Sleep Away From Home?

[Jenifer]

MY DD is 21 months old.  She has almost always slept at home in her crib.  She has been a fabulous sleeper, goes to bed on her own, sleeps well, etc.  She does not go to daycare - my MIL watches her at our house.

However, on Christmas we tried to get her to sleep in a play pen at Grandma's house.  She would have none of it.  I sang to her, held her, etc.  After all that, I rocked her to sleep and she woke up when I was trying to put her down.    We finally ended up just leaving after 2 hours of trying to get her to go down.

So, my question is - is this an age thing where she's just really comfortable in her routine?  (I've read on another website that this could be the case for this age.)  Or is this something she should be able to do?

I feel a bit screwed because everything we read said its best for her to sleep in her crib for naps and bedtime .. and now she can't do it anywhere else. 

Should we bite the bullet and get MIL to try and put her down for naps at her house once in awhile .. or is this a passing phase (and so, we're probably better just waiting it out and trying again later)?

Thanks!

[Mrs. A]

Just marking my spot as I have the same issue with DS.  I've also heard that at this age LOs are very sensitive to routine and order, like you said I don't know if it's something that should be worked on or if I should just wait and ride it out

[debo620]

we went on a bid of a road trip at that age and I planned hotels for naps and nights. we did succeed in getting DS to sleep in a play pen. he did really well surpisingly.

what we did was the usual routine but I started about 20min early knowing it would take him longer to settle for the night. it ended up being more a wi/wo when he cried. so we talked about him sleeping there, and when he started to cry when I left, I went in--told him it was time to go to sleep etc, repeated until he fell asleep.

after a couple of nights, he acted like that was his new bed.

now if he needs to sleep in a playpen, I tend to set it up as early as possible and talk about staying at grandmas etc and I show him where he will be sleeping and where we will be sleeping etc he still might cry a bit but one or two wi/wo and he is fine to settle on his own.