Where to put the pack-n-play?

[Iggipolka]

I actually have two questions about traveling with a 10 month old.
1st. Are there regular cribs available on board, or only pack-n-plays? I'd love to get a regular crib.

Second, where do you put the crib/p-n-p in the cabin? We're staying in a Cat 4 and I think that there is a curtained off area by the balcony. However, that would mean that I couldn't come in and out of the balcony at night, but would just have to either stay inside and be super quiet, or stay outside and then try and sneak past her to get to bed.

At home, she goes to be super early, between 5:30 &6:15pm and sleeps until 6:30am. This is in California, so if she doesn't adjust fully to east coast time, it would actually be ideal as she'd be going to sleep around 8:30pm and sleeping until 8:30am. ROCK! However, the last time I had her at WDW, she adjusted to the time change within a few days. That means I'd be stuck in the cabin from 5:00pm on.

The baby won't co-sleep with us anymore, preferring to play with her favorite people all night long, resulting in everyone being a cranky mess in the morning. However, if she is in her own room,in her own crib, she sleeps for nearly 12 hours w/o a peep. She is also super sound sensitive, so being able to watch TV or talk in the same room where she is sleeping, is just not possible.

So, this brings up two worries about sleeping arrangements. 1. How to adjust her to a pack-n-play as she's never slept in one before. And 2, more importantly, where to put it so that she's got the darkness and privacy she needs to sleep.


Sorry this got so long! I'm just so stressing over this. My wife tells me to chill and it will all work out, but an overly tired baby is not a happy baby, resulting in really unhappy parents.

So, for those who have traveled with an infant before in similar situations, what did you do? Oh, and canceling the trip, not an option. Drugs, either for the baby or for ourselves, have already been considered and (sadly) rejected.

 

[breakingd_awn]

I was wondering the same thing , and if anyones baby actually slept in the pack and play. Mine too has never slept in one. I was thinking of bringing one of her sheets and bedtime blankie to make it more like home for her. I'm also worried about nap times too, if she doesn't get her nap in we ALL suffer. One of us will have to come back to the room at her nap time and try to get her to take a nap .I'm not sure how this will work.

 

[Iggipolka]

I am going to bring her own sheets and blankies and stuff. I figure they will smell like home and make her feel more comfortable.

One of us is absolutely going to have to be in the room during her nap time and when she goes to sleep at night. I hear ya about everyone suffering if baby doesn't nap. That is sooo true!

 

[philatiger]

hi, we don't have kids but you could probably ask them to remove the small table in front of the sofa and move the desk chair next to the sofa. This would give you a little more room and you could prob squeeze past to get to the balcony. Not sure how this would work but it is an option.

 

[noahdove]

I love that you asked the question as we will be traveling with a 2 year old and he is a light sleeper too...can't wait to read other input.

 

[Copperline]

I have been having some anxiety over this too. My almost 1 yr old is such a lil creature of habit and HAS to have her morning nap and afternoon nap or she's a beast. I don't know how we're going to accommodate this on the cruise and in Disney for 5 days without either a cranky fusspot, or someone hanging out in the room and missing a lot of fun.
We've requested a pack-n-play for the ship, and fortunately she's very used to sleeping in that. I just don't know how she'll manage to get any sleep with other people around since she's used to a white noise machine and no one yapping or bumping around into stuff while she sleeps.
Our cruise is a mere 3 days away now, so I'll be sure to come back and update!

 

[avani'smom]

my 1 year old is used to sleeping in the pnp when we travel and fortunately isn't a light sleeper.....we always take our own sheets and one or two of her blankets....Avani has a dolly she likes in her crib so we take this also...

she goes to bed by 730 but luckily dh is an early sleeper....so I will be doing shows and stuff on my own but that is ok....

 

[Anj]

We're from the west coast as well and our kids stayed on west coast time, which was awesome (we had late dinner seating too). They put the PNP in front of the couch in our room and left it out for the duration of our trip. But we had adjoining rooms, so one room was the kids sleeping room and the other room was the hang out room.
I brought my own PNP sheets and her blanket from home. For naps, I placed baby in the middle of the big bed, put pillows nearby so she couldn't roll off and closed the curtains (separates the bed from the 'living area'). She was so worn out each day that this worked well.

 

[bonoriffic]

The provided pack and play comes with the basic sheet, not the more comfortable quilted sheet. Your first order of business will be to take an extra blanket and use it as padding. Place the sheet over this as sleeping directly on the blanket would be too hot and possibly not safe. The pack and play is now soft and comfortable. Otherwise it is like sleeping on a board. In fact, it is exactly like sleeping on a board.

The small coffee table can either be wedged somewhere in the room, or ask someone to store it. We asked and got our table removed. It is practically useless without a pack and play there, with one it is a major inconvenience.

I was worried that pulling the curtain wouldn't create much separation and our toddler would know we were there and want to talk or play. We also cracked the bathroom door with the light on for an excellent night light. Your child will most likely be exhausted from the day and sleep amazingly well. Ours was asleep shortly after hitting the sheet and we could watch our portable DVD player with no fear of him waking up as well as have our bed lights on.

 

[ShootingStarMom2]

We just had 2 PNPs in our room (cat 6 with verandah) #6114. We had them remove the table and put both of them end to end in front of the desk/sitting area. That way we could still get to the verandah. We pulled the curtains shut after they went down and tucked it around the tv so we could still stay up a little later. DH would stay with them for naps and usually ended up sitting outside and enjoying the views.

I was so stressed out about the sleeping arangements because our LO is still waking to nurse at night on occasion. I think they were both so tired they would have slept through anything. We brought our wave machine they sleep with at home as well (I can't sleep without it now). I was worried for nothing! They both napped during the day on their regular sleep schedules, slept through the night, and woke happy the next day ready for more.

 

[axfather]

We always just ask them to get rid of the table which not only makes extra room....it also reduces injuries for my wild children....other ways to save space....make sure you put the suitcases under the bed...use hanging bags for things...I also stick all those life jackets under the bed as well to make the closet space have room to spread your stuff out...you will end up with plenty of room for the packnplay.

 

[justmestace]

Iggi...I just have to ask....if you might have to stay in the room with your (very beautiful!) little girl, then you'll miss the best part of a Disney cruise...for us grown-ups, anyway. Dinner! Disney dinners are SO awesome, with the "shows" that they put on, and the awesome servers.
Have you thought it might be better to wait until the little one is older?

My daughter was married on DCL and our whole family loves it, young and old. She gave birth to our first grandson in June, and is really excited to take him on his first cruise, but I told her she needed to wait until he's old enough to enjoy it. What age THAT is varies for every child and every family, but ideally, I think it should be 3 or 4.

Sorry......just my 2 cents' worth.

 

[breakingd_awn]

We're from the west coast as well and our kids stayed on west coast time, which was awesome (we had late dinner seating too). They put the PNP in front of the couch in our room and left it out for the duration of our trip. But we had adjoining rooms, so one room was the kids sleeping room and the other room was the hang out room.
I brought my own PNP sheets and her blanket from home. For naps, I placed baby in the middle of the big bed, put pillows nearby so she couldn't roll off and closed the curtains (separates the bed from the 'living area'). She was so worn out each day that this worked well.

We have adjoining rooms also and thats a great idea to make one a "sleeping room" . I forgot about the curtains . I'm going to keep her usual am wake up time of 7am, and with all the activities she'll likely be ready for her nap by noon.

 

[axfather]

I would not hesitate to take the kids...it will work out fine...pack in play will fit nicely in front of the murphy bed of in front of the desk...other kids sleep in the pull down and sofa bed...pull the curtain back so you can watch TV from the queen bed..order room service (cheese and fruit) and you guys will be fine...you can swap off and take turns watching shows...if you are on the starboard side...you can see the fireworks from your balc....it will be fine. Al of our children cruised as very little....they will love all the excitement and will be so tired that they will sleep fine....nice having someone else clean up after them...make sure you request a real fridge for milk...they will bring it to the room.

 

[wuv tigger]

1. I would make sure to bring extra blankets from home to pad the PNP as PP's have noted!

2. I would ask that the table be removed from the couch area.

3. Buy some of your favorite detergent in FL and bring with you on the cruise. Same smell as his/her stuff at home makes for a happy baby.

4. Bring less clothes than needed. You will NEED to wash his/her clothes as you don't want the smell in the room of soiled clothes or mildewed clothes at the end of the cruise.

hope this helps,

wuv tigger

 

[Iggipolka]

Iggi...I just have to ask....if you might have to stay in the room with your (very beautiful!) little girl, then you'll miss the best part of a Disney cruise...for us grown-ups, anyway. Dinner! Disney dinners are SO awesome, with the "shows" that they put on, and the awesome servers.
Have you thought it might be better to wait until the little one is older?

No worries about asking such an obvious question. I would totally wait until she is older, but there's complicating factors. We booked an Adult's Only Adventures by Disney trip to Alaska on DVC pts for September 2009 and then I got pregnant and had Lillian May 2009. No way could we take that ABD trip!
So, we postponed traveling until March and transferred our points to a Disney Cruise. We have to travel by March 2010, or we forfit all of the points used to book the cruise. No way is that happening!
So, we're going and we're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll have a good time, despite the normal stress of traveling with a baby so young.

I'm going to get a PnP and start putting her in it at night. I'm also going to start playing a radio softly in her room to get her more used to noise. I'm going to bring her own sheets and a really cushy, quilted mattress pad, plus her favorite crib toys.
I'm going to use Babies Travel Light for her diapers and stuff, so we won't have to worry about packing all of that.

Most of all, I'm going to try and chill about this. Whatever happens, happens. I am going to be totally bummed to miss out on many of the dinners, but I know this won't be our only Disney Cruise. We're too big Disney Freaks for that to happen. We'll make at least one dinner as I have Flounders reserved for one evening. If that goes well, I'll see about booking some more time.

Thanks for all of the suggestions and if anyone has any more, or wants to share experiences about cruising/traveling with infants, I'd love to hear them!

 

[breakingd_awn]

I wouldn't wait till she was older, If you plan on cruising yearly your should just take her. She might like all the visual stimuation that Disney offers.

 

[breakingd_awn]

No worries about asking such an obvious question. I would totally wait until she is older, but there's complicating factors. We booked an Adult's Only Adventures by Disney trip to Alaska on DVC pts for September 2009 and then I got pregnant and had Lillian May 2009. No way could we take that ABD trip!
So, we postponed traveling until March and transferred our points to a Disney Cruise. We have to travel by March 2010, or we forfit all of the points used to book the cruise. No way is that happening!
So, we're going and we're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll have a good time, despite the normal stress of traveling with a baby so young.

I'm going to get a PnP and start putting her in it at night. I'm also going to start playing a radio softly in her room to get her more used to noise. I'm going to bring her own sheets and a really cushy, quilted mattress pad, plus her favorite crib toys.
I'm going to use Babies Travel Light for her diapers and stuff, so we won't have to worry about packing all of that.

Most of all, I'm going to try and chill about this. Whatever happens, happens. I am going to be totally bummed to miss out on many of the dinners, but I know this won't be our only Disney Cruise. We're too big Disney Freaks for that to happen. We'll make at least one dinner as I have Flounders reserved for one evening. If that goes well, I'll see about booking some more time.

Thanks for all of the suggestions and if anyone has any more, or wants to share experiences about cruising/traveling with infants, I'd love to hear them!

I would still go to the dinners and if she starts crying just console and calm her as usual . I nursed mine so lots of times when we went out to dinner she would fall asleep after nursing and then I would finish my dinner while holding a sleeeping baby. Mothers get good at that. I would even take her stroller with you to dinner so you could lay her in that? Of course if she gets really fussy then you could leave , but I'm sure you could at least get an appetizer down, and if you know she's getting ready for a meltdown go ahead and order your dessert to go.I have 4 daughters and I've never had to leave a restaurant yet,and we go out to eat every week .I think youll be just fine