looking for your hotel sleeping advice. We're staying in a suite so we have a king and my 5yo will sleep on the pullout. I was hoping to get the metal hotel crib for my 2yo (which he last did at Christmas) but they only have pack n plays. I can't see that working (he's giant) but he's only ever slept in a crib. What might be the best sleep option for him? Put them both in the pullout and put a pool noodle under the sheet? Bring an air mattress for the floor? I'm not worried about him falling out but I am worried about him being drunk on the freedom and no one sleeping!!
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If he has only ever slept in a crib I would put him in the pack n play for the trip. For a few nights it shouldn't be bad! I'd think putting them in a bed together would be disastrous if he is used to a crib and even a floor mattress would be tough for a kid who is used to a crib. I say this on day 3 of our conversion from crib to bed for our 28 month old
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DD still sleeps well enough in a pack & play at 32 months and this is our plan for travel next month. If you have a king, though, she has also slept in between us (despite never co-sleeping at home). There's a momentary novelty to sleeping in the big bed that may delay bed time by 20-30 min, but then she's tired enough to fall asleep as long as it's dark.
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My 2.5 year old had never slept in anything other than a crib or pack n play until this past weekend at a sleepover with her cousins. She shared a double bed with her 5 year old cousin and didn't try to get out once, slept perfectly. I'd ask them for a pack n play as back up but your lo might surprise you!
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@winniebee: ha I'm so scared of freedom! I'm thinking I'll backwards sleep sack him too. I haven't done that yet at home so I don't think he'll have time to figure it out there. of course he can still walk in that just slowly
maybe I should get out our pack and play and try having him nap in it at home . . .
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@bhbee: our kids only very rarely use a pack n play but it's never been an issue going back and forth -- our 2 year old will be in one this weekend despite his transition to a bed, as we will be away and the hotel bed situation isn't ideal.
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I would use the pack and play. My 2.5 year old (80th percentile height/weight, so not a small child) regularly sleeps in one at our nanny share. We transitioned him to his big boy bed recently and he still sleeps fine in the pnp at the nanny share.
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How big is giant to you? My kid is 36+ inches, 32 lbs and sleeps in the pack and play for our nanny share. He's never expressed not liking it or being uncomfortable (which he has about this small metal crib my mom has). I would be surprised if he couldn't sleep in it. We do make it more cozy (he asks for a pillow and blanket), but other than that he doesn't skip a beat.
ETA: Just realized I pretty much rewrote what @jape14: said above....
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We would have our son sleep between us, but we do a lot of co-sleeping.
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Ahh, following this. We have some travel this summer, my son will be 22 months and only sleeps in his crib. I worry he will be too big for a PnP but there is NO WAY he is ready for a big bed. As it is, he walks around and plays in his crib for like half an hour before he falls asleep. I was a little worried he might be too big for the PnP, but it sounds like it's still working for most.
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We cut our trip short because both boys couldn't sleep. My 2.5 year is short and sleeps in a crib at home. I thought he would be ok to cosleep with us or sleep on the pull out but he wasn't comfortable with that. He "slept" in the pack n play but not well - he was too big for the one we had. I hope you have a better experience than us!
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My DD is almost 21 months and 34-35 inches tall and sleeps in a pnp every nap and each night. We never got a crib. She has plenty of room, and curls up anyways. Try it at home, I think you'll be surprised!
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@bhbee: Our two year old only uses a pack 'n play when we travel, which isn't very often, but it hasn't seemed to be an issue for him. We plan on using a hotel pack 'n play this weekend!
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we switched to having lo1 sleep in a normal bed when we traveled after she was 2 and it was surprisingly great! she was still sleeping in a crib at home then, and we had 2 long trips(1 week and 2 week) where she was fine in a bed. I'd stick both kids in the pullout couch.
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I would do the pack and play. We just ran into this issue for a week away and realized the day before we left that DS was the full length of the travel crib we have! We did the travel crib we had and he was totally fine. I did add an extra blanket under the sheet to pad it a bit. Now we are back we are transitioning him to the big boy bed so he's used to the freedom when we travel this summer.
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My kid had to stop using the PNP at Thanksgiving because he figured out how to climb out of it. The last night we boxed him into a corner and braced a mattress and furniture up against the PNP to pen him in! But he was fine in terms of actually fitting in there for sleep and he's like 38 inches tall (granted he's slim). Once trapped, he slept fine.
Anyways, I would ask for the PNP to be put in your room and try putting him in there. He will probably be more tired than usual traveling so you may not have a hard time getting him to sleep if he still sleeps in his crib at home.
At the same time, if you have room, I might consider getting this thing:
It's a toddler sized air mattress with bumpers and fits a regular crib sheet. He may be one of those kids who is so shocked by the change he sorta just lies there and goes to sleep. And in any case you won't have to worry about him falling. You could even put it next to your bed if he's scared.
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My LOs are tall and could easily climb out of pack n plays around 2 so we stopped using them around that age. Instead we used this toddler air mattress:
https://m.bedbathandbeyond.com/m/product/the-shrunks-reg-tuckaire-toddler-travel-bed/133216
It's similar to the one @gingerbebe: posted.
My kids were napping on a nap mat at school at 2, so they were also fine sleeping on the floor on an air mattress.
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@gingerbebe: this is what we use (The air mattress). Our kids never did well with the pack n play.
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@gingerbebe: at $35 that might have to happen!
Great to read everyone's advice. I think we're going to haul our pnp out of the attic and try it. Thinking I should bring his nap mat too. He only goes to mdo one day a week but it might help? (They use them in cribs at school right now though)
I've had toddler sleep ruin another vacation and I would do anything to keep that from happening again!!
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@bhbee: I totally get it. The one day DS was popping out of the PNP (before we figured out how to pen him in) was a complete nightmare.
Which is why we transitioned DS to the Privacy Pop tent with a twin mattress after Thanksgiving. In part because he then got the bright idea to try climbing out of his crib and in part because we had to travel for 2 weeks at Christmas and stay with my in laws and I did not know WTF we were going to do. We shipped the damn tent to Michigan so DS could sleep in it (they had a twin mattress) and we are dragging it with us again in a few weeks to my brothers wedding (we are using a twin air mattress for that trip). It's nice and enclosed like his crib (which he actually loved) and he loves it and sleeps awesome in it.
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