Dianaa

Our 13 month old is a maddeningly light sleeper, but if we keep her nursery dark and quiet, we can usually get through the night okay. (She's almost impossible to co-sleep with-- she tosses, turns, and scrabbles like a hedgehog!) We've got a trip to Capri planned this May-- my husband, baby, and I will be sharing one hotel room for a week and we're already getting nervous. Any tips for getting baby to sleep?

wildflow30

Do we have the same child??
We started to use a noise machine (our child likes rain setting) at home. Then we take it with us when we travel.
Try making the hotel room as much like her bedroom at home. Right down to the same room placement and direction of her bed!
Also try to keep her awake as much as possible. Cut down or cut out nap time. Rock or walk her to sleep, then place in bed.
I have got some super duper nightmares until we started combating the problem earlier, at home.

tracybarb

Wonderful tips Wildflow!! It's really useful for me too as i am planning to go for a trip with my 12months old baby

Dianaa

Thanks Wildflow-- these are great. A noise machine is brilliant!

ileen

Many, many years ago, we took our 15 month old son to Europe and toured several cities. He also was a little difficult at sleep time.
So, each evening after late dinner, we made a point to just go for a walk/stroll close to the hotel area and let him walk/run/catch the ball. That activity for 20-25 minutes got him a little tired. Then we would put him in the stroller and walk some more and he would fall asleep. Then we just had to gently put him in the bed.
It worked most nights!
We also took a musical stuffed animal and another one with a small light. If the baby got up in the night, these two items were helpful.

Good Luck.

Dianaa

Ileen,
Thank you-- that's a great point about the activity and stroller. My husband's prophesying that we'll have to sit in motionless silence in a darkened hotel room every night from 7 o'clock on. I think if she's tired enough it won't be such a problem!

LEANNA

Use the drawer from the dresser as a crib. It gives them 4 solid sides and feels very secure. You can put it on your bed or on the floor right next to your bed. Use a pillow as the mattress and its perfect. You can tuck in the blankets and get your little missy all snuggly!!!

We traveled a lot and I always did this and it saved dragging along a lot of equipment and also worked!

sheri_lp

this probably isn't right, but can kids take chamomile tea?

firsttimetonyc

is it possible to pack the babys own pillow or bed clothes the familiar home smell helps to settle them and comfort them if they wake . Also I agree with Ileen ..when we travelled with our children we allowed for a good afternoon nap then kept them happy and busy til much later than their usual bedtimes and they often fell asleep easily sometimes in stroller sometimes in bed sometimes in their daddy s arms !

abram

Our kids could fall asleep in one spot and be moved to another later, staying asleep. So, we'd put the baby to sleep on blankets in the bathtub, then move her to the crib in the hotel room when we went to bed.

LaVisiteure

If you have an iPhone, there's a noise machine app for babies called "White Noise".

Sassafrass

Whatever you do to get your baby to sleep, such as rocking carrying, music, etc. should be continued for twenty minutes after the baby falls asleep before you put him/her into bed. It seems like a long twenty minutes, but that is what it takes for the baby to fall into a deeper sleep, and they won't wake up as easily after you lay them down.

compac1882

If you don't have a i-phone or sound machine...

White noise can be made be just tuning any radio to an empty frequency , the background static is white noise or close to it.

Get your child used to this before you travel.