what to do if dd goes to bed early

[mickeyschickie]

our first daughter was 18 mos when we first took her...we never left the hotel room without her stoller...when she got tired she said she needed a nap and we laid her down and she would sleep...and still at the end of the day, she was out...we could have the parade march through our room and she would not even notice. Kids get worn out at Disney, I've always considered it a blessing that she would fall asleep early...plus, we always always would have to wake her up in the morning too. We have such a good Disney girl...she is always an angel when we there...

 

[ilovejack02]

The "snarky" response to my post is exactly why I rarely post here anymore.

If the child is tired, it will sleep -- whether it's in a bed, stroller, arms or on bench.

My children are 23, 6 and 3 -- I am not clueless. Exceptions are the rule with our vacations -- the kids go to bed late, they may/may not sleep later, they eat more junk, and they are bought more gifts.

If you want to go to bed before the sun goes down, go ahead.

You need to ignore that snarky response ... some people just like to cause trouble, trust me I know

 

[CastleCreations]

I still can't get over the whole, stick with pins comment....

 

[jnordan]

Our kids are 2.5 and 4.5 and both usually go to bed at 6:30pm! And honestly, we're sticking with it on our trip in two weeks. 7:00pm will be our absolute deadline!!! Our room will have a little balcony, so we can sit out there in the evenings, or hang out in the bathroom, take a bath, have a glass of wine . . . Honestly, I think I'll probably be in bed by 8 am or so each night -- the thought of going to bed early for a week is actually a luxurious thought! But really, if my kids stay up late, they still wake up at 6:30am and are super grouchy. No night show/parade is worth a day or two of misery on our vacation!

 

[PA Princess]

Like another poster mentioned, we used the trick of placing the crib behind the curtain in the sink area of the room at POFQ...worked well for our 18 month old last fall. She is our youngest and best sleeper, but that means she likes to go to sleep on her own in her own bed, etc. Other babies did well to go to sleep in a stroller or in our arms, but yougest dd needed her own space

We had two rooms, so we would just all go in the other room while dd first went to sleep (or often dh had the older kiddos out at the parks still and I had brought youngest dd back to the room).

Something else we did when other kids were young and we only had one room was to bring a baby monitor...this allowed us to sit in a courtyard at CBR, on a patio at the Poly, in an alcove at WL, etc while still being connected with the kids in the room. We were never more than a a few feet from the room, but it allowed us to have more freedom to talk and such than sitting quiet in a dim room Some people also use the balconey for this purpose.

 

[tanyaandallie]

IMO, you know your child best. Some people's kids will just got with the flow, sleep in the stroller, etc. Mine do not. Well, I guess when they were infants they would have been more willing to but as they got older they needed their routine. We have been to Disney World and Disney Land since my ds and my dd were born. We always plan our day around their naps and bedtime. Maybe they don't always nap exactly when they would at home, but we try and make sure they get some time back at the hotel to nap. We also try not to have many late nights out. Last time we went we did Spectromagic one night and Fantasmic one night. But, that was in the fall and both were much earlier than they are during the summer months.

Anyways, we always just got our kiddos to sleep and then quietly got ready fo the next day. We were always so exhausted that we didn't want to stay up late. We like to get to the park early so we do early mornings and go to bed at a decent/early time.

 

[sk!mom]

but it all depends on your childs temperment. Its worth a shot to see if it works..If not, then the portacrib in the bathroom hallway with towels drapped...or the splurge on a room with a balcony.

I agree. It totally depends on the child. My DS could sleep anywhere. So he was fine in his comfy reclined stroller. He was such a sound sleeper that we could even change him and transfer him to bed without waking him.

DD was another story. She would become very cranky and could only sleep in a crib. We had to have her in bed at about 8:00 even on vacation.

How long until your trip? If possible I would try to slowly change her sleep schedule. So that maybe by vacation time she could stay up until maybe 8:00. Start having her nap a bit later and slowly make her bedtime a bit later.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

The "snarky" response to my post is exactly why I rarely post here anymore.

If the child is tired, it will sleep -- whether it's in a bed, stroller, arms or on bench.

My children are 23, 6 and 3 -- I am not clueless. Exceptions are the rule with our vacations -- the kids go to bed late, they may/may not sleep later, they eat more junk, and they are bought more gifts.

If you want to go to bed before the sun goes down, go ahead.

Oh I hope you don't think I was refering to you. On the contrary, I was referring to our resident snarker. I think you know who I am talking about. The only perfect parent out there!

 

[ilovejack02]

Oh I hope you don't think I was refering to you. On the contrary, I was referring to our resident snarker. I think you know who I am talking about. The only perfect parent out there!

I knew LOL

 

[JamesMom]

My kids NEVER slept in the stroller and are absolute bears if they don't nap/sleep - so for our first family trip we are splurging and getting a 2 bedroom villa at OKW (on rented points). This way everyone will have space to do their own thing and the kids will keep their 7:30 bedtime routine. Plus we are planning several 'date nights' with babysitters during our trip so Mom & Dad can be out and about while they are sleeping.

 

[piraterose]

I would agree with the knowing your child. My daughter has the horrible combination of hating strollers, but having a strict sleeping schedule. DD will not even sit in a stroller happily, much less sleep in one (has been like this since birth - so not a 3-yo thing). So naps for us back at OKW is a must (if we don't - DD with be out like a light at 5pm - I'm not embellishing - child has done this to me twice lately - missing dinner and everything.)

For better or worse we will try staying up later at least one night, but DD has this weird thing, if you put her to bed later than 8pm, she will wake up EARLIER than usual, not later. Which means 4:30am-5:30am versus 5:30am-6:30am.

I agree with someone who says, there will be other trips, when you can explore new things. I know that's not true for everyone, but since it's true for us, I'm ok with missing out on things and saving them for a later time.

 

[emmababy]

Thank you to everyone for the posts both positive and not so much! I guess we will go with the flow! I think I would rather be well rested and hit the parks early in the a.m. But I would like to spend one evening in the parks. Guess we'll see! Again, thanks and wish us luck on our first WDW adventure!!

 

[jodifla]

Thank you to everyone for the posts both positive and not so much! I guess we will go with the flow! I think I would rather be well rested and hit the parks early in the a.m. But I would like to spend one evening in the parks. Guess we'll see! Again, thanks and wish us luck on our first WDW adventure!!

This is why we bought DVC! We bought before we had kids so we'd always have a separate room to escape to.


Our strategies in one room: If we have a balcony, we'd sit out there with cocktails and snacks and darken the room.

We put the pack n play in the darkest part of the room, usually by the bathroom or the front door, and cover the pack n play partly with a blanket, making sort of a big tent that's pretty dark.

We'd leave the TV on low for background noise, and so we could just come in and start watching without the jarring noise of turning it on.

Good luck!