I’m over at Your Modern Family providing my tips on where does your toddler sleep on vacation when the pack n play or bed just won’t work. This trick worked great with my 2.5 year old after a couple of tough tries in the pack n play. The suggestion is geared towards a toddler in the 2.5 – 3 year old range. What do you do when your kids won’t sleep on vacation? Try this little vacation tip! Packing for a vacation is exhausting enough – deciding where your kids should sleep should not be as exhausting. However, when you have a toddler and they are normally happy to sleep in their crib at home – what can you do? Here are your options: Mattress on the floor Sleep in your bed (the answer that I’m not suggesting) The most fun… bring a tent! My go-to-answer is for your child would be to sleep in a Pack ‘n Play, but now I’m not so sure. Let me say this that if your child loves the portable crib – DO NOT change a thing.
You’ve got it made! However, if your child refuses the pack ‘n play, you can try something new. Our last vacation resulted in having neither kids sleeping at 10:30pm – both were up, because our toddler was having a very hard time falling asleep in her Pack ‘n Play, so we knew that we had to change this up a bit. When we decided that the best answer, for our family, was to bring our castle tent, we found some very happy kids! We just packed up the tent in the perfect portable bag that it comes in: And don’t worry, they also make a castle tent for boys: Put it beside your bed, on the floor, to keep an eye on what is happening. Talk to your kids about the sleep rules how and why they need to stay in the tent at night. Lay a comforter down on the floor, to make it comfortable. Bring a pillow from home (or a special blanket) If they won’t fall asleep, lay with them for a few minutes and then sneak out when they are asleep. If they wake up, they will just look up and see you in bed beside them.
By the end, our daughter told us “I am lucky I sleep in a tent”. (OK, she may have heard it from us, but hey, she got it!) We set the expectations and she went with it. So that my friends, is another tool to put in your sleep tool belt.Damion Taft sleeps peacefully on the cushioned sofa, the occasional smile rippling across his features. His mother scoops up the 2-month-old when she answers the door to greet Tricey Primm, a family support worker from the Newport News Healthy Families Initiative. On this visit, Primm brings with her a Pack 'n Play, a crib substitute donated by the Cribs for Kids program of the Virginia SIDS Alliance to provide a safe place for Damion to sleep. Inappropriate sleeping arrangements are a contributing factor in the unexplained deaths of 2,500 infants each year to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS. The rate for African-American infants is double those of other ethnicities. Additionally, accidental suffocation, which can result from unsafe sleeping arrangements — such as sleeping with siblings or adults, with stuffed animals, or with ill-fitting bedding — is the leading cause of accidental deaths among infants.
Primm has been visiting Uganda Smith twice a month since she was three months pregnant with her first son, Abraham Taft, who turns 3 in October. "She didn't know anything about babies. She realized she needed some help," says Primm, who has books and toys for Abraham to play with during her visit and a handout on nutrition that she leaves with Smith. Abraham outgrew his Pack 'n Play, which got too worn to re-use, and now sleeps either on the sofa, or on a full-size mattress on the floor. Primm advocates for the mattress until they can find him a safe crib or bed. "He could roll off the sofa," she points out. The new Pack 'n Play can safely accommodate his infant brother for up to a year. (There are height and weight restrictions on its safe use.) "You can put it on different levels as a child gets older but it's really only safe for a year. Then we have to look for something else," says Glynda Lowery, team leader for Healthy Families. The city's program enrolls about 140 families at a time, but Lowery also distributes crib substitutes to other low-income Newport News residents through Chesapeake's Sleeptight program.
In the latter program recipients must attend a training session on safe sleeping before receiving the portable crib/playpen. When Primm delivers a crib, she has a checklist with pointers on safe sleeping practices — place a baby on its back, no smoking near the baby, no sleeping with siblings or in an adult bed, no pillows — that she goes over with the recipient and has them sign. The SIDS Alliance gives away Pack 'n Play portable cribs rather than full-size cribs for several reasons: Often there's insufficient space in the recipients' homes; full cribs require tools and can be difficult to assemble; and they are subject to recall and can create liability issues. The Pack 'n Play doesn't require any assembly, is safe for sleeping for infants younger than a year — those at the greatest risk for SIDS — and can be used as a playpen. Smith, 37, says she has forgotten a lot since having Abraham. "I'd forgotten all the things you go through in the months you're carrying," she says. She's also concerned about watching Abraham, who is naturally energetic and inquisitive, while looking after Damion at the same time.
"He's on his own schedule," she says. Primm has helped her learn about time management, the different stages of development, and how the children grow and interact. She's learned how to cope when Abraham "goes through an emotional state," putting him in time out until they can discuss the problem. Primm also works with the toddler, encouraging him to express his frustrations in a manageable way while teaching him colors and working on his fine motor skills. He'll be screened for preschool at age 3, when he'll be expected to know numbers up to 20, his colors, and more, she explains. All the while Primm offers words of encouragement and advice to Smith. "You like cooking," she urges. "Try making this stew, it has vegetables in it. When he goes to school there'll be different tastes. Introduce him to some different things." Smith nods, saying that she's been trying to get him to eat more vegetables, but he balks at peas and beans. Abraham duly recites the names of the foods he likes. Primm points out the baby acne on Damion's face, but reassures Smith that it will clear up.