Sharing hotel room with toddler

[Anonymous]

Our three year old sleeps in his own bed with the door closed. He has never slept in our bed or with anyone in his bed. We will be staying in a hotel together for the first time this thanksgiving. How do you typically handle bed time in the hotel room, as well as naps? Do you all sleep at the same time (ie adults go to bed at 8 pm)?

[Anonymous]

One adult hangs out in the foyer or bathroom with an iPhone while toddler falls asleep. It helps to be out of sight. It gets harder now that we have 2 kids trying to fall asleep. Once kids are asleep, we turn on dim lights and read. Now we really try to get a suite if its possible.

[Anonymous]

Our kids are a few years older but we keep them up a bit late..say 9 and then all go to bed together. We are usually tired and also go to bed fairly early at home.

[Anonymous]

We're dealing with this with our 2.5yo.

First night in a hotel, he got up at 1am and didn't get back to sleep till 3am, then was awake at 5am. It sucked. Second night, he was fine (slept 10 hrs straight, probably from exhaustion).

We'll keep trying, but it's not fun. We have to travel to visit family though so we'll keep at it. So whatever you do, plan to take a nap, and don't over-schedule yourself.

[Anonymous]

I feel for you. When our daughter was 3, we would only do nap every other day on travel. That way she would be exhausted at night and on nap day.

For us, it was pure misery when we initially tried napping every day. GL!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your posts everyone. We actually travel quite a bit, but usually stay in a family members home or we rent a house. The hotel arrangement is a challenge, though I think we will try for a suite so that we each have our own space. A cruise actually sounds miserable to me, compared to a hotel.

[Anonymous]

Mom goes to sleep at 8:30 when DD goes to sleep. Dad hangs out in the business center, the lobby, or the bathroom with his Kindle until midnight. We are all vaguely disgruntled.

[Anonymous]

Do some searches for a good deal on a suite. Makes a big difference in how fun/relaxing a vacation is with toddlers.

[Anonymous]

At night we go to bed earlier, toddler later (so everyone to bed around 9:30ish). Some nights toddler would fall asleep while we kept bedside lamps dim and read. Or you could try a flashlight or computer/ipad movie with headphones.

Naps are harder. One of you could could leave room and go do something while the other stays and tries to read in the room or bathroom.

Getting a suite or a balcony definitely makes for a nicer vacation, but we have done it both ways.

[Anonymous]

We always get a suite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mom goes to sleep at 8:30 when DD goes to sleep. Dad hangs out in the business center, the lobby, or the bathroom with his Kindle until midnight. We are all vaguely disgruntled.

Hi Honey!

[Anonymous]

Our DD is the same as your child at home. We've never let this stop us from traveling and on vacation we share a room and put her to sleep first and turn the lights off until shes asleep. We either leave the room or pretend to be sleeping. Then once she's asleep we keep lights dim. We adjust our schedule to hers mostly on vacation so we start our days early and end them early. We don't mind.. we'd rather do that than sacrifice travel!

[Anonymous]

At that age, we spent extra for rooms with balconies or rented apartments. If that wasn't possible, kid would stay up later than normal and we would sleep earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for your posts everyone. We actually travel quite a bit, but usually stay in a family members home or we rent a house. The hotel arrangement is a challenge, though I think we will try for a suite so that we each have our own space. A cruise actually sounds miserable to me, compared to a hotel.

We either get suites that have a bedroom, or adjoining rooms.

[Anonymous]

We do this with our 3 year old and honestly, we just let him stay up until 9:30 or so and then we all go to bed. In the mornings, we all sleep in until 8am or so. We skip the nap or we just time it so that he falls asleep for 45 minutes or so in the car while we're on our way to one adventure or another. Everyone seems to stay saner this way.

FWIW, my son is not a big sleeper; he probably gets 14 hours MAX on a great day when we're at home. Usually more like 12, though, so our crazy schedule while we're traveling works for us. It's also good because he's usually completely pooped for the car or plane ride home at the end of the trip!