Toddler Bedtime

[alj1208]

First, count yourself among the lucky; your daughter goes down easily every night and stays down until morning!

 

While your daughter might do the same thing on vacation, there's a decent chance she won't. Go into the cruise with an open mind about how you will deal with bedtime.

 

I'm not saying you shouldn't try to re-create what she's used to at home. I'm just saying that a toddler on a cruise ship for the first time is out of her environment. While your efforts will hopefully work toward getting her to sleep, be prepared for that not to be the case. And that's okay. You will figure something out.

 

You may also find it's easier to just keep her up a little later and take her out with you to dinner or whatever. If you have a stroller, prehaps she will fall asleep.

 

Also, we never let our son sleep with us at home, but on our recent cruise, he needed to do that that in order to feel comfortable the first night. He was 4 at the time.

[TheCalicoCat]

I sat right outside the room (we are insiders). I brought a portable craft avtivity to work on but you could bring a book...

[sunrise&set]

We did the same as a previous poster mentioned... adjusted our schedules. DS was still taking a nap when he was 2 so this made it easier. He was also still napping for our last cruise in Feb 2011 when he just turned 4 :). It did take him some time to fall asleep with us in the room, but once he was out - it was for the night and he'd even sleep a little later than usual.

 

Even without kids, DH and I usually head back to the cabin late afternoon to rest/read and then would get ready for dinner. With DS, he'd take a nap as well and then he would stay up later than at home. We're cruising again next Feb after his 5th birthday. Still plan to have quiet time in the cabin and he will go to the kids' club after dinner or enjoy a show with us. It didn't take long for him to get back to normal when we got home.

[mzyonse]

Get a noise machine for sure. You can get a conair one at Wal-mart for about $12 in the hairdryer section. This will really help. Then sit on balcony until she goes to sleep.

[bailsasinme]

We recently took our 17 month old on her first cruise and are getting ready for her next cruise. The first night was very hard because she wouldn't go to sleep with us in the room. The second night went smootly because we realized we were on vacation and even though it was important to keep her on schedule we figured out another option. Every night we would get her in her jammies and walk laps around the upper levels outside. The sounds of the water and motion would put her to sleep and it was a relaxing stroll for us not to mention a little excersize. We would then park the stroller by the outdoor big screen tv and we would watch a movie. It was perfect and relaxing. I just recommend going with the flow. Also, another idea is depending on which time zone you are in keep your child on their normal time. We are pacific time and the cruise was on eastern so she would go to bed around 10:30 ship time which was to her 7:30. It was great because we didn't feel we missed evening activities.

[Showtune]

Wow, that JS closet is huge. Almost as big as the bedroom I slept in growing up. I wouldn't hesitate to make a closet like that into a bedroom for my toddler, who will only sleep in complete darkness with white noise (ipod). Every kid is different and every family has to figure out what will work for them.