Hotel rooms - sharing with toddler - How do you work it?

[SantaLucia]

DD is nearly 3. She sleeps in a big bed. We are off for a quick holiday (3 nights) to visit family and have booked a hotel family room. The family room has one double and one single bed in the same, large room.

How do I work this?

DD is used to sleeping in her own room with the lights out. Do we all have to go to bed at the same time? Do we have to wait outside the door until she is asleep and then creep back in and watch the TV in the dark or something until our bedtime?

I appreciate she will be going to bed a bit later as there are lots of family get togethers in the evening. But even if she is staying up to e.g. 9pm I can't imagine that we will be able to sleep then.

Am I being dim?

Last year we did the same thing but the "family" room had the single bed in a little room off the main room so we could shut her door and sit in our room. It was just like being in a very small apartment. We couldn't get the same room this year.

She doesn't like to share a bed with us as we have never done this so she finds it weird. Not that we would mind...

Hmmmmmmm. What do you guys do?

Our DS is older than your DD (7) but we have perfected the technique of doing the normal bedtime routine (later than usual to make sure he's extra tired), putting him into his bed, letting him read/watch TV with us for a bit and then turning the light out for ten-twenty minutes while he falls asleep.

Then we turn the light back on and have our evening as usual, including putting the TV back on, and he sleeps right through it.

We took DD (then 21mths) to a friends wedding and stayed in a hotel for 2 nights. She had a little blow-up ready bed in our room.

She did stay up later those nights so went to bed about 10! We did her normal bedtime routine as much as possible. Turned out the lights and layed on the bed till she went off. We then quietly put the TV on and she slept fine all night.

I was 36 weeks pregnant so pretty much went to sleep instantly anyway The second night DH helped me put her to bed then went back to join his friends in the bar whilst we both slept.

When we've stayed away I just let ds stay up as late as us, and then we all go to bed together. It made it easier all round as no bedtime stress, and he just caught up on sleep in the day instead

Last time we did it, DH and I were pretty tired, so we put boy to bed and then sat in the en-suite bathroom reading for a bit, had baths and went to bed early. It was just one night away tho.
previously we have read by torchlight on the floor the other side of the big bed.

Ds is 3 in a few weeks time.

A few weeks ago we stayed 2 nights in a hotel room with him for the first time ( me, dh & ds). My thought were exactly the same as yours! It all went rather smoothly for us. We stuck to normal bedtime routine. We turned all lights off. Dh had football on room tv and said ds could watch postman pat on his DVD for a bit. After 20 mins he said he was tired and wanted to turn it off so we read a storey then he just lay in his bed and fell off to sleep after another 20. I was amazed as ds has always been in bed for 7 in pitch black. It was around 8 by the time he was asleep.

DD is much younger but we've always popped her to bed in the hotel room with the lights out and left her for 20-30 mins to fully drop-off. Either sitting in the bathroom or in the room - we've got laptops so usually turn the screen brightness right down and browse the internet while she falls asleep.

Then we've just put a side light on and watched TV etc. She's slept through most things.

When old nanny family with four children went traveling the children would often have to share a room with me. We would use a bathroom if possible for them to sleep in. One time with three year old he slept in the closet. Another nanny and I had our own beds, little boy all cozy with pillows on the floor in the closet and he settled so well. I kept the doors wide open while we both slepts but while he was going to sleep or if I woke up first I closed the doors slightly. We were very worried he was going to head back to school and say he'd had to sleep in a closet!

We've done various things from staying up late to turning all the lights out and waiting for DC to fall asleep then when asleep when use torches or put a side light on the floor to read. Can even turn TV on if we know for sure they are asleep. Co-sleeping works for us when in hotel rooms even though ours never sleep with us at home. Also letting them watch TV for a short while in bed is such a novelty and a treat that quite oftens calms them down and makes them sleepy!

our ds was a bit younger when we did this but we put him in his buggy(lie flat maclaren)in the bathroom and then when he was asleep tranfered him to his travel cot where he slept all night

OP, you're not being dim at all - hotel rooms are a challenge for families, i speak from experience! It depends on the set-up but if there are two double beds, we (as a family of 4) usually divide ourselves up into two child-adult 'teams' and co-sleep - they love it as a treat and we do it once a fortnight or so at home so it's no big deal. at bed time we get them to sleep in their double bed while reading in the bathroom (me) (for ages, sometimes - nice under the strip lighting...) or sitting downstairs with the paper in the bar(DH)!

Usually for us he has been driving a lot that day so he is happy to go to bed with the girls. I on the other hand function on 3-6 hours sleep so would go out of my head if I went to bed that early so I go and sit in the bar or lobby at the hotel or I go to the local cinema!

We go for the letting the kid crash out whenever method.