Toddler Napping

We are taking my 18 month old on her first cruise. I know I am going to have to be very flexible since I am bringing a toddler. No big deal. My question is, how did you get your toddler to sleep on the beach? or did you just get into port early, head back for a nap later, and then after they woke up head back out? She will only sleep in a pack n play, crib, or car seat so I'm a little nervous about port days! We are not doing any excursions through the ship, rather just getting to a beach club on our own.

Can you take the car seat to the beach with you? Or start getting her used to something else now.....but you can always head back to the ship for a nap. You probably won't want to be at the beach all day long. The Caribbean sun can be fierce, even under shade! You may be ready for a "break" after a couple hours!

I did not fuss too much about napping, she Just fell asleep wegen she could No longer Go on, either in a stroller, on daddys arm, a lounge chair or even the floor.

Kids can be flexibel.

We are taking a car seat with us for driving to the beach. Luckily she's itty bitty and fits in an infant carrier safely! I can definitely try this.

After going to the Caribbean a couple years ago i was thinking that we might need a mid day break.

I have tried that the past couple weekends. Just letting her go until she pass out, but it always ends up with an extremely cranky, crying toddler. I am not sure if it is because shes only 14 months now, and maybe that will change?

most kids switch to 1 nap at about 14-16 months.

I'd get off the beach around 1-2 pm, get back to the boat, feed and nap.

We started cruising with DS when he was 3 and still napping. That's what we did, he napped at 3-5 pm.

Yes! She’s been at 1 nap since about 11 months. She usually naps 11:30 till about 1:30 ish. I’m thinking that half a day in port then coming back for a nap and lunch is probably the best option. Then if we have time we can always go back out. And we could always push the nap back to a later time and I think she’d be fine.

We are taking my 18 month old on her first cruise. I know I am going to have to be very flexible since I am bringing a toddler. No big deal. My question is, how did you get your toddler to sleep on the beach? or did you just get into port early, head back for a nap later, and then after they woke up head back out? She will only sleep in a pack n play, crib, or car seat so I'm a little nervous about port days! We are not doing any excursions through the ship, rather just getting to a beach club on our own.

Where are you cruising and what are your planned excursions?

Best guess as long as you got her down by 130 or so she would be ok.

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If she looks drowsy on the car ride back, give her food to stay awake. With my first when he was 2, I'd come back from excursions with him and if he slept for 10 minutes he was done, and would refuse to nap in the room. Since he'd be miserable later, it wasn't going well. On the second excursion I gave him cereal in the cab to keep him awake and he happily went to sleep in the room.

We are taking my 18 month old on her first cruise. I know I am going to have to be very flexible since I am bringing a toddler. No big deal. My question is, how did you get your toddler to sleep on the beach? or did you just get into port early, head back for a nap later, and then after they woke up head back out? She will only sleep in a pack n play, crib, or car seat so I'm a little nervous about port days! We are not doing any excursions through the ship, rather just getting to a beach club on our own.

I don’t think you “get” them to sleep on the beach. Either you are lucky and have a flexible baby who will sleep in random places (stroller, beach, floor, etc.) or you don’t. Neither of mine would ever sleep somewhere like that. They would sleep in their crib, pack n play, sometimes in the car seat but only while the car was actually driving, and when very young in a baby carrier I wore them in. People who have babies who will sleep anywhere generally don’t understand how lucky they are :)

I would go out in port for the morning, come back to shop for lunch and nap, then do something else in the afternoon. You know your child best, so you know how late you can push naptime without creating a cranky, over tired little monster!

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I know when our son was little, the sun on the beach and the whole experience seemed to kind of wear him out. He wasn't one to just drop off anywhere, he usually slept in his car seat in a moving car or in his crib at home only. At the beach, he just dropped after a few hours of the splashing in the water and the sun, toddling on the beach and playing in the sand. But then, the beach wears me out too even if I am not playing that much in the water.

When we would do beach trips we would get out early when he was fed, fresh, and felt super good and head back around lunch time, eat, and nap. :)

All 5 of my kids were like that, the first because that was just the way she was (napped from 9 - 11, 2 - 4 until she transitioned to a 1 nap schedule from 1 - 4), and with the others, I needed them on a regular schedule for practical reasons. Since she’s already on a 1 nap schedule, I’d start now to try to push it back, and just plan on going back to the ship. We always stuck to our kids’ schedules on vacations if we could.

I have two kids and we just try and stick to their normal nap routines as much as possible. Try and be in your room when the normal time is for them to go down. Have the bottle, etc ready just like you would at home. The one day that we had my son at the beach during his nap time, he literally fell asleep on my shoulder in the water so I carried him up to the lounge chair and held him for two hours while he slept.

I don’t think you “get” them to sleep on the beach. Either you are lucky and have a flexible baby who will sleep in random places (stroller, beach, floor, etc.) or you don’t. Neither of mine would ever sleep somewhere like that. They would sleep in their crib, pack n play, sometimes in the car seat but only while the car was actually driving, and when very young in a baby carrier I wore them in. People who have babies who will sleep anywhere generally don’t understand how lucky they are :)

 

I would go out in port for the morning, come back to shop for lunch and nap, then do something else in the afternoon. You know your child best, so you know how late you can push naptime without creating a cranky, over tired little monster!

 

 

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I think you can get most kids to adjust. Our first child had all her naps in the stroller. If at home we would walk her around the block. It was a bit weird but worked for us and when on vacation was super convenient. Our second never learned to do that as her sister was in the stroller and she was in a wrap or held for the first year. For our first European cruise (around 11 months) we realized this would be a problem for touring around actively like we like to do. It only took a few days of getting her drowsy at home and then taking her for a long walk and voila she was sleeping in the stroller. Our trip also had jetlag which in some ways makes it easier but it was no problem.

Each kid and family is different but it is at least worth a try. It sounds like your cruise is still months away but you could try on the weekend going to the city and see if you she will nap in the stroller while you walk around.

Our 20 m/o was completely off his nap schedule, but he did end up falling asleep in his stroller quite a bit.

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My travel theory is to just go with the flow. At home my kids are horrible sleepers. But all the being on the go when on vacation just wipes them out and they tend to just nod off as needed. I know I'm lucky that they do that. But my point is that kids will surprise you sometimes. Be flexible, but also expect to be surprised too.

My daughter would never nap in a stroller until I traveled with her recently on a trip to Boston. We didn’t adjust our schedule to work around naps, and when she got tired enough she had great naps in the stroller. I got a new stroller that laid back more and had a huge cover and she slept great in it. It was the Citi mini baby jogger GT which would be perfect for a cruise

We are taking my daughter on her second Cruise in Dec, she will be 18 mos. Her first Cruise she was 8 mos old and she napped in the ports while babywearing. The carriers were hot for both of us, but so worth it to have her nap. Have you tried a carrier for your child?

I'm hoping this will still work for her this time- Now that she's a little older it's harder to get her to settle down with things going on, at home she will only nap in her crib. But if we've worn her out plenty first then put her in a carrier or wrap she nods off pretty quickly.