toddler travel sleeping tent image
Lisa V
My son is 18 1/2 months and a FABULOUS sleeper. We are going camping for the first time for the summer and was looking for a little input. we own a travel trailer and my son will be sleeping in the pack and play. Last year--he was little enough to just old/rock to sleep and then put in the pack and play. This year is going to be tricky. I want to keep his schedule somewhat normal. I know camping allows for some flexibility though. At home--we do 2 or 3 "nighty night" books and then I lay him down, turn on his music box and he's set! I'm nervous that this won't work at camp. It's going to be a new surrounding, new "bed," new noises etc. Any advice from anyone who has either camped or traveled with a child this age? How was the transitions from bed to pack and play? Home to camper/tent/hotel room? Any advice is appreciated. I'm hoping he will be good and tired enough to pass out.
ps--Advice about nap-time would be great too. I don't really wanna skip nap. He gets VERY cranky without it.
Just to clarify.....this is luxury camping in a trailer
Answer
When my son was little he went on many camping trips with the boy scouts and my self.
Now the boys wore him out most times with play and learning. We would go back to camp and he would more time then not just fall asleep in his new sleeping bag.
Just remember this will be a big new adventure for all of you. Have fun try new stuff. I know that it will be hard at first but rember this.
You are out there to have fun and get away from the normal routine and so is he. You may have to let the nap time slide a little but my guess is if you are busy all day he will tell you he wants a nap.
If that nap happens next to you by the fire so beit. you are camping after all.
When my son was little he went on many camping trips with the boy scouts and my self.
Now the boys wore him out most times with play and learning. We would go back to camp and he would more time then not just fall asleep in his new sleeping bag.
Just remember this will be a big new adventure for all of you. Have fun try new stuff. I know that it will be hard at first but rember this.
You are out there to have fun and get away from the normal routine and so is he. You may have to let the nap time slide a little but my guess is if you are busy all day he will tell you he wants a nap.
If that nap happens next to you by the fire so beit. you are camping after all.
Traveling/camping with Toddler this weekend. Advice about bedtime?
Lisa V
My son is 18 1/2 months and a FABULOUS sleeper. We are going camping for the first time for the summer and was looking for a little input. we own a travel trailer and my son will be sleeping in the pack and play. Last year--he was little enough to just old/rock to sleep and then put in the pack and play. This year is going to be tricky. I want to keep his schedule somewhat normal. I know camping allows for some flexibility though. At home--we do 2 or 3 "nighty night" books and then I lay him down, turn on his music box and he's set! I'm nervous that this won't work at camp. It's going to be a new surrounding, new "bed," new noises etc. Any advice from anyone who has either camped or traveled with a child this age? How was the transitions from bed to pack and play? Home to camper/tent/hotel room? Any advice is appreciated. I'm hoping he will be good and tired enough to pass out.
ps--Advice about nap-time would be great too. I don't really wanna skip nap. He gets VERY cranky without it.
Answer
We camped last summer with our son who at the time was the same age as your son is now. We would do our hiking in the mornings and other outdoor active things like that then before the heat of the day. We'd return to camp around noon and have lunch and he'd go down for a sleep for a couple hours. We waited until about 3 each day to go swimming because by then the pools were empty practically because people were leaving after being their all day long. It was great because we had the whole pool practically to ourselves then and we could swim a couple hours and return and come back for dinner and things at camp.
For bedtime he went down around 9:00 which is an hour later than he normally does at home. The week before the trip though I got him ready for it so it wasn't too bad. What I did was this:
* Went to the library and got kids books on camping and we talked about the pictures and things people were doing on a camping trip. We read those every night leading up to the trip for night night books and story so he was familiar with things camping was.
* we bought him his own play tent that we took along and set up for him the week before so he could see a tent that was his size and play even though he'd be in with us at night.
* I took him to the store and let him pick out a fun flashlight that was a plane. He had to squeeze the handle to make it work and the propellor went around. He loved it. For naps and bedtime the week before I also let him sleep on top of his sleeping bag and camping blanket so it would be familiar to him on the trip. We just put it in his pack and play and it was fine.
* To adjust for what I knew would end up being a thrown off bed time I put him to bed at 7:00 instead of his usual 8:00 bedtime the week before so that when he stayed up later (and I knew it would happen) he wouldn't be so cranky since he was paying off part of the "sleep debt" a little bit before we went the following week. When we camped I'd get him up at the same time as we do at home (7:00/7:30) and it made naps easier then in the afternoon since he was up an hour later each night.
It was rough the first day because of all the excitement but after that he was fine.
We camped last summer with our son who at the time was the same age as your son is now. We would do our hiking in the mornings and other outdoor active things like that then before the heat of the day. We'd return to camp around noon and have lunch and he'd go down for a sleep for a couple hours. We waited until about 3 each day to go swimming because by then the pools were empty practically because people were leaving after being their all day long. It was great because we had the whole pool practically to ourselves then and we could swim a couple hours and return and come back for dinner and things at camp.
For bedtime he went down around 9:00 which is an hour later than he normally does at home. The week before the trip though I got him ready for it so it wasn't too bad. What I did was this:
* Went to the library and got kids books on camping and we talked about the pictures and things people were doing on a camping trip. We read those every night leading up to the trip for night night books and story so he was familiar with things camping was.
* we bought him his own play tent that we took along and set up for him the week before so he could see a tent that was his size and play even though he'd be in with us at night.
* I took him to the store and let him pick out a fun flashlight that was a plane. He had to squeeze the handle to make it work and the propellor went around. He loved it. For naps and bedtime the week before I also let him sleep on top of his sleeping bag and camping blanket so it would be familiar to him on the trip. We just put it in his pack and play and it was fine.
* To adjust for what I knew would end up being a thrown off bed time I put him to bed at 7:00 instead of his usual 8:00 bedtime the week before so that when he stayed up later (and I knew it would happen) he wouldn't be so cranky since he was paying off part of the "sleep debt" a little bit before we went the following week. When we camped I'd get him up at the same time as we do at home (7:00/7:30) and it made naps easier then in the afternoon since he was up an hour later each night.
It was rough the first day because of all the excitement but after that he was fine.
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