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Strategies on toddler sleeping in same cabin


flyingandcruising
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At home, our 19 month old sleeps in his own room, with black out blinds, and a noise machine. We will take his noise machine with us but putting him to sleep in the same room as us may be a challenge (he was a very difficult sleeper for the first 8 months of his life, we eventually had to call in a sleep consultant). he will NOT sleep in his stroller, so that's out of the question for naps unfortunately.

 

Just wondering what your strategies are for napping/sleeping your toddler in the cabin with you. We obviously would need to stay in the cabin with him during naps because even with a monitor I'm sure we cant go any further than the balcony.

 

Thanks for all the replys.

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I have seen some people that bring magnetic hooks to put on the ceiling and hang a thicker shower curtain around the crib/pack n play. I am going to try this on our cruise on Sunday. We also got a balcony so we can sit out there while he naps and goes to bed. He is 15 months and we also had a hard time with getting him to sleep when he was younger, still have some rough nights but I think it's just from teething (almost done, canines coming in now then just the last set of molars to go!). We are also brining an audio monitor so I can hear him while on the balcony. I'm hoping he will be able to fall asleep if I leave on one of the small lamps by the bed so we can see while getting ready for bed after he is asleep. The cabin will have good black out curtains over the balcony door/window.

 

 

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I have seen some people that bring magnetic hooks to put on the ceiling and hang a thicker shower curtain around the crib/pack n play. I am going to try this on our cruise on Sunday. We also got a balcony so we can sit out there while he naps and goes to bed. He is 15 months and we also had a hard time with getting him to sleep when he was younger, still have some rough nights but I think it's just from teething (almost done, canines coming in now then just the last set of molars to go!). We are also brining an audio monitor so I can hear him while on the balcony. I'm hoping he will be able to fall asleep if I leave on one of the small lamps by the bed so we can see while getting ready for bed after he is asleep. The cabin will have good black out curtains over the balcony door/window.

 

 

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That's a awesome idea about the shower and hooks. Thanks.

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There is other good advice on the thread, but also: don't stress. Our daughter was a difficult sleeper up until age 6-1/2. She has always gotten to sleep and slept like a champ on a ship (unless way overtired.) I think the excitement, activity, the (slightly) extended days, the sea air, and the motion of the ship all help to get her to sleep more easily.

 

Note that sometimes the balcony doors are outrageously loud in a quiet cabin, so hopefully that won't be the case for you and you'll be able to enjoy the balcony. We also could not hear the monitor given the wind and water noise on the balcony, so we would up leaving the door ajar to solve both problems.

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There is other good advice on the thread, but also: don't stress. Our daughter was a difficult sleeper up until age 6-1/2. She has always gotten to sleep and slept like a champ on a ship (unless way overtired.) I think the excitement, activity, the (slightly) extended days, the sea air, and the motion of the ship all help to get her to sleep more easily.

 

Note that sometimes the balcony doors are outrageously loud in a quiet cabin, so hopefully that won't be the case for you and you'll be able to enjoy the balcony. We also could not hear the monitor given the wind and water noise on the balcony, so we would up leaving the door ajar to solve both problems.

 

Thank you, good to note about the monitor noise. Not stressed at all. This is actually his second cruise, but the first since he's been sleeping through the night.

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We have twins and took them on allure of the seas when they were 16months. We had an ocean balcony. We bought magnetic hooks and asked our cabin steward for an extra sheet this way you don't have to bother with bringing a curtain. It worked great. My daughter is similar to you're son... she does not nap in a stroller or in a carrier. (My son deserves a medal for worlds best napper he sleeps anywhere and through anything including her screaming and crying.). So we got off the ship earlier and came back for their afternoon nap every day. We sometimes napped as well!!

 

 

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I'm reading this for tips! I'm taking my daughter on a cruise this fall and she sleeps fine in a crib, but basically nowhere else.

 

We're going to practice sleeping on cots/beds and see if she can handle it.

 

My plan for sleeping is just to roll with what we get - try to do the nighttime pattern, but if she doesn't sleep we'll cuddle up and watch movies until she does. Its a vacation, its not like we have anywhere we have to be.

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I'm reading this for tips! I'm taking my daughter on a cruise this fall and she sleeps fine in a crib, but basically nowhere else.

 

We're going to practice sleeping on cots/beds and see if she can handle it.

 

My plan for sleeping is just to roll with what we get - try to do the nighttime pattern, but if she doesn't sleep we'll cuddle up and watch movies until she does. Its a vacation, its not like we have anywhere we have to be.

 

If your child is too big for the pack-n-plays...you might want to try turning the loveseat (if your cabin has one) around against the wall...has worked fine for some.

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No advice but I feel for you. My daughter (now 6) has not been a good sleeper since she was 6 months old. I don't sleep well either, so I think she takes after me. We sailed once when she was a little over 2 and I vowed NEVER to take her on vacation (relented on that). I think she heard the cruise director say you can sleep when you get home and took it to heart. We spent many afternoons with an overstimulated toddler begging, pleading, snuggling and whatever to get her to sleep and it did not always happen. But we did survive and no one got kicked off the ship. And it did get better. So even though I have no real advice for you right now, I will tell you to hang in there. :D

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  • 2 weeks later...
At home, our 19 month old sleeps in his own room, with black out blinds, and a noise machine. We will take his noise machine with us but putting him to sleep in the same room as us may be a challenge (he was a very difficult sleeper for the first 8 months of his life, we eventually had to call in a sleep consultant). he will NOT sleep in his stroller, so that's out of the question for naps unfortunately.

 

Just wondering what your strategies are for napping/sleeping your toddler in the cabin with you. We obviously would need to stay in the cabin with him during naps because even with a monitor I'm sure we cant go any further than the balcony.

 

Thanks for all the replys.

 

Parent of two not so great sleepers who will be 2 and 4 by the time we sail Allure in May 2017. First this will be the 3rd cruise for the 4 year old and the 2nd for the 2 year old. When we cruised the Allure in June 2014 we had our 15 month old (the now nearly 4 year old) and we knew that it wouldn't be a late night party cruise vacation for us as we weren't willing to use the nursery and we knew our fussy sleeper would be miserable if we did, so we prepared ourselves for a family cruise. We definitely brought baby monitors and had no issues taking full advantage of warm breezy summer nights on the balcony, with cocktail or glass of wine in hand and being able to hear every peep that came from inside the room. Do this for certain I know somebody else said it didn't work for them but that is the worst case scenario. It could be the type of monitor as well that may not have had a high volume. We use the summer brand baby monitors. At night though we slept the little lady in the pack and play and like clockwork she would wake and be in our bed by about 1AM. Then she'd be up at 5:30AM and I'd carry her around a deserted largest ship in the world until Mommy woke up. Now however, I look back on some of those early morning walks with my baby girl in my arms around the ship and wouldn't it for the world! Why do I say all of this, it's not going to be like sleeping at home, the nature of the vacation makes it difficult to recreate the home's daily activities as expected so find out what works for the cruise and enjoy the vacation.

 

Our second cruise last February was with both kids and (gasp) my near 3 year old actually slept all by herself because she was so enthralled by the pullman "bunk" bed and was so excited to sleep in it. Now people are going to question me for letting a 3 year old sleep on that pullman bed but we checked it out, it was safe and she actually slept so that's the way we went with it! You better believe that our room on the Allure in May has a pullman bed! The little guy who was just 11 months last year on the disney cruise slept in the pack and play. Again we brought the monitors and enjoyed the balcony.

 

For as bad as they are at sleeping at night both our kids nap famously on the go. I have yet to find a stroller that they don't fall asleep in. So we brought a double stroller with and though we tried to nap them in bed as much as possible we were able to enjoy the Disney Dream as they slept in the stroller on a few different occasions.

 

As for ports we found that our kids nap on rented and shaded beach chairs as well if not better than they do in their cribs!

 

Also, this idea popped into my head for the Allure this coming May. It might be something others who are a bit overprotective like us might consider. With the upgraded and well received wifi on the RCI ships I plan on buying a wifi baby monitor. Using this baby monitor and combining it with in-cabin babysitting my wife and might feel comfortable stealing away a few minutes at a comedy club or a lounge while the kids are being actively babysat and we can monitor room activity at the same time. Just a thought!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Our second cruise last February was with both kids and (gasp) my near 3 year old actually slept all by herself because she was so enthralled by the pullman "bunk" bed and was so excited to sleep in it. Now people are going to question me for letting a 3 year old sleep on that pullman bed but we checked it out, it was safe and she actually slept so that's the way we went with it! You better believe that our room on the Allure in May has a pullman bed! The little guy who was just 11 months last year on the disney cruise slept in the pack and play. Again we brought the monitors and enjoyed the balcony.

 

This gives me hope that I may get my 4 year old to sleep on the upper bunk of a pullman on our upcoming cruise! And that we might get to use the balcony after the kids are asleep! Thanks for the reassurance.

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I am right there with you!!! We are heading off on a cruise this September and my son will be 19 months at the time.. I am already stressing about sleep. We finally got our nights sorted out...

 

 

The first 3 times we traveled with my son he did not sleep through the night and had to be rocked and nursed to sleep. This last time which was also on a cruise at 15 months he had started to fall asleep easily on his own and even sleeping through the night (12 hours straight!) a few weeks before the trip. We kept his schedule as close to at home that we could and he needed a little help going to sleep the first few nights and did wake up once the first night then settled right in for the rest of the trip. other then waking up earlier then normal the days he could sleep in then decide to sleep in the days we had to get up early....

 

 

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This gives me hope that I may get my 4 year old to sleep on the upper bunk of a pullman on our upcoming cruise! And that we might get to use the balcony after the kids are asleep! Thanks for the reassurance.

 

 

Of course, it's your call but most cruiselines say that a child must be 6 in order to sleep in a Pullman.

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Right and when I booked the royal Caribbean representative had to check if he was allowed to book me into a room with Pullman since we will have a 4 and 2 year old. But the 6 year old recommendation is just a strong cruise line recommendation and nothing more. Luckily cruise lines recognize that parents know best. So if you are comfortable with your most precious possession sleeping on the Pullman go for it.

 

 

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My son was a horrible sleeper as a baby. But he always slept great on the cruise. I think the combo of the motion, the background noise and sheer exhaustion helped a ton! One of us always went to bed with him at the same time though. My husband loves a good nap, so he would typically take a nap with him. And then at bedtime I was usually ready to go to bed too (I have to take motion sickness medicine and it makes me very tired) so I would go to bed at the same time. I think if we were up and moving around while he was trying to fall asleep it would not have worked as well. Though I could usually lie in bed and read - that didn't disturb him. Have a good trip! My son was a difficult baby all around, but he was always such a great traveler. It was weird! At 9 he's still a great traveler, and a much happier camper all around! ;)

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My kids are 9, 7, and 3. My best advice would be to decide on a strategy, and stick with it! We always have a rough first night or two and then it's smooth sailing (pun intended!) once the toddler realizes this is just how it is and this is how we sleep on the ship (or in the hotel room, etc).

 

For us, we put them to bed and then get out of their sight, just as we do at home- depending on the room set up we will sit in the bathroom or in the doorway, wherever he can't see us. We've tried lying in bed with him until he falls asleep but that is fun for absolutely nobody, so we start out with him expecting to sleep by himself (and we go back in to reassure him or put him back in bed, etc). But definitely decide on your method and stick with it so that you're not struggling the whole time!

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I have zero advice on cruising with kids this little as our upcoming cruise is our first, and my kids are 8 and 11. But, when I read you're taking a white noise machine I wanted to mention make sure you pack it carefully--in the original packaging if you have it. When my youngest was a baby he ALWAYS slept with a white noise machine, and I thought I was being so smart taking it along on a trip for him to have. It completely broke apart in the suitcase!! Lesson learned, I saved the box from the replacement and always put it back in there with the packaging to travel.

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I have zero advice on cruising with kids this little as our upcoming cruise is our first, and my kids are 8 and 11. But, when I read you're taking a white noise machine I wanted to mention make sure you pack it carefully--in the original packaging if you have it. When my youngest was a baby he ALWAYS slept with a white noise machine, and I thought I was being so smart taking it along on a trip for him to have. It completely broke apart in the suitcase!! Lesson learned, I saved the box from the replacement and always put it back in there with the packaging to travel.

I use a white noise machine at home and when I cruise I have an app on my phone that I use.

 

Laura

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We first cruised with our twins at 14 months old on Princess. We took strong magnets and asked for an extra few sheets to create a light barrier around the provided pack and plays. We also brought their sound machine to help create the noises they were used to hearing, the ship also provided a lot of white noise but the sound machine helped block out some of the noises from the hall.

 

We debated what to do when they were sleeping, since we have one very very light sleeper, and figured we would try to watch TV with headphones. The two pack and plays sat all along the wall and doors to the balcony so it was not a great option for us to go out there. We bought a very long extension cord for headphones and a splitter, plugged it into the TV and were able to lay on the bed watching TV or movies. We had to make sure they were asleep first so the light of the TV wasn't an issue but made the early bedtime they needed much easier to cope with.

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  • 1 month later...

Some great advice on this thread! Thank you! Making me feel

Much more at ease about first cruise on Royal carribean voyager of the seas with our twins who will be 2.5years old. We have 2 cots requested for the room, will this be pack and plays? Does anyone know how i can find out exactly how big pack and plays are? If I google is it the grace brand? We have our own small portacots which I would maybe rather bring if they are more compact then what will be provided.

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Some great advice on this thread! Thank you! Making me feel

Much more at ease about first cruise on Royal carribean voyager of the seas with our twins who will be 2.5years old. We have 2 cots requested for the room, will this be pack and plays? Does anyone know how i can find out exactly how big pack and plays are? If I google is it the grace brand? We have our own small portacots which I would maybe rather bring if they are more compact then what will be provided.

 

If you have portable beds for your kids I would bring them. A friend of mine went on a cruise and they requested a portable crib and when she boarded they told her they didn't have any left. It was not Royal Caribbean BUT I'd rather be safe!

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We went on allure with our twins last year, and they were pack n plays. Don't think they were graco brand but same size since we brought our sheets after reading cruise line doesn't provide fitted sheets for cribs. We also had the issue we couldn't have two play yards reserved for our ocean balcony rooms. Fortunately traveling with my in laws we reserved one play yard per room. In the end we were able to fit both in our room, just closed one up during the day for space. Very jealous, desperately wanted to go on cruise again this year but hoping for next year!

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
We have twins and took them on allure of the seas when they were 16months. We had an ocean balcony. We bought magnetic hooks and asked our cabin steward for an extra sheet this way you don't have to bother with bringing a curtain. It worked great. My daughter is similar to you're son... she does not nap in a stroller or in a carrier. (My son deserves a medal for worlds best napper he sleeps anywhere and through anything including her screaming and crying.). So we got off the ship earlier and came back for their afternoon nap every day. We sometimes napped as well!!

 

 

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Do you have a link to the hooks you bought?

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