toddler still in crib- what to do???

[MagicPrincess]

OK, my daughter will be 2 when we go to Disney- and rather than rent a crib, we decided we'll try to get her to sleep in either a Queen bed with rented rails or a bunk bed (on bottom) with a rail. She REFUSES to sleep in a pack and play.
Has anyone gone through this same situation? Any good tips or advice?
Thanks!!!

 

[tjmw2727]

Good luck - I would suggest trying the bed before you go just to see how she does. See if she turns out to be the type that will get up or if she is a restless sleeper. In either of those cases, I would consider leaving her in the crib rather than taking a chance of her waking up and wandering around or falling out the bottom. If it goes well, I know WDW Resorts will provide you with bedrails at no cost to you. Perhaps a trundle at POR would work, they are a bit smaller than a twin and closer to the ground.

I used to bring along a bag of child proofing supplies when my kids were small so that will help, esp plug protectors and window clings for a glass window if you have a balcony.

If all else fails you can rent a full size crib from one of the baby rental places at a reasonable cost.

FWIW since we only used the PnPlay "on vacation" or "special times" my girls actually liked them. I went to great lengths to make them fun with an extra baby doll and sheets from home for comfort.

Have fun - and don't worry, you will all be so exhausted no one will have trouble sleeping at WDW.

TJ

 

[BevS97]

Another option is just to bring her into bed with you, my dd generally shares with me on vacation and she seems to settle down much better like that

bev

 

[MagicPrincess]

thanks for your suggestions!
I have a feeling we're going to all be sleeping in the same bed!

 

[Jordan's MOM]

If you think that you will all end up in bed anyway, ask for a king when you book. More room for everyone. We did this a lot when DS was younger and even a few times after he was older and ended up with a bad roll away. Chances are she will be so tired she will drop anywhere, but I too agree to be extra careful to childproof and prevent falls from beds. The rent a crib also sounds like a winner and might give everyone a better nights sleep.

Good luck.


Jordan's mom

 

[kbkids]

This sounds crazy, but my DD always wanted to sleep on the floor. She is 6 now, and still prefers this when we go on vacation. My DS has now picked up on this, and he's 2. On our last trip in December, that's exactly what he did. I always fold up the bedspread, since we never sleep under it anyway, and fold it several times. I'll take two small blankets for both of them. They sleep on top of one and under the other. I usually leave a note for housekeeping to leave it, and we've never had a problem.

 

[Kate-n-sam]

DS always disliked the pack and play too, but had no choice when we where at WDW, it was all we had in the room. I was very nervous about the sleeping arrangements. I brought his comforter and music box from his crib at home for the pack and play, after a long day at the parks he would hang on the side of that thing begging to get in, LOL! I guess my advice would be to have a PnP in the room, and give her the choice....bed or crib.
Good Luck, it's always a tough transition, at least in my house!

 

[MagicPrincess]

thanks so much for all your advice- I think I'm going to request a pack and play for the room, too! Better to be safe than sorry!

 

[castlegazer]

My DS is just under 2 and from the summer until now he has been sleeping on weekends when we travel in a toddler bed but has a crib at home. The first few nights he spent in the toddler bed were brutal. We put rails on both sides and then had a bumper that we ran around the entire bed to make it look a little like a crib when they open their eyes at night. This still works great. What we had problems with was that he was in a phase at that same time of not falling asleep when we gave him a bottle and rocked him before putting him down so he was going into the bed awake. So we just sat with him and kept saying over and over again that he had to lay down in order to have mommy or daddy stay in the room with him.

Since you will be in a hotel room and most likely in the room with your DS when she falls asleep in the bed you can be aware of whether or not she gets up during this time and can help her feel more secure about it or, to go to another level, to lay down with her until she falls asleep. I think rails and the hotel bed would be fine since at two most children don't roll as much as a baby does - but you may have a DS that is a restless sleeper in which case ignore what I am saying. If you're anyhing like me you will hear the minute she sits up and makes a noise when she is awake. That is how we do it when traveling on weekends - I usually bolt awake the minute my DS moves and will take him out of the toddler bed into our bed if he insists on sitting up or fully wakes up in the middle of the night. We also place extra pillows on the floor around the edge of the bed.

When my DS was one we rented a crib from A Baby's Best Friend for our trip to Disney and it worked great. he wouldn't ever sleep in a pack -n- play.

 

[castlegazer]

Oh, and one more thing - you can't put rails on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed, it is generally only slats and rails are not allowed with slats, they just don't work right and that's worse than not having the rails at all. I went through this same decision making process on our last trip when we stayed in the FTW cabins which have bunk beds. I couldn't have my DS sleep in the bunk beds because of this and because the bunk beds on Disney property sit slightly away from the walls leaving a pretty good size gap on the wall side of the bed with no rail. That is why I just ended up saving my sanity, saving my sleep at night and renting the crib. It was the greatest thing we did and the most worth every penny it cost which was barely anything if you thought about it as a per day cost.

Make sure you think about what will enable you to sleep the best too. I didn't want to come back more exhausted than I started out my vacation as - unless it was exhaustion from too much Disney fun!