Indiana Babies
ebd08
member
Moms of Older Kids - A Travel ?
ebd08
member
Hoping marleysmom (and any other mamas out there with older children) will chime in on this! How old were your little ones when you stopped using the pack n' play when you were on vacation / out of town / somewhere other than home during bedtime? Did they sleep on a regular bed, air mattress, cot, the floor?
I know this probably isn't nearly as complicated as I'm making it out to be in my head, but it's been on my mind a lot lately.
Eli will almost be 2 when our next LO is born and we'll be transitioning him to a "big boy" room this fall (basically a mattress on the floor and very little other furniture until he gets used to being un-contained in his crib). I'm not really worried about how it will go at home, but I do worry about it at other people's houses. We do a LOT of traveling since both of our families live out of town and I'm just wondering how far you go out of your way to toddler-proof the room they sleep in or if you don't worry about it, how often they get out of bed, etc.
I'm not sure I'm ready to give up the pack n' prison - it's so useful for keeping them in one place!!
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Re: Moms of Older Kids - A Travel ?
It is nerve racking to think of them uncontained!
We stopped using the pack n play around 18 months because our kids were giant. The main places our kids stay overnight are at the grandparents' houses. In one house, Connor (now 2) sleeps on an air mattress with no problems.. In the other he sleeps on a bottom bunk, and my parents just throw some pillows on the floor next to it. He has fallen out, but he has also fallen out of his toddler bed with a rail at home. I think that's pretty common
The beds are both low to the ground.
Once the kids were used to sleeping in their toddler beds, I realized that they really stay put. We haven't had any issues with them getting into things. However, I don't think I ever really left them alone and wide awake if I expected them to go to sleep. For example, last weekend we were at my parents' place and I put Connor down for a nap that he didn't really want. I laid down with him until he passed out, or there's no way he would have stayed in bed. Generally we try to make sure the kids are good and sleepy before we try to put them down to sleep when we are traveling. So, as far as "child-proofing" goes, we don't worry about it too much because the only time the kids are alone in the room is when they're asleep.
Reading that back, it doesn't seem very helpful!
One more thing - my mom did buy some sort of tent-type children's travel bed. They did use it for Jocelyn when she was around 2-3yo. I think it was helpful because it enclosed her, and so I think she just wanted to stay in there. Sounds kind of like a dog crate! Seemed to work well, though...