Sharing a room with kids on holiday

[Roxyrocks]

Hi all,

Does anybody have any hints or tips for sharing a room with kids on holiday?

I've just found out our room on holiday is a double bed for us and sofa beds for the children (3yo and 11mo)

11mo currently still is in our room and home but 3yo hasn't shared with anyone since going into own room at 6mo.

I'm currently worrying we're not going to get much sleep but also that once the children are asleep I'm going to have to sit in darkness so as to not disturb them. I'd sit on the balcony but that's right next to where the sofa beds are.

Have contacted the hotel and they've got no family rooms available

We've done this loads of times, it's not ideal but it's often the set up on holiday. Ours are older now but we often found that they were a bit of a pain on the first night but then the novelty wore off. We just put them to bed as usual, turned the lights out, sat on the balcony while they went to sleep, and then crept back in!

You often find that they're super tired after all the activity in the day and a later night so sleep much better.

We used to put ours to sleep in the main bed, then when it was time for us to sleep we'd move them.

Altetnatively when they were very little, we would take them out in a pushchair with a shade over it and they would sleep while we had dinner etc.

Did this right up to older teens!

With little ones we just watched tv or sat on the balcony though we would be out until late anyway, it's why they invented double reclining buggies!

Take a travel cot for 11m and let the 3 yo have sofa bed.
I once set up the travel cot in the bathroom as it was the only other room and DD would not sleep in same room as anyone

Will the youngest be in a cot? You might be able to move that more easily to a better place.

I would not have them share a sofa bed as they might not sleep and it feels unsafe to me. Definitely take a travel cot

Sorry yes, 11mo will be in a travel cot and 3yo in a sofa bed x

You might find somewhere to put the travel cot, we had a handy little corridor to a wardrobe once and DD's travel cot fit in there perfectly!

Yes I shared rooms, but I made not much concession to found. My kids once asleep were asleep! At home noise carried on as usual when they napped so it wasn't such a big issue.
I put a cover over the travel cot to make it darker.

I guess a lot depends on how good sleepers they are.
When ours were little I always booked a two bedroom apartment with separate living room. The one occasion we had a shared room and retreated to the balcony was a bit of a disaster.

We've done this loads. When they were that little they used to sleep in day when it was hot anyway so could go to bed later. We don't stick to early bedtimes though they just went a bit later and we went a bit earlier. Always worked for us. Couldn't be bothered with being obsessed over bedtime routine whilst on holiday it's time to relax

This is one reason we didn't do hotels for years with DD.

I think you can only put them to bed and sit on the balcony. If you are lucky you have children who stay up a bit later and sleep in or sleep in a pram, we never had this.

You could take an air bed for the 3 yo then you could keep the sofa as a sofa and be able to access the balcony more easily.

We’ve found that when we all sleep together in the same room we sleep really well. Bar the first night when it’s all too exciting. We either go to bed at the same time as the kids or sit on the terrace for a while.

Depending on how big the room is, we have asked for a trundle bed to be left up instead of using the sofa bed. We never wanted the faff of having sofa beds made up and put back each day. If you miss Housekeeping/turndown service it can be a pain.

Otherwise 3 year old in main bed while you use the balcony and then move them once asleep.

Is it somewhere warm where the balcony will be nice to sit on in the evening? We've done this loads, and you just need to get your world set up on the balcony first - wine, glasses, snacks, ipad or books if you're going to read/watch something, mosquito spray, something for arms - whatever you need so you don't have to go back in at all once they're down.

Then you'll also need a sound machine or something like an Echo or whatever to play white noise. You could even have lullabies AND white noise. Or a fan pointing away from them, just so that you're not sitting in silence on the balcony etc.

It's unlikely the hotel will have them, but a screen will go a long way. If the 3 year old can sit up and SEE Mummy and Daddy right there, it's game over. So curtains at the very least.

You don't need the sofa bed opened up for the 3yo (am assuming it opens up into a double bed). Just leave them on it closed as a single.

We've just done this with our five year old and it was fine (except the first night, which like others he was too excited to go to sleep). We'd turn the lights low and do the usual nighttime routine, one of us would lie down on our bed while he settled, then join the other on the balcony with the door open so we could hear movement. Once asleep he sleeps deeply - we could get ready for bed, shower etc and he stayed asleep.

What I didn't like was the lack of somewhere else to go in the morning - I tend to wake up first and like to get up and have a cup of tea before facing the day. But with the kettle and beds in the same room I couldn't make that much noise, so ended up just staying in bed or sitting on the balcony without my morning tea. Not sure it would have been worth the extra £100 a night for the suite though, so it was fine 😂

We do this all the time, it's always been fine, continue to do it even now they are bigger at 9 and 12. Based on our Fitbit data it seems everyone gets far more sleep when we are all in the same room than we do at home.

Get a blackout blind for the travel cot (or shove it in the bathroom/large closet if there's one). Run 3yo into the ground in the afternoon so they're zonked by bedtime.

I've never done it when my son was as young as your dc.
We did it for the first time last year (he was 9) - always done self catering cottages before that but splashed out on a lovely hotel in Austria last year.

Even though he was older, I did worry but it was no issue. That said, he was happy to stay up with us and we would go for an evening wander in town after dinner.

You can't change it now, so my advice would be;

Tire the kids out in the day - lots of swimming/playing/exploring. That and fresh air will make them tired.

Once you have eaten, try to do something again that will make them tired (probably easier with 3 year old than 11 mo) - take them to the play area/for a walk round etc.

If they will cope, keep them up a bit later.

That way, they should sleep fine as they will be tired and you can sit on the balcony 🙂

Even though he is older, my son was tired by 9/10pm as we did a lot during the day.

Are you staying somewhere on an AI or HB basis? Does it have evening entertainment and things?
We always went back to the room for a bit after lunch and they had a nap which also conveniently avoided the heat of the midday sun. One of us would sit on the balcony whilst the other got an hour or so's peace by the pool.
Then we'd go down for dinner and onto the entertainment. The entertainment had never been our sort of thing pre-DC but our DC loved it. We'd just play it by ear. Sometimes the baby would crash out in the pushchair, other times they'd need to be taken for a few laps of the hotel; occasionally, DC1 would clamber in the pushchair and fall asleep herself.
We often wouldn't go back to the room until 9ish and then we'd all go to bed. The joy of phones & tablets means you can scroll or watch something you've downloaded. To be honest, I always enjoyed the extra sleep.

As above, this is the usual set up for a family in a hotel. I think the cost of a "family room" or suite is prohibitive, and there are usually less amenities with 2 bed apartments etc (some sort of catering provided / pool / entertainment etc).

We've usually taken travel cot / blow up beds etc to see how it works when we get there - if you get a large room / comfy sofa bed, you can maybe leave that up the whole time. We had an absolutely massive bathroom once so we put the travel cot in there as a kind of separate room. I have really enjoyed just sitting on the balcony chilling for a couple of hours with my husband - we never get the chance to do that at home.

Think you just have to muddle through for the first couple of nights, but after that it will be fine.

You change your DCs routine so they are up late. Do what the locals do. Have kids as part of evening adult life.

Download Tv/film on phone tablet in case wifi not very strong, and take headphones. Keeps you entertained but doesn’t disturb then, until you’re ready to go to sleep. I also sat in toilet for a while if me being in the room kept them awake….

You’ll be fine going on the balcony. Can you move the sofa beds or get the kids asleep in one bed and move them. Just tell them the plan in advance so they don’t wake up shocked in the morning.

Can you pack a ready bed for the toddler? Then you can put that down wherever you like. (Note one of mine had a hole in when I bought it so if you get one check it’s ok before you fly.)