down. i brought a book and a clip on mini light to read by. hubby turned on the tv, and just kept the volume really low.

worked for us, hope you find a good solution also.

- lori

 

[Camping Griswalds]

All of these tips are so helpful! Keep em comin!!!

We all feel much better today, but of course that's partly because the little stinker was in her own crib and slept her usual 11 hours!!!

We are still contemplating whether to go and risk it, or stay home, but I think are now leaning more towards going thanks to all of you. (and a little well earned sleep) We are leaning more towards staying at POP, even though we'd hate to miss AKL, I hate sleep deprivation more, and chances are she'd do better only staying in one place. Well we'll see, We're still in the "discussing" mode and pros and cons. Thanks again for everyones support and help!!

 

[HANDYMOM]

Does Benadryl make her sleepy? I hate to suggest drugs, it sounds awful - but you might ask her doctor if a smaller than normal dose would be acceptable while you were out of town. Try it before you go and see what happens. There is nothing more miserable than not getting good sleep when you are out of town. Hope you work it out.

I'm very pro Benadryl too! Our pediatriacian is the one who suggested this. Be sure to try it at home first though, as it can speed up some kids instead of slowing them down.

 

[JerseyJ]

Keeping you little one in the same resort and letting her acclimate that that environment rather than having to adjust to 2 different resorts is a good idea.

Many pediatricians recommend the Benadryl trick for traveling. Check with yours for his recommendations.

 

[nativetxn]

I like the idea of Benadryl and connecting rooms at POP. You will have many more years to visit AKL. The separate rooms might do the trick.

I hope you don't have to postpone your trip.

Katholyn

 

[Camping Griswalds]

MY SOLUTION for our WDW trip in Sept/Oct.......stayed at POP. resort provided pack and play. i bought a small tension rod (the kind for curtains or shower curtains, only smaller - about 2 bucks at wallmart.) and brought along an old shower curtain. (a darker shade curtain works great.) set the pack and play up in the vanity area going into bathroom. string shower curtain on that tension rod and put it up in open doorway to vanity. her own little space, where she can't see me.
- lori

So this is just an awesome idea, and one I haven't seen anywhere else. Did you need shower curtain rings for the shower curtain to hang on the rod? Any idea what size rod to buy?

 

[TammyAlphabet]

Boy, those sure sound like night terrors! My daughter and son both got this from time to time and it scared me to death! But two nights in a row does seem weird. Good Luck.

 

[dbenlee]

So this is just an awesome idea, and one I haven't seen anywhere else. Did you need shower curtain rings for the shower curtain to hang on the rod? Any idea what size rod to buy?

This does sound like a great idea! I would imagine that a standard sized expandable shower rod (easy to get at any Walmart) would be long enough. Some shower curtains don't net rings, but if the one you choose wasn't like that I think it would be easier to deal with using rings.

 

[jinglesmountjoy]

This may sound a little far fetched but why not find out if the resort would be willing credit you your full amount to upgrade to a Disney villa (although on a different property, it's still going into the same coffers). Make sure you mention your recent experience and how it ruined your entire trip. They definitely do not want you to have a bad experience (whether it's their fault or not), it's bad for their business...trust me. Being that about 98.56734% of their clientelle bring children, they should certainly be, at least, understanding of the request and in asking, you might just get the best solution of all. I'm sure they have A LOT of experience with this problem and can probably offer more suggestions than you could ever find in this entire site. Just think, if they go for the villa idea...your youngest will have separate bedroom altogether.

We leave in less than 3 wks and also have a 16mth old. I bringing his blankets, linens, matress pad and even his nightlight. No washing them before you go...just leave them in their own bag within the suitcase that way they have the same smell as they did the night before (hey......it might work.....stop teasing.......I hear you all laughing). We have a 4 bdrm villa so Max can have his own room.

Sorry for for the overly-verbose reply.

 

[tommygirl79]

Hey, I thought of this thread while we were at WDW last week. Our 2 yr old also has a history of being able to fall asleep in a hotel room. We were a bit concerned until we got to Caribbean Beach Resort. We walked in and noticed right away that there is a HUGE cloth curtain built to separate the bathroom/vanity area from the rest of the room. The Pack and Play fit PERFECTLY in there with room even to get to the bathroom during the middle of the night if needed. We just moved the pack and play out of the way the rest of the day when we needed the vanity area but there was enough space near the adjoining room door (which we didn't need) to keep it out of the way. She fell asleep within 15 minutes everynight because it blocked out enough sound and sights but let a little bit of the light from our room in if your little one needs a bit of light to sleep with. It was a godsend for us. DH and I could still hang out and read/do crossword puzzles or take turns running to Old Port Royale and such until she feel asleep...it was awesome!!!!

 

[tyandbash]

We stayed a POP a few years ago in two rooms, my then 18 month old, slept in a pack-n-play and we put it in the bathroom alcove and brought a huge sheet that we put on the wall to give her here own space. Never thought of a tension rod, we used push pins. We always let her fall asleep first and then, my other two kids went to bed in that room. She did wake in the night, but fortunatly, my two older kids were toooo tired to hear her and we could just tune her out like we do at home, lol. She is night time player in her crib and loves to wake and talk to herself. We have gone to other hotels and stayed in the same room where we try to give her her own space too, just hanging the sheet so she can't see us when she goes to sleep. That does seem to help. Don't cancel your trip!!

Erika