Hofsta26 or other mom's who are strict about nap/ sleep schedule

What do you do about naps on vacation?

We are going on a cruise to Bermuda in June when my DS will be 14 months old. The days we are at sea, we can pretty much stick to his schedule, but 3 days we will be docked at Bermuda and I don't really want to have to go back to the ship for his naps. The whole purpose of this trip is to spend time with my family because my father was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Will it really mess up his routine if he doesn't stick to his nap schedule for the 3 days?

Hofsta26 or other mom's who are strict about nap/ sleep schedule

I'm strict with naps but when on vacation or even the weekend, dd will nap on the go. Stroller, car, or just later. It's fine and we go back to our normal routine.

I'm sorry about your fathers diagnosis.

Message edited 2/12/2015 7:20:59 AM.

Re: Hofsta26 or other mom's who are strict about nap/ sleep schedule

I was one of the biggest nap and bedtime sticklers with all three of mine (all too old for naps now, but not bedtime ) and we go on at least two vacations a year--including Bermuda when #3 was still napping at 2--and I promise being flexible on vacation never affected them at home.

Enjoy your vacation! My favorite part of the cruise was when I would take DS back to the room for a nap and I'd sit reading and drinking wine on our balcony watching the ocean pass by

Re: Hofsta26 or other mom's who are strict about nap/ sleep schedule

DS1 could nap anywhere. Especially in the stroller. WHen we went on vacation I'd walk him in the stroller around the time he naps and he'd fall asleep. I'd either walk around with him or lay him on a beach chair on a towel in the shade. He was fine.
DS2 only would nap in a crib. When we went to Aruba one of us would take him up and lay him in the pack n play. He would fall asleep and I'd just sit on the balcony and read. WHen we took him to Disney I KNEW he hated napping in the stroller, but we had no choice. 1st day he didn't nap, but at night he eventually fell asleep on the way back to the timeshare. Two days I remember he did finally sleep in the stroller bc the days were long. He'd get up cranky and sweaty and we just dealt with it at that time then he was fine.
Vacation and some weekends nap schedules usually get thrown out the window. Now at 5 and 3 neither nap so makes it easier.

Re: Hofsta26 or other mom's who are strict about nap/ sleep schedule

I'm the craziest, strictest nap person around BUT when we went on vacation I threw caution to the wind. The LAST thing I wanted to do in Disney was sit in a hotel room and watch my DS sleep for 2-3 hrs. So we just went about our day and when he got tired he would pass out in the stroller. He obviously didn't nap quite the same but it was enough to recharge him and get him through the day. It actually went better than I even expected.

When we came home, I put him right back on his regular schedule. From the moment we came home, it was as if we were never even away..............and we were gone 10 days!!

Have a great trip!!

ETA - I didn't have him in bed either at his normal time, which was 6:30!!! There were nights we didn't get home until 11-11:30pm and he would just sleep all night in the parks in his stroller. I transferred him to bed easily once we were back at the hotel. He was 18 months old when we were away.

Message edited 2/12/2015 8:22:20 AM.

Hofsta26 or other mom's who are strict about nap/ sleep schedule

I'm a stickler for naps also but when on vacation DS was always so worn out he would knock out easily in his stroller. It didn't affect his routine when we got home.

Message edited 2/12/2015 8:26:04 AM.

Hofsta26 or other mom's who are strict about nap/ sleep schedule

strict here too, but for a kid who never napped in the stroller sure did on vacay and it was fantastic so we didn't have to worry about a crazy non napped kid, or going back to the room.

DD2 is more flexible. We went on a cruise this past Aug and dd2 was 17 months and some days I left hrt in the stroller others, i went back to the room. If i needed to get out of the sun or I wanted to nap a bit I could, other times I stayed and played with dd1.

It dd not effect us back at home. I think you are so tired from the vacation setttling back in is not a big deal

Re: Hofsta26 or other mom's who are strict about nap/ sleep schedule

Thank you!! I think I'm just gonna go with the flow for vacation!

Re: Hofsta26 or other mom's who are strict about nap/ sleep schedule

I'm also a very strict parent about bedtimes and nap times (although mine no longer nap). I still, to this day, never hear the end of it from certain friends who are the exact opposite of me in regards to this.

I agree with the others who said you just have to go with the flow on vacation. That's what we always did, and it always seemed to work out. Once we were home, they went right back to their schedules with ease because they were so pooped from missing naps/shorter naps, etc.

Just enjoy your vacation!

Re: Hofsta26 or other mom's who are strict about nap/ sleep schedule

I'm a huge nap mom (my kids...lol). But on vacation I refuse to sit in a room so they could nap. And believe me my DD #1 was always on a schedule.... Except for vacation. My DS goes with the flow a lot more than my DD but it's also Bc he doesn't have a choice. If he's napping and I have to take DD somewhere or pick her up he's gotta wake. He does a lot of naps in the car as well as scheduled ones so he adjusts. We are going to disney when we he 13 months and I plan to use the stroller for naps. And I hope I didn't just jinx myself on his flexibility lol

Re: Hofsta26 or other mom's who are strict about nap/ sleep schedule

My kids are nightmares if they miss their naps or if they have short naps for a few days in a row. So unfortunately, I have to still be a bit strict about naps on vacation. Last vacation we planned our days so that the kids could get good naps every other day (did the pool/beach), and would get on the go naps the other days. This way we didn't build up too much nap deprivation and have meltdown kids the whole time. I hate being a stickler for naps, but I hate dealing with two kids who meltdown over the dumbest things even more!