Going out tonight - what technique should I use when I get back home?

[Jiinx]

Hi there!
 After much prompting and encouraging, my DH wants us to go out to his brother's house for dinner. I'll be putting my dd to sleep at my BIL and SIL's place..which shouldn't be a problem. However, I think she'll wake up and stay awake on the ride back home and up to our place.

Sh/pat doesn't work anymore. Should I just put her down in her crib and walk out? I know she'll cry pretty loud bc she's OT and her sleep was interrupted, but should I leave her there for 5-10 minutes to sort it out? She cries pretty hard at first, but then she starts to lose steam as she tries to go back to sleep.

I haven't done this before..well, I've done it and sh/pat works. Now she's older and smarter and REALLY good at sleeping independently.

Just wanted to hear what others have done and what works. And hoping it won't be too bad of a night!

Sarah

[Tweakster]

Finn always wakes on transfer.  We just make sure that he's in his sleepers and ready to go down and we carry him in and straight to bed in the dark (as much dark as we can).  He normally just goes right to sleep, their sleep drive is high at that time of night.

In a pinch, we have had to use a bottle if he doesn't seem like he's going to settle.  But then he normally gets really sleepy again straight away and we put him down.  I wouldn't be afraid of APOP in this case if you need it.

She may surprise you and not cry at all!

[Jiinx]

thanks my friends I love your optimism..hopefully some of it will spill over to me.

Wendy -if Finn can manage a transfer, I have hope! She'll just pop wide awake and stay awake ALL the way home. I put her in her crib and she cries. I'm hoping (dh is praying) that tonight will be a stepping stone to more outings at night...so just a little anxious. Silly, I know.

Jane - thanks! I'll have to remember to drop the blinds and draw the curtains.

[Tweakster]

There's nothing wrong with shush/pat if it works.  Seriously.

Go out and have a nice time Sarah - she'll cope, they get so much better as toddlers with the whole going out thing - they are very social creatures so being out and about fuels them and they collapse from exhaustion :-)

[Tweakster]

Thanks, it was post-tantrum lol

[Jiinx]

thanks! Just put a couch beside you guys and you'll be my therapist.

Oh! I didn't see the pic when I posted. He's not at all camera shy. What a poser!

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

I was just going to add along with this advice, that what we do if what was said above does not work, is, we just do our wind down routine again to sort of reset him back into sleepy phase. Usually it just works to do what everyone said above though!

[koe2moe]

we have tried a few things.  if DS was fully awake, then we'll just do normal bedtime routine but cut out the bath unless it's really warm.  if DS was asleep in the car, then usually he might still sleep on DH's shoulders until we got inside our front door :-s and then we changed him into sleeping gear, either use a bottle (which I'm ashamed to admit is our major weapon and i've decided to keep it hehe) or just pat him on my shoulder until he's calmed down. 

I really hope you will have a great time and that she will go to sleep easily to start a new phase hugsss

[Jiinx]

uh...

wish I had a better report.

Once she realized I was putting her to sleep somewhere new, she was screaming and crying. I managed to put her in her cot by 7:50 and after 10 seconds she relaxed and fell asleep 5 minutes later. She was asleep until I got her and she sprung right up and stayed awake the entire way home. which wasn't terrible bc she was quiet..but cried every 10 minutes for 40 minutes after I put her in her crib. I finally went in, fed her and she cried out but I think after 15 minutes she fell asleep.

she awoke at 6am...and I got her at 6:50 when she started crying hard.

Gah.

thanks for asking and thinking of me I did learn a bit...not sure what I would do differently next time.