How do you sleep in a hotel room with a baby?

[Anonymous]

Looking for tips on how you all stay in hotel rooms with babies/toddlers. DS goes to sleep at 7:30-8. We don't want to sit in the dark and quiet till adult bedtime! In the past, we've stayed in suite hotels (i.e. Residence Inn) with separate bedrooms and living areas, so we can watch TV or order room service after baby goes to bed. But this is not an option on an upcoming trip.

Ideas?

[Anonymous]

Okay, this is going to sound bad, but it's not. We stayed in a Best Western (last minute trip to a funeral) and they had a nice big closet where you come in the door. Our travel bed fit in there perfectly.

We also found that when they're tired they'll sleep through anything - TV and other noises included.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the hotel. We've stuck the porta-crib in a corner and draped with a blanket while we watch tv (we remove it when lights go down). At a hotel in Puerto Rico we were able to fit it in the bathroom. Mostly, I try and stay in residence type places b/c it really does limit what you can do! Also, some hotels do have small "suites" (I know we stayed in one in Blacksburg) so I always call and ask.

[Anonymous]

If the bathroom is large enough I would wheel the crib into it.

[Anonymous]

We just came back from a weekend wedding trip. We stayed in a suite at Courtyard. It was pricy but great - essentially two rooms so we could put the baby in his portable crib in the bedroom first, then off went our 3 year-old on the bed. Since it was king size, we just co-slept although we could have made a bed for her on the fold-out couch.

[Anonymous]

Get them really worn out (swimming is always the trick for us) and put the crib in the bathroom.

[Anonymous]

We chat in the bathroom and keep the TV on closed captioning. good luck.

[Anonymous]

Love the closet idea. Thinking about trying it this summer with two elementary school kids.

[Anonymous]

We do his normal bedtime routine, but a little later - 8:30-9 PM.

We put him to sleep in the pack n play.

We make sure he is somewhere he can't stare at us, or he will do that and not go to sleep.

Then it's lights out for everyone, or maybe quiet reading. His bedtime moves up a bit, and ours moves back a bit.

I'd keep the bathroom free. There's a reason they put them in every hotel room

[Anonymous]

We put the pack and play in the furthest, darkest corner from the bed and draped blankets on the sides so our son could not see through the mesh and the lights from the TV would not bother him. Then we kept a bathroom or hall light on and the TV on fairly low. Not fantastic but workable for a short period of time.

[Anonymous]

what do you do when they are too big for the pack and play/crib. my son is three?

[Anonymous]

White noise machine -- put in corner near him.

Reading lights -- can buy at Barnes & Noble -- they are tiny and you can read by them but will keep rest of room dark.

Bring a laptop or mini-DVD player -- can surf net or watch movies in the dark, can even bring head phones if child very noise sensitive.

Once child falls asleep you have more freedom to turn back on lights or make noise.

We have a "Travel Crib" -- 1/2 size pack n play and have also put it in closet and bathroom for baby. Does not work for our 3 y.o. obviously.

[Anonymous]

This is hilarious (though unintentionally, I'm sure). People stick their kid in the closet because they want to watch television? Didn't it occur to you to just -- wait for it -- not watch TV?

[Anonymous]

I used to have them lay down in the bed with me, until they would fall asleep, then put them in the crib.
Once they got older, we would all lay down, with the lights off. Once they were asleep, I would move to the other bed, and then watch TV.

[Anonymous]

We traveled with a 3 month old and a 2 year old, and had a small hotel room. We made the room fairly dark and quiet until they went to sleep. Then we just turned the TV on low, or read books/magazines. They didn't wake up a single time.