Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

How do you sleep in a hotel room with a 2yo?

29 replies

tracyk · 29/03/2006 10:08

Need an overnight stay somewhere halfway up the M1??
What do you do to get them to sleep if you are all in one room? Surely they will want to stay up if your are there watching TV?
Do you just keep them up a little later and then all go to bed at 9ish??
Did think of Center Parcs - but we need it for a Thurs night and they only do a Mon or Fri start.

OP posts:
moondog · 29/03/2006 10:11

Ask for a cot.
If you're feeling flash,splash out on an interconnecting room.
Otherwise prepare for a grim night with lights out at about 7.
(I speak as a veteran of many.Dh knows i will go nowhere now unless we get that other room.)

lucy5 · 29/03/2006 10:12

Dh used to go out of room and I would get dd to sleep. Lights off curtains drawn etc. We would then put the telly on and she would sleep through. Some hotels have a listening service. So you could go to the bar or to eat and they will listen. I have never done this though, so I dont know how well it works.

eidsvold · 29/03/2006 10:12

we asked for a cot - put dd to bed and luckily the bedroom had bedside lights - we read/watched TV - chocs and wine etc - she slept.

eidsvold · 29/03/2006 10:14

we did it for 10 days when we were in Singapore - obviously she was worn out from day adventures and a later dinner but she slept fine and we just chilled out.

We have been away and had the interconnecting rooms and she ended up in with us anyway - we should have just had the one bedroom apartment!

philippat · 29/03/2006 10:15

badly, basically.

We hung a dark sheet round the cot once which helped a bit (not draped over cot as that stops air flow, but tied to curtain rail and draped round like shower curtain).

No telly, try reading with a low sidelight. I remember playing scrabble with a torch once...

WigWamBam · 29/03/2006 10:16

If you can find a B&B or small hotel with a residents' lounge that's not too far from your room, you might find that you can sit in the lounge with a baby monitor until you're ready to go to bed. It's still pretty grim, but beats lights out at 7pm. Otherwise a larger hotel may have baby listening available.

moondog · 29/03/2006 10:20

That was a helluva night eh Phil?!

threebob · 29/03/2006 10:26

Once I had ds asleep I turned on the telly, washed up, made a cup of tea and he slept through the whole thing.

Feistybird · 29/03/2006 10:28

When we've done this. We just get DDs into bed, put the tv on in the room and the drone of it soon sends them to sleep.

Then I sent DP out to get drinks from the bar!

Bozza · 29/03/2006 10:31

We had an overnight stop on the way to France last year and it was pretty bad. The room was red hot, but it was right at the side of the M3 so loads of travel noise and we had a 4 yo as well as the 1yo. In the end I got DD out of the cot and bunged her in her pushchair in her pjs and walked her off to sleep, while DH got DS off, then took her back, dumped her in her cot and we read.

calpopscalum · 29/03/2006 17:37

let em run about if you can, do normal bedtime routine, then into bed. if they don't go to sleep we bung tv on and let them drift off (normal rules suspended for hols!) while mummy reads and drinks wine and gets into holiday mode! We've done it on overnight ferries, motorway hotels and French travellodges - found the French tv sent them to sleep fastest!! (exzcept for the mini disco on the ferry!!).

Whereabouts do you need the hotel? I live in northampton (handy for M1) if you need any recommendations.

NotQuiteCockney · 29/03/2006 17:45

Some people like going out for tea with their kid in a pram next to the table, a friend of mine swears by it.

We often had DS1 sleep in a travel cot in the bathroom (!!). Worked fine. Also, a travel cot in a closet.

I hate the idea of being stuck sitting in a dark room, not sleepy, so I'll do anything. Mostly, we just get self-catering places now.

ernest · 30/03/2006 10:35

what about a baby moniter, put kid in cot & go down to bar? No different to being downstairs is it?

NotQuiteCockney · 30/03/2006 10:50

The one time we were in a normal hotel room with DS1, the baby monitor didn't work in the bar etc. (It was one of the good digital ones that tells you when you're out of range.)

I think that plan might work in a small hotel or B+B, but in a big hotel, no chance.

WideWebWitch · 30/03/2006 10:52

pmsl at moondog on Phillapat's night, ha ha ha!

oliveoil · 30/03/2006 10:53

dd1 would sleep in a circus tent with a herd of elephants, dd2 wakes at a feather dropping on the floor.

Are they used to noise?

NotQuiteCockney · 30/03/2006 10:55

Oh, one thing that does help with travel, re: noise, is using white noise machines. Ever since we started using them, our kids sleep much better when travelling. It means that wherever we are, it still sound like home to them.

Original poster
tracyk · 30/03/2006 11:29

Not really used to noise - but quite a deep sleeper - once he's asleep. I just think that he will be too nosey to go to sleep if we are in the room - but may be a bit scared if we leave him (to go for dinner) - in a strange room.
We've booked a hotel with a pool - so will get him knackered and hope for the best and have an early night ourselves.

OP posts:
sandyballs · 30/03/2006 11:39

I would just wear him out in the pool and then take him out for dinner in his buggy, if you think he'd sleep in it.

arfissimeau · 30/03/2006 11:47

I spent several months living in hotels in Thailand with DD when she was 15 months.

In the worst instances I'd put her to bed and retreat to the bathroom with a very long modem cable and surf the net from the bathroom floor.

In the best instances I had a suite Grin.

We still travel quite a lot and I try to get self-catering or rooms with a separate living room & kitchenette.

dejags · 30/03/2006 11:47

We let them go to bed a bit later - with the hoped for knock on effect of getting up a bit later the next morning.

I'll let you all know after we have spent six months in the following types of accomodation (leave on a six month trip in 4.5 weeks time):

Friends flat
Campervan
Hotel
Hostel
Grass hut
Self catering house
Tent

Grin I must be off my rocker Grin

Original poster
tracyk · 30/03/2006 12:00

Indeed dejags - rocker and off spring to mind!

OP posts:
Skribble · 30/03/2006 12:14

This is the reason I prefer self-catering.

One trick I learned from babysitting in hotel rooms is to place a cover over the cot in a way that shades the child from the lamp but not to totaly enclose the cot or the might get too hot. If they don't sllep in a cot then it could be really akward especially if they are on a fold out bed which usually has to be placed in the middle of the room.

Perhaps a small B&B where you can put him to bed then go into the sitting room.

Spanna · 20/04/2006 15:05

I always take a length of blackout lining and some earplugs. We have used the hotel telephone baby listening service, which has been fine as they are both good sleepers. If the baby monitor does not work (we have never had one) you could always just check them regularly. Obviously this only works if there is a lounge/bar etc - not if your staying in a travel lodge-type place!! But we have put the cot in the bathroom before.

Auntymandy · 20/04/2006 15:09

Well I can only comment on mine. put them in cot/bed or whatever and they go to sleep! If they are used to silence then that could be a problem, you do without tv! Or let them stay up. they will sleep in the car on the journey anyway!!