Preparing toddlers to sleep in a hotel room
My two toddlers love to play together. At bedtime, when we have them together for the quiet part of bedtime (pajamas, story, lullabies), they wind up bouncing off the walls. And the bed, each other, us, etc. This is okay at home, as they have separate bedrooms.
We're planning a trip for a few months from now, where the whole family will stay in one hotel room. So our children will have to be able to fall asleep in the same room as each other, and as us. Any suggestions for how we can prepare them?
The older child sleeps in a bed (on a mattress actually, no box spring or bed frame to break under the jumping) and the other sleeps in a crib. We will bring our own travel crib.
I've read most of the similar questions, and there's some good tips in those.
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We had the same worries about our kids. Turns out that most of it was unfounded. The exhaustion from the traveling, the new-situation effect, and the extra scrutiny from the parents being right there nipped most of the problems in the bud.
On occasion, we've tried things like:
Split parents up on separate beds, with one child each.
Have children sleep with heads on opposite ends of the bed.
Have a child sleep in the closet, if it's a relatively roomy one.
Stay up later past their normal bedtime, so they can fall straight asleep.
Plan for extra time to fall asleep, so you don't stress out if it takes a while.
Relax a little on the rules. It's not the worst thing if they get a little scared at night and decide to snuggle together.
We've been known to temporarily rearrange furniture to better suit our needs, especially since we have a daughter who uses a wheelchair and they don't always leave sufficient room for her to get around easily. Don't feel like you have to accept the room at face value.
One idea might be a "practice" run or two.
Bring the travel crib into a bedroom (either your own, or the older child's), and explain you're having a sleepover just like you will be on your vacation. Everybody needs to stay calmly in their own area (bed/crib), parents need to be soothing and gently encourage lying down.
Not only will it help the kids learn what's expected on this different kind of bedtime, but it'll help you spot potential problems with the setup and brainstorm solutions. (Our toddler needed to have the travel crib oriented in such a way that a blanket blocked his view of the rest of the room, for example.)
If the bathroom is large enough to accommodate, I'd put the crib in the bathroom.
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