How do we 'do' our evenings whilst away with our 11 mo??

[PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt]

I am so hopeless. We are going to Paris for the weekend, so 2 nights. DD goes to bed at 6:30/7 but we will obviously want to have dinner etc and not spend the evening in our room unable to make any noise because she's sleeping. What do you all do????

Take her with you of course.

Sorry but there is no 'obviously' or what do we all do.

If the hotel has a child-minding service then book it. If not, don't go.

There was a thread on this recently? Think most people said they had room service or booked a baby listening/child minding service. How old is dd? Could you give her a long afternoon nap and keep her up later in the evening until you have eaten?

Hi my ds was 10months when we went on our honeymoon and took him with us!! We found it worked really well by going back to the hotel room at his normal bedtime carrying out his bedtime routine (bath,pyjamas, bottle etc) and then instead of putting him in his cot putting him in the pushchair and covering him with some blankets to keep warm. We then went for a walk to find somewhere to eat and on the way he fell asleep and we got dinner in peace.... Oh we found it worked really well if we ignored him once he was in the pushchair so that he could distinguish between being in there at night to daytime. Hope that helps...Have a lovely time

We used to hire a babysitter via the hotel when they were that little so we could properly relax and enjoy ourselves.

Hope you have a lovely time

Thanks for all of your replies - I think I would be much happier if she was with us - is there a trick to making them sleep in the day??? We'll be arriving at 5pm I think...

There's no right or wrong way, really (sorry, that's not much help is it?). We travelled extensively with our son when he was a baby and we did it all - from taking turns to stay in the room and settle him early (not an option on a weekend break in Paris!), to taking him out to restaurants with us at night (usually ok, occasionally stressful), to leaving him with a babysitter once (DH loved the idea...I found it very hard to leave him with a stranger). It's your call, really, depending on how you think your little one will cope. If he falls asleep easily in his buggy in the evening, why not take him for a stroll until he's nodded off and then go for dinner, armed with a bottle or whatever he needs to settle back? Then, if he does wake up and kick up, send DH out for another stroll while you knock back some more wine .

early dinner for all of you with dd in pyjamas
then travel cot in bathroom so you and dh can stay up with bottle of wine once back at hotel (nudge nudge wink wink)

lots of sleeps in the day and out with you at night - europe is far more child friendly in the evenings than the UK and you will see EVERYONE out with buggies and sleeping children its fab!

there was a thread on this recently and if you want her to sleep in the evening, you could put her travel cot in the ensuite bathroom and have room service in the room.