My family will be traveling to Florida to stay at my mom's house for 2 weeks. When we last visited, my son was 5 months old and able to sleep in the pack 'n play. Now that he is 16 months, he wants nothing to do with it! He screams and cries and won't sleep in it, not even for naps. Not to mention that I feel he is outgrowing it - his arms and legs now reach both sides when he's stretched out. Does anyone have any advice on where he can sleep (besides in the bed with us)?? I don't mind sleeping with him at night, but I don't want to lave to lay down with him for all his naps. I believe there are Portable Cribs but I also don't want to spend $100+ dollars on something he will barely use. I need to find something that will 'contain' him but is inexpensive. Just wondering what other moms with children his age do... Thanks very much.
Thanks again to everyone for all of their great suggestions. We ended up using our next door neighbor's twin mattress. We put it on the floor next to our bed and it worked great. No need to buy anything and no worries about him falling off a bed!
onestepahead.com also has one of those inflatable toddler beds, its nice.
Hi J.,
I'm not sure where you are staying in Florida, but there's a company that rents baby equipment to traveling families. It's called Baby's Away Rentals (www.babysaway.com) and there are locations all across the country. I used them in Las Vegas when I took my son out there for a family wedding and it was great! They delivered and set up the crib at the house, and picked it up the day we left. Their equipment follows all regulations and is professionally cleaned after every use. It was $45 to rent the crib for the week, which I thought was pretty reasonable.
Have a good trip!
My now 2 1/2 year old was on a twin bed around that age, so it is okay to let him start sleeping without "bars." This might be a good opportunity to indtroduce him to something else. We purchased an inflatable toddler travel bed from J C Penney: http://www2.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?ItemID=14abd7f&I...
It is inexpensive and we just have left it inflated and stored under the grandparents' bed when we're not there. It is kind of noisy (the material makes sounds when the child moves around) so might be annoying, and my toddler usually ends up either on my in-laws' futon or in bed with us when we are away, but it was a good start and nice for naps. If you get something like that (or any kind of "special" napping bag or cot) you can show your child and let him play with it a bit and tell him that is the special place he gets to sleep when you are on your trip. If he is near your it might be easier. Good luck!
I used 2 coach cushions (the big ones) and put it on the floor next to our bed.. it worked like a charm... I put a blanket over it.. it was comfortable.. and easy to use. in the a.m. put it back on the coach.. no cost.. and the kids love it... good luck.. have fun
what about a consignment shop. Sometimes you can find great deals there. Have your mom take a look before you get there.
If your mom lives near hotels and vacation sites, there may be a crib rental company near by. Google it and see. I went to the shore I stayed at a hotel that didn't have their own cribs, but they connected me with
a crib rental that was $40 or something like that...
