Our bedtime routine is pretty set in stone and there aren’t any complaints or whines (well not too many whines) when that time of the day rolls around. But when it comes to getting these boys to sleep when we are traveling.. I cannot stress enough how much bedtime isn’t fun when we are traveling. I guess in specific when we are staying with family.. in a hotel lights are out about 9pm.. and everybody goes down. Either way.. it’s not easy! And to be clear the bedtime issues aren’t’ with the 7 year old it’s with the 2 year old. Why can’t those little ones get with the program right? Lol I kid, I kid. Love that little man.
We have been on the road a lot this summer. Granted we have come back and forth to our hometown but we aren’t home so that’s traveling to me! LOL But literally the summer isn’t over yet and we will be coming and going one more time before it ends. I like to keep everyone on their toes.. When will Candy and boys show up?? You’ll know when until we get there! Oh my parents just love it! NOT! hahaha but back to the issue at hand.. bedtime!
We sleep in the same room (my old room) at my mom’s house every time we come to visit. This time my sister was visiting and needed the extra room so we took her old room. No bigs right? Hardly. That just threw everything off. Oh let me explain the sleeping set up. Aramis slept with my sis and niece in my old room and Ezra and I slept in my sister’s old room. We have a whole bed to ourselves. There was plenty of room, still here’s the issues I’m dealing with:
He won’t actually go to sleep..
He’s tossing, he’s turning and of course he’s running his mouth. Laughing to himself and just making noise. He’s had full days of running around and he’s not going down as soon as his little head hits the pillow! I’d say most of the days we have been here he has not had a nap. He should be exhausted.. But he’s not. It’s after midnight when he’s finally dozing off.
He’s requesting milk..
We had pretty much broken him of drinking anything at night. I was starting to prep him for a serious dose of potty training in August/September. Aramis potty trained at 3 years and 1 week. Am I betting that Ezra will be potty trained around that same time frame? I’m actually hoping! It’s not looking good at all. We made a trip to Target for Diapers and he make eye contact with some cute Thomas the Tank Engine training pants (like Pull-Ups) and he yelled for them. So I asked him, “Those are training pants. Are you ready to go pee pee in the potty? You can’t pee on Thomas!” and the little stinkers says, “No! No pee pee in the potty.” So I told Aramis to put the Thomas training pants back.. and would you know he didn’t even argue or cry! That’s how I know this one is going to give me a run for my money. And yes, I’ve totally been giving into his milk requests.. I can promise you he won’t be having it at home when we go back.
He’s also requesting me..
I know, make me feel guilty. But you know what I go and I lay with him for a little bit and he still doesn’t go to sleep.. Sometimes I even fall asleep before he does and then he gets up out of bed! Hasta eso!! Walking around the house like he’s the king. And when I don’t go lay down with him, he’s yelling at me from the room, “Mama!! Mama!! Come to bed!!” It’s actually quite funny. LOL But I’m not laughing when it’s happening.. trust me on that.
And I know what you are thinking.. “Candy if it’s such a battle why don’t you just stay you behind at home?!” I ask myself the same question.. Here’s my answer and it truly makes all of this madness worth it.
We wont’ always be this close (Almost seven hours is close ya’ll! It’s been further.) to home so we need to take advantage and visit while we can. The boys need to spend as much time with family (the grandparents and hang out with the cousins and friends) so they can develop a bond with them. We won’t always be the Army family that has turned into the “Out of Towners,” we will put down roots back in East Texas. I would love for the kids to have family and friends to be excited to come back to. We still have very good friends in our home town so it’ll be nice to see them more often when we come home and I’d like the boys to feel the same way. So they won’t totally be the “New kids in town” when we move back. It makes sense right? It’s all for the greater good. This life is definitely a sacrifice but it’s worth it.
It’s hard for us, too, because usually it means we are all crammed into one hotel room. We let the kids stay up a little later so that they are more tired and that usually works.
Bedtime when traveling is a nightmare. I try to take my son’s pack & play, and book a suite so that there’s a bit more space (and sometimes a separate room for my son.) We went on two overnight trips in June – and he didn’t go to sleep until well after 10 pm. His bedtime is 7:30.
It’s a nightmare for us, too, but mainly just for my son. As my girls have gotten older it’s gotten easier. I hope it gets easier for my boy, too. I’ll be honest, we do use melatonin. It helps.
I’ve been told to try out melatonin. I need to try it out.
Bedtime when we’re traveling is SO hard. We pretty much just do the best we can and know that we’ll get back on track once we’re home.
When traveling, we just go to bed whenever. We don’t travel that much, so I don’t really know!
Sometimes we got a suite where we could close off the kids’ sleeping area from ours. However there were other times when we all just had to go to sleep at the same time.
I haven’t had to deal with this yet but can only imagine the struggle.
It’s real.. LOL But it won’t always be like this 🙂 Hell it better not.. LOL
Bedtime is NEVER fun in this house! We start school Aug 25th, and we’re already practicing!
OMG so do we Lindsay! Def practicing as well..
I really do not like traveling with my 2 youngest as they do not seem to settle to bed away from home.I normally try my best to get them worn out in anyway I can and then they will just fall asleep.Everything when traveling is new,confusing and I think they think they are missing something lol.
We just dealt with this. Our 2-year old and 6-year old shared a bed, and I guess it’s just because we tired the kids out so much that they actually slept. I was worried, but we just went with the flow and the kids went to bed. Although we had to go to bed too because we were all in one room together and didn’t want to keep the kids up.
Oh man. This is rough. All I do is try to keep to the routine as close as I can. Generally speaking though, it is a nightmare no matter what we do.
You are braver than we are. We kept traveling to a minimum when our son was small. Although he is a good sleeper so I don’t remember any of those issues. We had other stuff to deal with!
When we traveled with our young kids, the only thing that would help them was keeping the routine the same as possible. So we ate at the same time we would have at home, went to bed, and didn’t change much of anything. It worked for us but I know it hasn’t worked for some of my friends.
We have hardly traveled since we’ve had our son! He just turned 4 and this past Thanksgiving we went to see the in-laws in Maryland. It was a very HARD time getting my son to sleep, I usually tried to wear him out enough where he pretty much passed out lol
I have not traveled with little ones in a while. It is hard to get them to settle down.
I sometimes travel with my nephew and I guess since he is used to a lot of traveling it’s not really an issue. I guess we’re lucky!
You totally are Chrysa! But then again, kids behave for other other folks LOL Glad he’s easy! 🙂
When travelling, I try to approach bedtime with a mix of keeping it somewhat on schedule and allowing for all the exciting stuff that travelling entails. My general rule of thumb is no later than one hour past normal bedtime unless something truly epic is happening.
We have not traveled a lot with our kids so have not had this experience. We did take one trip with our oldest son. We planned driving during his nap time hoping he would sleep but he didn’t.
Our kids always seem to stay up later when we’re traveling. We don’t mind as long as they sleep later in the morning or have nap/quiet time the next day.
Bedtime is something I am dreading when we go on our first vacation with our daughter. Like, I’m almost avoiding it because it scares me so much. Our daughter is such a great sleeper at home, I’m afraid that will completely change when we’re not home.
Bedtime is ridiculous when we travel! The best thing I found is to wear them out so they pass out at bedtime!
Bedtime when we are traveling always means snuggles with mommy or daddy. It’s the only way right now unless our kids pass out.
I feel you completely, thing the last 5 years I have been on the floor and half in their bed while my body and mind ached for my bed. The kids are “ususally” good for a nap in the car, they waiting till they were older to be car babies.
it’s a problem for me too. I always have trouble sleeping in a foreign place
We don’t do well either. I wish I had advice!
These are really great tips. I’m going to pass this post along to some friends that are travelling with small kids this summer.
We have always traveled a ton with all of our kids. My oldest was pretty flexible, but my younger two are definitely still a challenge. I think summer bedtimes in general are a bit tough!
Unfortunately, bedtime never stays consistent when traveling for us. We are usually visiting family and that means bedtime goes out the window.
I remember being in the hotel last summer when the twins were about 7 months. Not the funnest thing to do and not something I want to do again at that age…with two. lol
We handle bedtime with meletonin. It’s very calming, all natural and it works wonders. Kiddo is adhd and gets super hyper sometimes when its time to go to bed. She has a hard time shutting down once in a while. And sometimes its opposite, she crashes and burns. During the school year shes on medication t help her at school. But not on weekends. So she goes up down up down all weekend long.
We stayed a week in Florida on vacation and it was sooo difficult to get my girls to go to sleep. We just stayed consistent and didn’t give in to any guilt trips. They knew we had busy days ahead and they needed to get some rest.
I’ve heard that using apps on your phone can help with white noise apps or just simply playing music so they can fall asleep. We play music to help my son fall asleep.
When we traveled with my daughter when she was younger, it was always hard to get her to go to bed. I blame the excitement of being in a new place!
I just try to wear them out during the day. If they have less energy- they fight me less!
It is definitely harder when children are younger and you have to travel with them. Hopefully things get better.
We co sleep on vacation….it’s the only way to get him to sleep and even co sleeping on vacation is horrible. We tried the pack and play but he’d just crawl out of it and cry. We’ll see how this upcoming vacation goes…
When I took my granddaughter camping with me, I had to lay in bed with her til she fell asleep. Then I was able to go to the bonfire with the adults after she fell asleep.
Oh boy! It would probably be terrible for us. 2 summers ago it wasn’t too bad but we’ve added another baby and kids are a bit older now and hate bed time lol
My kids do the same thing sometimes when we travel. I guess it’s part of growing up.
Great tips! Bedtime while traveling can be a tough one.
We have the same problem when traveling – and we’re leaving on another trip in the morning. I can’t say I’m looking forward to bedtime. 🙁
Oh Amanda.. the struggle is real! 🙁 I’ll be thinking about you!! Hope it goes well!
I remember when my kids were young how tough bed time could be when we were traveling. The kids get out of routine and have a hard time sleeping.
I remember when the kids were a bit younger I had that problem majorly – especially needing me! Now we just wear them out soo much during the day they are HAPPY to go to bed, lol.
My mom recently travelled from Indiana to Florida with my niece and nephew and she said bedtime was the worst part of the trip! Neither of them wanted to go to bed when they were supposed to!
Oh yes.. it’s the worst Cassie. 🙁 But it won’t always be like this.
We just don’t travel. I’m not kidding. It’s sad, but I don’t even want to deal. 🙂 If we DID travel, I’d just do my best to have everything as normal as possible with same routines, etc.
It’s hard to.. I don’t blame you Lydia! If I didn’t have to, I probably wouldn’t either! LOL