Travel with a 1-year old

[MomCathy]

Hi mums!

Soon we will do some traveling with our 1.5-year old daughter, visiting relatives among other things. Sadly I am very worried since I don't think my relatives houses are going to be very child safe. Hence I am looking into buying a travel playard. I am looking for something portable, similar to the Graco ones in this article.

Are the Graco Playards any good for travel?

Thanks!
Cathy

There is no way my 1 Year old would have accepted been restrained like that.

At 18 months, both of mine would have climbed out of that, so it depends on how physical your daughter is.

That’s a travel cot. I went on holiday with DD at 18 months. She accepted being in her travel cot while awake for around 20 minutes, once a day, if we put In the Night Garden on where she could see it. Otherwise not a chance.

You’ll just need to watch her all the time sorry.

Tough one OP, i have a big playpen (now ballpool) and she screamed the house down at that age when i put her in it for more than 5 mins, even with all her toys.
I would try and get a second hand one if you do want to try it, save spending a lot of money if it does go unused, or if a friend has one you can borrow to try?

You might be better off arranging for baby gates to be installed in relevant doorways so that your DD can be restricted to one room/area where you can keep an eye on her?

The graco playards are good for sleeping in though, if you don't have a travel cot.

Agree with everyone here - unless you have a particularly obliging 1 year old!

Mine actually got used more by DS1 than DS2 - he used to climb in it to play sometimes so that DS2 couldn't interfere with what he was doing!

That’s just a travel cot? Mine slept in theirs (2+1) when we were on holiday last year but howled to get out once they were up, even with toys in there. Could you get a large travel gate/pen that folds down instead?

Sorry I agree, you're just going to have to watch the DC like a hawk. We recently stayed with a relative whose house is like a (very stylish) antique shop and to be honest my 2yo spent most of the time when "at home" in the garden It was far less stressful than following her around the place. The hosts were very understanding but I couldn't help mentally totting up the damage every time she touched anything!

You can buy travel stairgates which to me sound like a far better option. Take some small toys and they'll be perfectly happy and chances are relatives will gift a little something too. Our ds tends to stick close to us anyway if he doesn't know the people so you shouldn't have to have much worry about that. At night you may struggle with travel cot as it's not as comfy or big as used to but soon get hang of it after a fair few tears. Unless they used to being penned in don't start it at their age. Especially as likely to either climb out or tip it over.