My son is almost 3 and still sleeps in his crib. He loves it, never tries to climb out and has not asked us about a big boy bed. I'm thrilled and prefer to keep him in the crib well into 3. I did the same with my older daughter. At about 3.5, she transitioned into the big girl bed with no problem and we never had to deal with her getting out of bed, wandering around, no longer napping, etc. We'll be traveling this summer and spending a week at the beach out of state in a rented cottage. I'm afraid my son is too big to sleep comfortably in a pack-n-play and I don't want to put him in one of the big people beds there because I worry he might not like it (he's very comfortable in his crib and likes it) and will be miserable on the trip OR he'll love it and not want to go back to the crib when we return home. Any suggestions on what to do? I was considering investigating rental of an actual crib, but we'll be staying in two different places and one is rather remote (not likely to offer much by way of extra cribs).
I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much to the Mamapedia community for responding to my post! Wow!! So many great responses and really helpful ideas. I really appreciate it! We wound up using a borrowed pack n play for my almost 3 year old during our trip last month. My husband and I both agreed that the pack n play seemed bigger than the one we have at home. Perhaps older models (this one was probably 8 or 10 years old) were larger than what they are making today (or maybe it was just our imagination?) but my son loved it and slept like a champ. He even commented once on how much he liked the pack n play and hoped to use it again when visiting family. When we returned home, he transitioned back to his crib without issue. Hopefully, when we transition him to a big boy bed in a few months, he'll be equally nonchalant about it. Thank you again!!
Hi-we have the Phil and Teds T2 travel bed and we love it. My first son is very tall and we bought it for him at about 2.5 because it is longer than the pack n play. He instantly loved it and called it his "tent bed". It is great to travel with because it folds up into a small bag and weighs only about 6lbs.
I have found the PERFECT solution for this.
My son is the exact same as yours. He's almost three and outgrew his pack n play (he's REALLY TALL) at 1 1/2. We travel ALL the time and I was having alot of issues with this... So I did some research and found this portable bed called the Kid Co PeaPod plus. They have one for little babies and one for kids up to 5 years old (that's the plus).
It's the BEST. We take it EVERWHERE. It's super light weight, folds up into the size of a shoulder bag, comes complete with a comfy blow up mattress and a sleeping bag (although I usually take the sleeping bag out and put in his crib sheet, blanket and stuffed animals instead). If you have a kid that tries get out (like mine does during nap time) all you have to do is safety pin the zippers together on the outside and it's a little tent that they can't get out of.
I cannot say enough wonderful things about this peapod. It probably sounds like I work for them--- but I was just so excited to find something that worked for us.
We went camping last week and brought the air mattress and the sleeping bag without the tent... he LOVED it. We are going on a road trip next week and bringing the whole bed--- he will sleep in it for every night and nap in our room with us.
GOOD LUCK!
ps. if your child is sensitive to light pick one of the darker colors so it automatically makes it darker in the peapod. Also, when putting him in it make sure it's in a cool place because if you zip up all the sides it can get pretty warm in there. We usually leave at least one side up if it's dark enough in the room.
Have you thought about getting on Craigslist and seeing if you can buy/rent one from someone in the remote area? That way, you get what you want, and then can return it.
Also, I thought that my daughter was too big for a playpen, but when she stayed with Grandma not too long ago, she slept in one just fine and she's 36 inches tall and weighs 34 lbs. She's in a big girl bed too, so it used to the room but she did fine!
Our kids always cosleep with us when we travel for ease more than anything else.
But, we had seriously considered some of the travel beds designed for infants/toddlers at onestepahead.com when we traveled in a similar situation. The only reason we didn't get one is that they were out of stock.
http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/search.jsp?N=0&Nt...
We use a kid sized aero bed when we camp or travel, etc. My son loves it. Here is a link:
http://www.amazon.com/Aero-40010-AeroBed-for-Kids/dp/B000...
My son, who will be three in September, still sleeps in his crib and has from the day we brought him home from the hospital. We just returned from a road trip to Oregon and were facing the same problem you are. We took the pack-n-play, but after having him fuss and climb out repeatedly the first two nights, just ended up letting him sleep with us. I was concerned we'd have a problem getting him back in his crib when we got home, but my concerns were groundless since we've had no issues since we returned to our normal routine.
I think is because he likes his matress. you should try to put the matress in a little bed and see if he tries to sleep there. Or try to buy a bed of his favoite cartoon @ babies r us.
My daughter is 2.5. She never took to the pack n play, so I invested in a mini portable crib for her grandmas house. its folds and stores under a bed, but to travel with is bulky yet doable. I found that hotels often no longer carry standard cribs, but offer pack n plays. So we've traveled with ours and it works out. You can get them on line at a variety of sources, I think I got mine through Walmart.com. Many foster moms wrote reports on the crib and said though small, it worked for their three year olds. Seriously its getting snug on my 2.5 year old, but she really has taken to it and it works for us. They cost a little over $100.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Delta-Portable-Crib-White/11993214 (this is the one I have) Costco.com sells one too.
Good morning, my first question is how does he get up and go potty at night if he is still in a crib? for traveling a futon works. I had my baby's out of the crib at 18 months. J.
I know you don't want to put him into a big people bed, but you might want to try it out. My daughter is 2 (28 months) and she loves her crib. It's the same as your son...never tries to climb out, never asks about sleeping in a big girl bed, etc. We recently went away to a family cottage and there were only twin beds for her to sleep in. She did not fit into the pack-n-play at all! She did very well and didn't even fall out, which I was sure she would do. She said she liked to sleep in the bed, but when we came home, she went right back into her crib with no problem. Of course, we were only there for two nights so it may end up being a different situation for you.
You might be able to rent somewhere before you get to the beach.
I suggest you ask the office from which you rented the cottage about getting a crib. I know that some property rental places at the OR coast can provide cribs. Otherwise you may be able to rent before you arrive at the beach and take it with you.
Ordinary rental places that advertise party ware as well as tools may also rent cribs.
Get a fun "tent" for him to sleep in... or a kids pull out sofa.
We got ours from Walmart.
Here is the links:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mickey-Mouse-Clubhouse-Flip-Ope...
http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_constra...
My kids, liked sleeping in these or on the 'sofa' when we traveled, as older toddlers.
And these things are portable and is very useful for anythings.
When my daughter was three someone told me....www.rookiemoms.com
to use a tent. We make a BIG deal of the very special tent and it is a big treat and she loves it. Still sleeps in it at 5. We found a Thomas Train pop up and that is what we use everywhere. We have a princess one too but it has too many pieces to put together so we take the pop-open one and she still loves her "special train tent" Good luck!
