Safe Sleeping Aides

R.,
With all due respect--are you KIDDING? I would never give a "sleeping aide" to a child for my own convenience! Just try to take familiar objects and keep her routine the same as much as you can. We have been vacationing via car to the shore since my son was 6 mos old (he is now 5) and we are flying this year to Myrtle Beach. A dvd player is a lot of help keeping them focused on something except the car ride. Favorite animals, book, pillow etc should also help. Have fun on your vacation!

We also had a Ped give us the advise of taking Benedryl for a bit more relaxing airplane trip. I was a little leary, but decided to give it to our son(18 mos. at the time) a smaller dose than normal & it provided a little less active child.
He is 28 mos. now and we'll be traveling again in a couple of months, so I'm hoping that we do as well.

I'd take favorite blankets, animals, music box anything that you use in the room at night to help make the new area as like home as possible. If you don't have a routine, maybe you can start one a few days before hand and carry it over into your trip. Sugar doesn't affect our son, but if it does your child, then maybe no juice or a bit of juice & mostly water for the trip. Maybe you could sit or have somone sit with her to keep her company while you drive. good luck!

I had given my youngest benedryl at 17 months to get through a plane trip (yes...at the advice of the ped!!)It backfired...we ended up sitting at the gate for an hour before take-off and just as we hit maximum altitude...he awoke from his "power nap"!! I am not sure what your pediatrician would reccomend but like I said...I have given benedryl.

I wouldn't give any sleep aids to children....
Try getting her those little beds some are blow up some foam fold up beds... if she sleeps on it at home a for fun then maybe it will help when your away from home...I use to use sleeping bags and before a trip I would have a "sleep over" down in my living room .....now they don't really need anything...when they go somewhere we just call it a sleep over. when she gets to school or if she goes to day care some of those beds are good for their naptime.... GOOD LUCK

We always try traveling late at night, during sleep times. A big meal before you go, milk during the journey, the DVD, and hopefully she'll be out. So, we'll start our trip right after dinner, pop in a movie, and eventually they'll fall asleep. I would steer away from anything else, even "natural" remedies, because you just never know how it will effect them. Little research is done on the effects of anything on kids, and I actually think I remember hearing something negative about using Benadryl with kids -- that it serves the opposite, winds them up.

http://www.nyp.org/060705.htm

Yep, that's what I heard, follow the link.

Hi R.!
There are several natural "sleeping aides" that you could definitely try. Chammomile tea is wonderfully soothing and complettely natural. You can put it in her bottle with a little honey. It is great cold too. Lavender essential oil is wonderfully calming. Put a drop of it between your palms and rub over her pillow/blankie/stuffed animal, a few drops in her bath before bedtime... Also "Bach remedies" are great for anxiety. You put a drop in the drinking water. I use that when there is great stress like a death of a pet. These are things that I have used with my family. The results are subtle, but very real. It will help everyone have a good vacation. :)
N.

R.
I just got a portable DVD player for the car and got my daughter who is also 2 and 1/2 her favorite DVD PBS programs and it occupies her for up to 2 hrs. With it being portable you can take it wherever you go and is charged for up to 2 hrs,it plugs into the cigarette lighter.I highly recommend!
I got it at Walmart for only 70.00. and the case for the car was 10.00.My daughter will stay awake during her programs and the car ride but once we get to our destination she is excited but then goes to bed early since she missed her 3 hr nap.