Suggestions needed for toddler sleeping in the room

[Kahana-ri]

We are staying at the POP 12.20-26. Now, DS is 20 months old and has his own room here at home. When we put him to bed we close the door and he is all set. Since we will all be sharing the same room, I am a bit concerned on how he will sleep? If he sees we are in the room too, he won't go to bed and just cry to be taken out of his pack & play. I had a thought, although it may seem tacky, is to put up a sheet or blanket so that when DS in his his pack & play at least he won't see us. If there is any sort of room separation, we will put him on the other side. I'm open to any ideas on how we may all sleep soundly.


12.26.05

Update. We went and decided to forgo the pack n' play and let our son sleep in the bed. The first night was the toughest, but we both laid down with him until he fell asleep. Then we took the other bed. He must of loved it becuase he slept well and woke up happy as a lark every morning. He loved being able to play and have his toys all over his 'own' bed.

 

[go cowboys]

I have found my kids sleep soundly anywhere after a day at the parks, but maybe this vacation doesn't need to be as structured as home, let him sleep when you do. I like to think of it as an excuse to get to bed early myself.

 

[jodifla]

POP doesn't have a separate area, but you could probably put the pack & play near the bathroom and put up a sheet divider there.

 

[gonemousin']

I can feel for you! Our bedtime routine sounds exactly like yours (DD is put to bed, door is closed, and slumber begins - sleeps from 7pm-7am, no questions asked)...when we took her to WDW at 18 months (ASMo), she was a little terror. I was HOPING she'd pass out after being at the parks all day, but it didn't happen! We tried the sheet, various towels...anything to keep her from "peeking" at us from the pack 'n play that first night, but to no avail (she yanked the sheet right off and then I worried about it becoming an entrapment hazard). After we growled at her a couple of times (especially since it was nearing midnight and we were all exhausted), she finally settled in for the night. The next night was better, and by night three, she went right down without a problem. I will say...she napped like an angel in her stroller during our days at the parks...so maybe it was a blessing in disguise. And, our DD was very used to hotel traveling, so it's not like this was her first jaunt in a pack 'n play, but she was just particularly hyped up on this trip (thanks to her big sister!).

So, no extremely helpful advice, other than "don't worry...what will be, will be!"...can't predict those stubborn little toddler people!

(oh, and the bathrooms are too small to fit a pack 'n play... )

 

[staci]

Hi, do you only have the one child?

If he really does go to sleep much earlier than you, could you turn off the lights, put him in bed, and then dh or yourself take a shower, and the other one just go for a little stroll to the food court or gift shop or laundry or somewhere to get out of the room?

We just laid down with ds with the lights off(he slept with us), once he would fall asleep dh would turn the tv on low and watch for a little while, but honestly we were exhausted too!

 

[Honeybehr1]

October was the first time we travelled to Disney with our 2 1/2 yr old. I was worried about him being able to sleep but truth be told, he passed out most nights once the lights were out. He caught a small cat nap in his stroller but when we got back to the room, we all got ready for bed and everyone went to sleep. Usually he fell asleep first.
Unless your planning on coming back from the parks early(6 or 7) than I wouldnt worry about it.

 

[DKx3]

I used to do the sheet thing with my little ones when we would take them to the beach for a few nights. I took push pins (don't tell, LOL) and a flat sheet and made a little "room" around the crib. It worked great. When there was an older child with us, one parent just took the older child for a walk for about 1/2 hour so that the baby/toddler could get to sleep. It worked great because we did the in the crib, close the door and to sleep at home.

 

[3littleHalls]

Our youngest will be 19mos when we go, and we have done the WDW a few times with little ones. First off...does your little one sleep ok in the pac and play? My youngest doesn't care for the crinkle sounds the pac and play makes so we have a blanket under the sheet. Plus, stick to the routine. She also has a music box(part of her mobile when she was an infant) that she falls asleep listening that we bring. Another thing...I am famous for moving furniture in the hotel room. I have 3 young kids...we need as much room as we can get. I just move the tables/desks where we have more room. When we go to WDW, so far we have just stayed at the Poly, so I know rooms are different, we all get ready for bed, take care of all bathroom business etc. and then we put the crib/pac and play in the area infront of the closets/bathroom. At the Poly there is a vent there and it gives a white noise to drown out other sounds. We have had no problems having the kids sleep well at WDW, but sometimes they can't help but want to stay awake.

 

[brymolmom]

We were at Pop in Sept with ds 3 and dd (almost 2 at the time) - we're with you for bedtime routine - kids go to bed (in same room) and we shut the door. So it is a ton easier when we get rooms outside Disney with a separate bedroom - BUT, we made due.

Like a pp suggested - one of us would go down, get a drink and sit by the pool to relax and the other one would take a shower or just read in the bathroom. A couple of nights they were so out of it after a while we could turn the TV on with no issues - but it did take longer than we thought it would for them to sleep most nights. Even tho they were exhausted, because of the excitement and different surroundings - it took awhile.

We have in the past when we only had 1 child, just laid on the bed with a book and ignore the baby when he got up and looked at us and asked to get out. We just said - it's time for bed and didn't even look his direction. That did work but was a lot harder than just leaving the room (even if it is only a bathroom as your only option!).

Good luck.

 

[missymagic]

I gave advice to my sister for the same thing. I told her to put the baby down and sit outside her door & read a book or disney paper etc. until she calmed down & fell asleep. While she did this her husband went for a walk to the store for nighttime treat for them. By the time he came back they had their snack and they were able to turn the tv and relax a couple minutes.

 

[CarnotaurDad]

My DH and I flip the door lock thing so the door can't shut and we sit in the little alcove and chat or eat dessert from the food court until DD is asleep or we are too pooped to stay awake as well.
HTH
Karen

 

[crazywig]

i had the worst time with DD (now 15 months) in september at Pop. she hates the pack n play! and would stand and cry. i think she ended up in bed with me and DS slept with my husband. that was only one night though. we are staying 2 nights in a few weeks and i'm worried. (we move to the VWL 1 bedroom villa after that and i get a full sized crib there )

i plan on getting a bedrail in case she ends up in bed with me again.

 

[jenny2]

Hi, do you only have the one child?

If he really does go to sleep much earlier than you, could you turn off the lights, put him in bed, and then dh or yourself take a shower, and the other one just go for a little stroll to the food court or gift shop or laundry or somewhere to get out of the room?

We just laid down with ds with the lights off(he slept with us), once he would fall asleep dh would turn the tv on low and watch for a little while, but honestly we were exhausted too!

That's what we do, even with 2 of them. Most of the time though DH and I would fall asleep when they fell asleep!

 

[tricia]

I always used to bring a chair just outside the door and then sit and read with the door propped open. Worked well for both of mine. This year we will be doing a quick 3 night trip, so I expect we will all be going to bed at the same time since we will have 2 long days to get the stuff done that we would like to do.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

so we rented a real crib from A Baby's Best Friend. We decided the cost was well worth a rested baby. We put it up and put a sheet around it and put her down and we sat in the dark.......it worked and we had a very restful trip. I would suggest spending the money if you can...it helped us. The pack and play the hotel proviede us with was not very clean anyway. We did send it back and got another and she used this to play in when we came back from the parks. We jsut kept a normal routine and it worked well for us. Good luck!

 

[suz72]

When our 2 DDs were little (now 6 & 3) we used to put her to bed and then either hide out in the bathroom for a bit or else pull a chair right outside the door and read a magazine (esp. during naptime). We did as one poster suggested and if one of us was hiding out in the bathroom, the other would take the older child for a walk.

During our last trip (a year ago) we all went to bed at the same time. Older DD was 5 and crashed immediately. Younger DD was 2 and would babble herself to sleep for about 1/2 hour.

Good luck

 

[jwfla422]

We had the same thing with dd when she was younger so this is what we did. Most of our stays were at the Swan but this did work at WL as well. I brought a clothesline from home and tied it to the bracket of the curtain valance.

Then I took it and strung it across the room to the pole that stuck out behind the door for a garment bag to hang on. We put her portacrib in the corner of the room and brought some of our own king sized sheets (which had designs on them so you couldn't see through them) then hung them on the clothesline with clothes pins. During the day you can just push them aside or take them off so they're not in the way. But, it did the job by separating the room so she couldn't see us.

This also worked great at naptime. At the WL I do remember dd sleeping on an aerobed at that time, so I was able to drape a sheet from the back of a chair to the sliding glass door handle & tented her in. (I got creative! lol) But, it worked!