??Re putting children to sleep at other people's houses??

bgf1

Hello Ladies.  I am looking for some feedback here.  Before Cole was born my DH & I both liked the idea of being able to put LO to bed at a friend/family member's home if we were socializing and then transfer him to the car and then back to bed at home when it is time to leave. We did this with the baby bucket but now that Lo is in the convertible car seat it would be  a lot of shifting him around and we can't get him out of the car without waking him up. I thought this idea was more appropriate with an older child, maybe around 2 years old,  but my husband wants to being doing this now so we can stay later at gatherings.  Does anyone do this currently?  How does it work for you?  LO is a great sleeper as long as we keep him in a bit of a routine.. and I am nervous to mess with this too much.  My husband thinks that we should be starting this now so that would be smoother if we wanted to do this with more than one child.  Does anyone have multiple children and put them to be while you are visiting and then transport them home when you are ready to leave? Any I being silly about thinking this is not a great idea?

MyPunkinPie

I just experienced this Friday night. It was dinner and poker at the cousin's house. There was no way DS would have gone to sleep. He was much more interested in seeing everyone than he was sleeping. I changed him into his pajamas before we left thought because I knew he would fall asleep in the car. He did and we carried him up to his bed. Because he didn't go to sleep until WAY after his bed time he was miserable yesterday. So was I. To me (who had to care for DS Saturday), it wasn't worth sacrificing a good night's sleep and a rough next day for going out with family/friends.

Next time I'll get a sitter.

cynnichinny13

When we're at a family member or friends house we put DS down in a PnP in the bedroom (or furthest, quietest room) Luckily, both of our parents and our friends already have PnP at their houses so we don't have to carry that around. We keep him on schedule so that he isn't like "wtf guys, its too early/late". When it's time to leave we pick him up as gently as possible and take him to the car- we put him in the car last to limit dome light time. He wakes up during transition but then falls asleep in the car. I don't think it throws his schedule off at all since he doesn't completely wake up in between car and houses. 

It will be fine. 

FLgirlinCA

We did this a couple of times w/our first child when he was under a year old. We put him in a pack & play at friend's house, then moved him to the car and then to his bed at home. It worked ok while he was still a baby, but past the age of about a year or 18 months I think they are just too alert and interested in what is going on to go to sleep in a strange place, then be taken home. (A vacation to a hotel or something is totally different). And now that my kids are almost 1 and 4, there is no way I would try it. Seems like it would be just too stressful for everyone to be worth it. We either go home around bedtime, or get a sitter if we want to stay out late.

MrsLnt

This would never work in a million years with my twins.  On the rare occasion I've had to put one down to sleep in a PnP, like vacation, or if we've needed to separate for any reason, it's been a disaster.  If we want to stay somewhere up until bedtime, we'll do the bedtime routine wherever we are, change into PJs and let them fall asleep in the car. It works with moderate success.  If we want to stay anywhere later, we have to get a babysitter. 

MrsSR

It depends on your kid.  For us, it would never work.  What I do is bring her pjs with us and change her before we leave.  She usually falls asleep in the car and we then transfer her to bed.  She usually wakes up, but goes down right away in bed.

We also don't stay out late...  The latest we've stayed out is about 30-60 min. after her bedtime.

SparkleK

We do this from time to time.  On Sundays, we go to jazz in the park and LO usually falls asleep in her stroller.  Then we have to go for the transfer.  She's a laid back kid and is pretty flexible, but I find that she doesn't sleep as late when we put her to be too late.

We generally entertain at our house, but we'll put the kiddo to bed at a friends house if need be.  We bring a PnP, a sound machine, her bear, and sleep sack and she's good to go. 

Jessys_Girl

For us, our options are:

1) get a sitter and stay out as late as we want.

2) stay out as late as DD will tolerate, change her into PJs before leaving the gathering we are at, let her fall asleep in the car and then transfer her to bed, where she will usually fall right back to sleep.

3) Put her down at normal bedtime wherever we are, and LEAVE her overnight (like if we're at my mom's and she falls asleep or something).

 

We have never had success with what my DH calls the "double move" (i.e. move from PnP to car and from car to house).  It generally makes her very very cranky and she has a lot of difficulty falling back to sleep in her crib, because she's just been woken up twice.

snansley

We take the PnP, pjs, seahorse, paci, etc and just put him to bed in someone's spare bedroom.  It works pretty well. He wakes up for the car transitions, but usually goes back down quickly.

AnabelsMama

MrsSR:

It depends on your kid.  For us, it would never work.  What I do is bring her pjs with us and change her before we leave.  She usually falls asleep in the car and we then transfer her to bed.  She usually wakes up, but goes down right away in bed.

We also don't stay out late...  The latest we've stayed out is about 30-60 min. after her bedtime.

This exactly.

bgf1

Thanks for the feedback.  I think we will give it a try, but I will talk to DH ahead of time to determine how long we try to get him down before heading home if it doesn't go well.  Also I think I will try to make sure that DH is not working the day after so that if LO is a bear the next day, he sees it  for himself.  

sandyapples

We do it all the time and have never had a problem.  Tonight we went for dinner at MIL's.  We put Zoe to bed at 7 (normal bedtime), At 9 I carried her to the car and put her in her convertible car seat, she woke up on the way but went right back to sleep.  When we got home I carried her to bed, again, went right back to sleep.  MIL has a crib at her house, but we've also done it at a friends in her PnP.  She is generally a good sleeper though, I'm sure not all LOs would be so easy to move.