Bedtime on holiday

[waffles1]

My Dad has really kindly booked a family holiday abroad for us all this year, it's a really lovely gesture and i'm very excited to be going.
I'm a fairly laid back mum on the whole except when it comes to bedtime!! I have always followed a bedtime routine and had ds in bed by 7.30pm, on previous holidays myself and dh just happily stayed in every eve or if we were with a big group we'd take it in turns to stay in.
However this year my family want us to all to be able to go out together on an evening (i have already said, not every night!!) so i just wondered what other famillies do when they're on holiday and want to keep their 2 year olds up later. I have never done this before so don't know if ds would just fall asleep in buggy and then be transferred to cot etc or if he would think he has had a nap at 8pm and be up until the early hours!! If i'm honest i'm nervous about breaking the routine!!

Depending on where you go you might be able to use the time zone to your advantage. E.g. if you went somewhere 2 hours ahead of the UK, his "bedtime" would be 9.30, and hopefully, he'd wake up 2 hours later too so you'd get a lie in - bonus

I wouldn't do it.

IME a 2 year old used to going to bed at 7 will be a complete basketcase if you keep them up.

No fun for you or for them.

I'd far prefer to alternate nights and have a well-rested toddler during the day than deal with an exhausted 2 year old.

Also, my relaxing time starts when babies (and toddlers) go to bed, so keeping them up seems like a very bad deal.

Why not just say you don't want to do it?

It's your holiday too.

I would give it a go for one night, you never know he might surprise you and be fine. Either give him a late nap before you go, with a view to keeping him awake, or take him in PJ's with whatever he sleeps with, with a view to getting him to sleep in the buggy while you are out.

We have done both with DS on holiday when he was younger and its never been a problem, despite the fact that he has a fairly set bedtime at home. I'm not sure I'd do it for more than the odd night though, as you will undoubtedly be dealing with a tired toddler the next day!

Either get him to nap later in day ie 3-5pm so he can join you in eve with a later bedtime ( and hopefully later wake), or pop in buggy fed and in pjs at 7.30 and walk to restaurant with him tucked in on recline. He will probably be asleep by the time you arrive.

I am v strict with naps and bedtime at home but away as long as they roughly nap 2 hrs and 11-12 hr at night it doesn't matter when. Our holiday default for x2 toddlers is usually 10pm bed, 9.30am wake, 2.30-5 nap.

We found that it worked well to get dc ready for bed, pyjamas, milk etc. then put them into pushchair with blankets. They were usually asleep within a short time of walking to restaurant and stayed asleep until returning to hotel.

My DDs have always gone with the flow and were totally happy to do 9.30 PM or far later if they could fall asleep in a buggy or someone's lap.

Can be a bit tricky getting them to sleep when you get home, back to the car, but I confess to letting DDs sleep in their day clothes if necessary.

I had no baby sitters if they weren't flexible we'd have been totally stuck.

As for being grumpy the next day? I generally find that if you don't expect them to be tired and grumpy they aren't.

I have a very cynical view that it's the parents not the children who are scared of damaging their precious bed time routines.

I'm totally scared of damaging my kids' extremely precious bedtime routines.

I don't want my babies and toddlers up late. It spoils my fun.

My life is so much easier for having children who sleep well at night and parents who aren't constantly knackered.

Why give that up on holiday?

I think that by 2 they're more capable of dealing with routine changes and actually relish doing something out of the norm. DH and I are going away with DS for 10 days in June (he's 2.5yo) and we're probably going to do one evening of going out late, the next staying at home so DS can have his usual bedtime and doesn't get too tired with successive late nights. I don't think it would be fair on him (or us!) to do night after night of late nights, but he copes pretty well with occasional ones. We'll take his buggy and teddy out with us so if he gets really tired he's got somewhere to sleep. He's always been pretty good at adapting, and we've always enjoyed taking him out, but i guess it depends on the child.

Athing- because then its not really a holiday. For example in a hot country its much better to sleep/ avoid sun during the heat of the day, then enjoy being out with children around 6pm when slightly cooler for them. Also many places in hotels etc start dinner service at 6.30/7pm so a 7pm usual bedtime isn't possible

A buggy with sleeping child means you can enjoy evening instead of sittin in hotel room. We have had some lovely evenings with children in a double buggy, fast asleep at 10pm. Them falling asleep around half 9, tucked up next to us, whilst we enjoy a quiet drink outside a beach restaurant, and a wander along the promanade or through the Spanish shops/ Egyptian bazaars.

Our ds's (18m and 3.5) are usually in bed by 8, I'm strict. We went on holiday recently and pushed it back to 9.15 and they were fine. I wouldn't have gone layer than that, my routine is too precious as we've had lots of sleep problems I'd rather no repeat!

I realy don't get this black and white way of looking at things. Either in bed at 7 or overtired ppartying till the small hours. Surely compromise is the order of the day here with an earlish dinner for everyone (7/8pm) with a slightly later bed time (830-930pm) for LO.

we put dd down for a nap later in the day and she was fine.

when other people were dd was fine to still be awake. and loved the lie in the next day. we never took it any longer than 1.5-2 hours later.

but dd has also been changed into pjs before now and left in the buggy to sleep and then transferred into bed.

forever - that doesn't sound any fun to me with small children.

I arrange my holidays so that while I have babies or toddlers (or both) they can go to bed as usual and DH and I can have our evening free, often with other adult company.

I only do self-catering too.

Dragging babies and toddlers around all evening is not my idea if a good time.

That's ok, everyone can choose what to do themselves. I doubt there is a really wrong or really right way, just different

Everyone can do what they like as long as family aren't laying down the law about everyone having to go out for meals together :o

Thanks all, i think we'll give the sleep in the buggy and transfer to the cot a go and if it completly backfires, then we won't again!! We def won't be doing that every night but would be nice to join my family for dinner maybe 2 or 3 times. There's no pressure from them that this is what we have to do, it is just something that would be nice :-)

Because the best part of a Mallorcan holiday is wandering a long the prom and watching the sun set. Or sitting in a bar drinking something daft with an umbrella in it.

You can't go out in the evening here was a toddler in toe, there everyone does.

The locals do too, the kids dancing competition was at 10pm they didn't fire the fireworks until 11.30, and that was obviously how family festivals are organised. They don't put on hot long flamenco dresses until it's cool.

We tend to swim in the pool in the morning have a leisurely lunch and a nap and then hit the beach, shower, dinner and wander out for a drink.

Once back in the cold grey of England DDs fall back to bed at 8pm in a day or two.

OP, these snooze shades are fabulous, I wouldn't be without one, so handy for day time naps in the pram too!!! They black out the pram totally but are made from a breathable mesh and have a little zipped opening so you can check on your little one while they are sleeping. Maybe you could take him for a stroll in the pram in his pjs using one of these and then meet your family for dinner once he is sleeping? Have a lovely holiday!

Mine go to bed later on holiday especially if in sunny place with pool & beach.Have never had problems getting back into routine in UK.The older ones are 2&3.5 now.

I was in the bedtime routine is sacred camp when mine were little.
DS2 never napped after 14 months and nothing I did at home or on holiday would knock him out. Without a nap all we got was a grizzly 6am start instead of a happy one.

So until they were over 5 we stayed in, ate takeaways and had a peaceful drink on the balcony.

Now we have a different problem. I want to be in bed at 10pm and the DCs(17 and 15) want to be out until all hours.

It suprised me that people are so rigid with bedtimes. We went on holiday recently and the couple in the apartment next to us we're like this. Had to leave the beach by 4 on te dot to get their dd ready for tea at 5 then bed at 7. They stayed in every night while our dc's were having a ball at the kids disco and we drank wine. Every morning they would have to take turns to be up at 7am while our kids slept in.
Didn't look any fun for any of them and ours were fine on returning home.

We stick to our bedtimes when away, not because we want to be killjoys or rigid, but because we know what does and doesn't work with out DC.

I know from experience that if we are out by an hour or two at bedtime then we pay the price the next day in their behaviour. So without feeling that we are being rigid or boring, we always make sure we get the best out of our days and get them worn out and back in bed by their normal bedtime.

We don't do beach or resort type holidays though, we are cities and activities holidays so we like to be up and out first thing. We attack the day with a big activity in the morning, have a more relaxed afternoon, then a lovely family dinner together and then the DC are off to bed and DH and I relax in the hotel, one of us might go out or if we are exhausted from the day we'll both stay in.

I hope it changes as they get older because it certainly makes longhaul travel interesting with the change of time zones

We went to Greece last year when DS was 22 months and used the 2 hour time difference to our advantage. He got into a nice routine of napping 2.30-5, bed at 10ish, upnat 9ish. Lovely for a holiday, though not so good back at home. One night there was a late football match we wanted to watch in a bar so we walked him to sleep in the buggy and then left it at the end of the bar where we could see him. Unfortunately he stirred every time there was a cheer so jt wssnt terribly successful!