Evening events, going on vacation, what do you do??

[jmosery]

My son has been on easy since he was 3 months old(now 6 months)

He is a great sleeper. the only problem, well of course not so much a problem, just a minor annoyance is that he ONLY sleeps in his crib or in the car if he is really tired

So its kind of a pain on holidays, family events and such

for instance. DH's cousins are having their sons second birthday on sunday at 6pm. I don't know WHO does a kids birthday party at that time, i find it crazy. Anyways, I declined and said we were not going. DS goes to bed by 6:30. I feel bad that the whole family is going but I mean if my DS doesn't get to sleep, he'll just cry the whole time and i'll be miserable. its not worth it

but DH and I never go anywhere. We've never taken my son to a restauarant, not even to breakfast because he can't sit still. Always needs his naps. Never can fall asleep in his carraige

Next month, we are going to Florida for a couple days on vacation. I'm thinking i'm going to be miserable. Sitting in the hotel for naps. Having to be in the hotel by 6;30 for the night and staying quiet so he can sleep

I know its better than having my son not able to sleep. believe me

i guess this is just a minor vent. why can't they do BOTH?? LOL

jaime

[Johno & Aurelias Mum]

Depends on their personality really.  For the holiday and in future for family events could you get him used to a pack and play so that you can put him to bed somewhere else?  Mind you 6 o'clock is a mad time for even a two year old's party. 

THe only thing I can suggest with the hotel is getting an adjoining room or one with a balcony (but its probably not going to be warm enough).  That's why I always steered clear of hotels when DS was a baby because of the whole going to bed at night issue.

[Lola]

I wouldn't take Madelaine to that bday party either if its any consolation. Her bedtime is 7pm adn I've declined a few invites because of that. I feel too badly for her. Over the holidays, out shoppping etc she hardly had any daytime naps (not real ones anyways) and that's just the way it goes sometimes. Some days I'd really fret about it but it's inevitable sometimes

the hotel thing wouldn't apply to us because I've put her down in a pack and play (playpen) ever since she was born so she'll sleep just about anywhere that's sort of dark and quiet. Maybe not for 2 hours like at home but for at least 45 Minimum and we can usually get along on that. I've got to go to a g/f place tomorrow and I'll bring it along so she can nap there.

Why don't you try borrowing (if you don't have) a playpen and try putting her down in it before you go so she'll get used to it?
M also still is across the room from us (we have a loft space) so we're used to tippy toeing around her which i HATE but we've no $$$ to build a bedroom just yet. You'll all make do. You'll probably be surprised at how the lo does...

[jmosery]

oh he'll sleep in the pack and play. we went to a friends for new years and he slept from 6:30-5:30 no problem at their house

just stinks that he can't fall asleep in a carraige like other kids

i know, i'm better off believe me

just a vent. why can't all kids just adapt to all situations. i personally can't fall asleep anywhere but my bed, in a quiet and darkness

but DH can fall asleep standing up. wish DS was like that for those situations

i'm worried about vacation(although to me its not a vacation) because i dont' know what we'll do about meals and stuff. but we'll figure it out

we are goin to visit DH's grandmother who has never met DS. if not for that, I wouldn't go

[Johno & Aurelias Mum]

Really try and have a good time.  Keep to routine if you can but if you can't, lighten up on yourself you can fix it when you get back.  Ask on the boards for ideas on mealtimes etc, I bet you'll get loads of good ideas.  For instance, most hotels have kettles so you can warm baby jars and/or bottles.  If you've got a mini bar you can store them in there next to the astronimically priced peanuts 

[jmosery]

thanks

i'm not so worried about his meals. he drinks his bottles room temp and food too(or cold if in the fridge)

my DH who has NO idea about how to raise kids(he works long hours and only sees DS once a week) so doesn't understand how fussy he is, thinks we will go out for 3 meals a day to a restauarant and sit all nice and have a meal

so its hard explaining this to him.

We are going out for breakfast on sunday, so hopefully things go well.

thanks.
jaime

[kim&savannah]

Jaime~

Sounds like you've gotten some great advice.  As far as the meals go, I'm not sure how far along you are with solids, but we actually found that eating out when dd was old enough to do a few finger foods got really easy.  We timed meals (whenever possible) to be between naps so she wasn't tired and just brought along whatever finger foods she liked at that point--cheerios, small peices of banana--once we ordered a plate of avocado slices at a mexican restaurant (and dd ate the entire thing!!!!  It was easily a couple large avocados )--I guess if your LO isn't as into food, it may not help a whole lot, but for dd, she was pretty content for a good 45 min. to be working on her food.  We'd also take her to walk around the rest. and look at things before our food came to the table so she wasn't already bored of sitting by the time we wanted to be able to eat.

The hotel thing--well, that's always been a bit of a struggle for us because we can't usually afford a suite or 2 rooms, so yes, someone gets stuck either going to bed really early or at least sitting in the bathroom or something reading.  Honestly, I was always so tired that I usually volunteered to stay in the room and let dh go do something if he wanted (usually we were with his family if we were at a hotel). 

Also, not sure where you are traveling from, but if there is a time change, you might get that to work in your favor.  We went on a cruise when dd was 5 months and traveling from CA to FL, we got a 3 hour time change so we just tried to keep dd on CA time, which meant her bedtime was at 9:30 FL time instead of 6:30--that helped a lot with the evenings (it also helped that she was pretty happy to sleep in the Baby Bjorn, not so much in her stroller).  However, she was not a good sleeper in general, and I think I would have traded vacation troubles for every night troubles

Good luck and try to have fun.  Like pp said, you can always just fix it.  Its hard to have an overtired baby, but sometimes family things are worth it (FWIW though, I wouldn't go to the birthday party either--that is just too late, and parties tend to be too much stimulation anyway!!!)

~Kim

[jmosery]

thanks Kim

i appreciate the time you took to post

we are going from NJ to FL so no time change.

the good thing is that we're getting away from his cat nap so he can stay up in the afternoon a while, which will be nice to do something.

jaime

[macdee]

Hi jmosery- completely understand your not wanting to take your lo out at night. As a rule, I don't either because personally, I believe the night time sleep is the most important and should never be "tampered" w/ if we can help it. I too have turned down several invites (for adult parties/get togethers that I used to go to in my "other life") and I do think it's insane for anyone to have a kiddies party at 6pm! No sense in that!

As far as travelling, I've yet to experience this but I wonder if it would make a difference to take your lo's blanket or even his bedsheets (unwashed) so that it's a familiar smell? My brother and sister did that w/ their kids when they were babies and it worked. Give it a go... Good luck!

[kim&savannah]

OH yeah, Macdee has a great point-- Iforgot that we did that--always took unwashed sheet and used it on whatever bed we were using for her--seemed to help a little (like I said, our dd wasn't a good sleeper in general so hard to know what was helpful--she didn't sleep straight through the night more than a handful of times before 18 months).  We also brought along whatever else we could that she was used to at home to make it seem more like normal (nightlight, lovey, sometimes even her mobile).

Good luck!

~Kim