Tips for small children

Wills Mom

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Jul 22, 2012
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DS will be 14.5 months when we go to WDW in May. At the moment he has a bedtime of 7pm and sleep through til anytime between 6-8am the following morning. He naps either once or twice (depending on when he wakes up) through the day and can stay up 6-7 hours at a time before melt down will kick in and he needs a nap. I'm starting to get very anxious about bringing him to WDW now though. He is only in this fab sleeping routine for about 2.5 months, before that he never slept at night and I was like a zombie. I know WDW and the long trip will throw him completely out of sync and I am preparee to deal with a couple of weeks of him being off when we get back home but I'm hoping you guys will have advice or tips of how to handle
1. the long journey (from Dublin-Gatwick-MCO)
2. the time difference and
3. the parks etc.
Any tips would be really appreciated :goodvibes
 
We've travelled with little ones (both ours took their first trip at around 12/13 months) and my first tip would be the most obvious and one I'm sure you've heard before - plan ahead and then be prepared to be flexible. I like to go armed with as much info as possible to that when we get there we can adapt our plans as and when we need to.

With regards to the flight - this might be the hardest part to plan for because you have little/no control about timings, etc. Take lots of toys, snacks, drinks and treats! How does your DS like to go to sleep? Ours would always take naps tucked up against our shoulders but turbulence and having to keep seatbelts on made this tricky at times - and would be extremely difficult if you needed to rock/pace to get DS to sleep. On the whole though we found that even though they didn't always sleep when we expected or hoped they would, they did just drift off when they needed to. We've carried some grumpy girls through customs and then waiting to collect bags, etc followed by the trek through MCO so be ready for that - they usually caught up again in the car/bus on the way to our hotel :)

TIme difference - the first day/night is a long one - by the time you're checked in in the afternoon DS ought to be in bed and then the next morning our DDs were awake at 3 or 4am and ready to go! The only way we found to tackle this was to check in and then go out again (not really riding rides but because we've stayed close to MK we've usually ridden the train around MK, taken a look at the castle and eaten at a CS place). It makes your arrival day really long but we found that the fresh air/sunshine + eating that one meal at 'Florida' time before going to bed at 'Florida' time helped us, even if we were tired. The next morning we usually book an early breakfast ADR and plan on getting the most out of those earlier morning wake ups for at least a couple of days. I think the first year we took our eldest DD we all had cereal in the room at about 4.30, took another nap and went off to MK at 8!
It didn't seem to take any of us long to adjust on the way out - and regular breaks/naps and some early nights helped. We did find that when we came home the girls coped better than we did - we would still be wide awake at bedtime and then slow to get up in the mornings!

The parks - depending on how DS likes to get to sleep, and where you are staying will make a big difference to this. Ours would sleep in the stroller but I tried to make sure they had plenty of 'proper' naps in their beds in the early afternoon too. The only thing to remember here is that it can take a long time to travel across Disney property and there's nothing like a bus ride to send a child to sleep before you even reach your room! For us we had to avoid this because a 10 minute cat-nap on the bus had consequences later on so we choose either to leave early enough that we can get back to the resort before nap time, or we purposefully choose boat rides/walking routes etc to offer pushchair naps. We've strolled around Ft W campground, ridden the boat backwards and forwards between FT W and MK a couple of times, walked from Epcot around the Boardwalk resorts, etc.

A lengthy reply I know but hope something here helps! :thumbsup2
And if you've any other questions I'd be happy to try to help :)
 
We did similar, i made sure they had plenty ofsnacks on plane and tried to keep them awake as much as possile on first day.

Ours slept in stroller too but preferred the car so we would drive to most parks and it meant easier for us to lug to kids and the buggy on the buses

Ours didnt really change their routine, we found last year (twins were nearly 3) they were ready for bed round 7-8 so we gave them dinner around five and then we ate after they fell asleep in stroller as they were falling alseep at the table :-(

This year they will be four while we are there and ill be following the same rules really
 
We are totally different - we were just totally relaxed about DD. At 9 months she was up late enough to see illuminations and wishes and at 15 months she was up till midnight at MNSSHP.

We took her to the parks of a morning and at those ages most days she had a nap about 11am in her stroller. We had lunch about 12-1pmthen head back to the resort for a swim and nap (usually around a 2hr nap). Dinner was around 6-6.30pm then parks.

The first few days she's ready for bed earlier around 8-9pm but she loves being out with us and has no trouble adjusting to the late nights. She wakes around 7.30 every morning regardless of bed time!
 

Thanks a million! Replies in BOLD
We've travelled with little ones (both ours took their first trip at around 12/13 months) and my first tip would be the most obvious and one I'm sure you've heard before - plan ahead and then be prepared to be flexible. I like to go armed with as much info as possible to that when we get there we can adapt our plans as and when we need to.
Well our plans basically let us have every second day "off" where we have zero plans but I've made notes of the crowd calendar on Touring Plans so we can change our days around if need be :)

With regards to the flight - this might be the hardest part to plan for because you have little/no control about timings, etc. Take lots of toys, snacks, drinks and treats! How does your DS like to go to sleep? Ours would always take naps tucked up against our shoulders but turbulence and having to keep seatbelts on made this tricky at times - and would be extremely difficult if you needed to rock/pace to get DS to sleep. On the whole though we found that even though they didn't always sleep when we expected or hoped they would, they did just drift off when they needed to. We've carried some grumpy girls through customs and then waiting to collect bags, etc followed by the trek through MCO so be ready for that - they usually caught up again in the car/bus on the way to our hotel :)
Thankfully DS is similar to your kids in the sense that he will just curl up and sleep once he doesn't let himself get over tired. He loves to sleep ON me or DH, or on his Nan who is also coming with us. Are there any toys or treats you would recommend to have?

TIme difference - the first day/night is a long one - by the time you're checked in in the afternoon DS ought to be in bed and then the next morning our DDs were awake at 3 or 4am and ready to go! The only way we found to tackle this was to check in and then go out again (not really riding rides but because we've stayed close to MK we've usually ridden the train around MK, taken a look at the castle and eaten at a CS place). It makes your arrival day really long but we found that the fresh air/sunshine + eating that one meal at 'Florida' time before going to bed at 'Florida' time helped us, even if we were tired. The next morning we usually book an early breakfast ADR and plan on getting the most out of those earlier morning wake ups for at least a couple of days. I think the first year we took our eldest DD we all had cereal in the room at about 4.30, took another nap and went off to MK at 8!
It didn't seem to take any of us long to adjust on the way out - and regular breaks/naps and some early nights helped. We did find that when we came home the girls coped better than we did - we would still be wide awake at bedtime and then slow to get up in the mornings!
I think this is what I'm most nervous about. Our flight gets into MCO at 5.05pm local time which would be 10.05pm to DS and he'd usually have 3 hours sleep over him! I suppose best to let him nap on the flight and wake him when we arrive if we could possibly get him to do this!! We'll have to go out for dinner anyway so hopefully he'll manage to stay up with us and then just crash for the night! Fingers crossed!!

The parks - depending on how DS likes to get to sleep, and where you are staying will make a big difference to this. Ours would sleep in the stroller but I tried to make sure they had plenty of 'proper' naps in their beds in the early afternoon too. The only thing to remember here is that it can take a long time to travel across Disney property and there's nothing like a bus ride to send a child to sleep before you even reach your room! For us we had to avoid this because a 10 minute cat-nap on the bus had consequences later on so we choose either to leave early enough that we can get back to the resort before nap time, or we purposefully choose boat rides/walking routes etc to offer pushchair naps. We've strolled around Ft W campground, ridden the boat backwards and forwards between FT W and MK a couple of times, walked from Epcot around the Boardwalk resorts, etc.
We're staying offsite in a pool home with my parents and sister. DH will be driving and he has said he doesn't mind making the journey from park to home for naps and then back to the parks in the evening if we want. Thanks for the advice though, its very very useful!! :)

A lengthy reply I know but hope something here helps! :thumbsup2
And if you've any other questions I'd be happy to try to help :)
 
We did similar, i made sure they had plenty ofsnacks on plane and tried to keep them awake as much as possile on first day.

Ours slept in stroller too but preferred the car so we would drive to most parks and it meant easier for us to lug to kids and the buggy on the buses

Ours didnt really change their routine, we found last year (twins were nearly 3) they were ready for bed round 7-8 so we gave them dinner around five and then we ate after they fell asleep in stroller as they were falling alseep at the table :-(

This year they will be four while we are there and ill be following the same rules really

Elise79 said:
We are totally different - we were just totally relaxed about DD. At 9 months she was up late enough to see illuminations and wishes and at 15 months she was up till midnight at MNSSHP.

We took her to the parks of a morning and at those ages most days she had a nap about 11am in her stroller. We had lunch about 12-1pmthen head back to the resort for a swim and nap (usually around a 2hr nap). Dinner was around 6-6.30pm then parks.

The first few days she's ready for bed earlier around 8-9pm but she loves being out with us and has no trouble adjusting to the late nights. She wakes around 7.30 every morning regardless of bed time!

Thanks ladies. Good to have two different POVs there. I suppose the only thing I can do is wait to see how DS naps. He will nap anywhere really but its varies in length from 30 minutes up to 90 minutes or more. The longer he naps the later he'll stay up I presume although at the minute he might only nap once in the afternoon for 30 minutes and then he's mad for bed at 6.30pm but another day he might nap twice for a total of 2 hours or more and he's still mad for bed by 6.30pm - its the routine he's in I suppose but all bets are off on a trip like this! Hate the powerless feeling of not having any control!! :rolleyes:
 
Its been a long time since I had little ones but the best advice I can give is to try and just go with the flow and don't stress about whatever your DS does.

When the boys where small we found that they were early risers so would head to the parks early then we'd go back to the hotel in the afternoon for a quick swim and then a nice nap of anything up to 2 hours for ALL of us ;) and then we'd head back into the parks for dinner and fireworks etc. This way we'd generally be in the parks till 11pm and back at the hotel in bed by just after midnight. It worked for us.
 
Disneynutinlondon said:
Its been a long time since I had little ones but the best advice I can give is to try and just go with the flow and don't stress about whatever your DS does.

When the boys where small we found that they were early risers so would head to the parks early then we'd go back to the hotel in the afternoon for a quick swim and then a nice nap of anything up to 2 hours for ALL of us ;) and then we'd head back into the parks for dinner and fireworks etc. This way we'd generally be in the parks till 11pm and back at the hotel in bed by just after midnight. It worked for us.

I would say DS will stick to his usual early rising on holiday lol. It would be nice if it worked out like it did for you and your boys but you're right - I'll just have to go with the flow and let him take the lead!
 
We are totally different - we were just totally relaxed about DD. At 9 months she was up late enough to see illuminations and wishes and at 15 months she was up till midnight at MNSSHP.

We took her to the parks of a morning and at those ages most days she had a nap about 11am in her stroller. We had lunch about 12-1pmthen head back to the resort for a swim and nap (usually around a 2hr nap). Dinner was around 6-6.30pm then parks.

The first few days she's ready for bed earlier around 8-9pm but she loves being out with us and has no trouble adjusting to the late nights. She wakes around 7.30 every morning regardless of bed time!

This was my approach too. I can say that not only is every child different, but we all have our own forms of 'acceptable parenting' practices and my view is, if it works for you and the child is fine, roll with it :thumbsup2
 
2Tiggies said:
This was my approach too. I can say that not only is every child different, but we all have our own forms of 'acceptable parenting' practices and my view is, if it works for you and the child is fine, roll with it :thumbsup2

:thumbsup2 You're so right and not just about parenting at Disney but in every day life. A friend of mine critised my parenting and the fact that I let DS co-sleep as he would NOT sleep any other way and that was before she had her own DD. She has since apologised and confessed to doing the exact same thing herself! Moral of the story - don't critise a situation you have no experience with especially where kids are concerned!!
 
:thumbsup2 You're so right and not just about parenting at Disney but in every day life. A friend of mine critised my parenting and the fact that I let DS co-sleep as he would NOT sleep any other way and that was before she had her own DD. She has since apologised and confessed to doing the exact same thing herself! Moral of the story - don't critise a situation you have no experience with especially where kids are concerned!!

As I always say, I was a model parent before I had a child :lmao: The thing is, even if you do have experience, you only have it with your own child, not with anyone else's

I was criticized enormously for dragging my 6 year old (with her very willing consent) around the parks at easter when EMH ended at 3 am - often getting back to the resort at around 4 am. She's still alive and thriving and thinks I'm a good Mum :rotfl2:

You do what you need to do to work for YOUR family. If that means a different approach every day, so be it :thumbsup2
 
I kept mine in the routine they had at home in January but was easy for us as the parks closed earlier at that time of year. But in June we plan to just go with the flow. We just took plenty of snacks and food for the plane journey and some of their fave toys. We had bulkheads so they took 2 long naps in the bassinets they gave us and most of the flight home. We have bulkheads for our June flight (hopefully is they leave the seats I booked :) ) but they might be too big then for the bassinets.
 
I kept mine in the routine they had at home in January but was easy for us as the parks closed earlier at that time of year. But in June we plan to just go with the flow. We just took plenty of snacks and food for the plane journey and some of their fave toys. We had bulkheads so they took 2 long naps in the bassinets they gave us and most of the flight home. We have bulkheads for our June flight (hopefully is they leave the seats I booked :) ) but they might be too big then for the bassinets.

I just want to be clear that I am in no way knocking maintaining routines - they have their place and are very important for children, especially very young ones. Not suggesting anyone may have misinterpreted my comments, but just want to make sure that nobody was unintentionally offended :goodvibes

Can't believe your little ones are getting so big!
 
I just want to be clear that I am in no way knocking maintaining routines - they have their place and are very important for children, especially very young ones. Not suggesting anyone may have misinterpreted my comments, but just want to make sure that nobody was unintentionally offended :goodvibes

Can't believe your little ones are getting so big!

Gosh no never took anything anyone said in a bad way :) I only kept mine in their routine because the parks closed early in January. I'm normally a go with the flow kinda girl lol so they will be having late nights in June that's if they stay awake haha. I know it's going by so fast I just want time to slow down a little lol :).
 
irisheyes123 said:
I kept mine in the routine they had at home in January but was easy for us as the parks closed earlier at that time of year. But in June we plan to just go with the flow. We just took plenty of snacks and food for the plane journey and some of their fave toys. We had bulkheads so they took 2 long naps in the bassinets they gave us and most of the flight home. We have bulkheads for our June flight (hopefully is they leave the seats I booked :) ) but they might be too big then for the bassinets.

Thanks :goodvibes And could I ask, would you recommend getting the bulkhead seats if possible? I haven't pre booked our seats (done through a TA so I don't have the flight details for Virgin website) but just as a matter of interest in case they MAY be available when we check in. Best of luck with going with the flow in June :) I'll be sure to report back on whether our trip is a dream or a nightmare lol!
 
2Tiggies said:
As I always say, I was a model parent before I had a child :lmao: The thing is, even if you do have experience, you only have it with your own child, not with anyone else's

I was criticized enormously for dragging my 6 year old (with her very willing consent) around the parks at easter when EMH ended at 3 am - often getting back to the resort at around 4 am. She's still alive and thriving and thinks I'm a good Mum :rotfl2:

You do what you need to do to work for YOUR family. If that means a different approach every day, so be it :thumbsup2

You are spot on there! YOU know YOUR child best, so I have learned to say to hell with anyone elses negative opinions! My mother always says to me that shes still learning how to be a parent (I'm the eldest so she says shes learning through me.) so if she can have that attitude then so can I! :)
And well done to your DD for lasting so long! She's proper hardcore ;)
 
Hi, my ds has been at 11,17, 26 months next trip in 30 days he's now 3.

I would say go with the flo, don't stress and get loads of pictures, those early months were when we got better character pics last trip we were a bit wary.

Our boy crashed in stroller they go through sensory overload. It's amazing seeing thru their eyes. Remember to get down to their level you may see Mickey but they see legs! Don't get disappointed if they do snub something you thought was amazing, my ds decided moving trash carts and ceiling fans were far more exciting than chip n dale or Shamu.

Make use of the baby care centres. CMs there are so nice

Don't forget to enjoy yourself too
 
Oh and when you get back food body clock will be out of sync which can throw the sleep. I found give meal you would for that time in UK and if they want something between a piece of toast did the job.
 
I'm going to add one piece of useful information, which is something I learned very early in our first trip and applies in various forms to babies and children of all ages: Know when to call time out! Whether it be a trip back to the resort for a nap, hopping on the boat to Tom Sawyer Island or a stop in one of the infant/toddler play areas for an hour to let them run around freely, a break for juice and spotting ladybugs in the bushes :rotfl: (we did many of those time-outs with the ladybugs the first year) or whatever it may be, when the going gets tough, change the scene. That hour or two or even three that you surrender for the sake of peace almost always buys you at least double that later in the day :thumbsup2

Also, and this would need to be adapted age appropriately for an infant or toddler, I used to carry a little 'Emergency Pack' with me in my backpack. It had some crayons, pens and a few home printed coloring in sheets (a book would do too), a simple puzzle, stickers for sharing with other kids, glo sticks and snacks in it. It was a life saver when we were there during Easter and DD was still quite young and lines for characters or waiting for meals at a TS restaurant could take a considerable amount of time. I was quite happy to sit her on the floor and shift her along as the line moved, lol.
 
Wills Mom said:
You are spot on there! YOU know YOUR child best, so I have learned to say to hell with anyone elses negative opinions! My mother always says to me that shes still learning how to be a parent (I'm the eldest so she says shes learning through me.) so if she can have that attitude then so can I! :)
And well done to your DD for lasting so long! She's proper hardcore ;)

Stick with that attitude and you won't go far wrong!

Before I had DD I had loads of books on being a parent etc and within a couple of weeks they had all been thrown out lol. I soon discovered that I knew better for my DD and had the confidence to do just that.

I may not be perfect but DD has made it to 4 and is happy and healthy.
 


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