Toddler loves new people & places ... but not at bedtime!

[colsy]

Do your babies go to sleep OK at other people's houses, or is it a struggle? Our 15-month son now generally sleeps fine at home, but when we are visiting friends or family he cries for a good 10 or 20 minutes when put in his travel cot. We have to just walk away and leave him, as he just won't sleep at all otherwise. But as you can imagine, it's horrible listening to him cry, and it's also not exactly the start for a nice relaxing evening with friends or family. The funny thing is that once he's asleep, he's fine, and then he sleeps through til morning.

We take some some cot toys with us, the same ones that are in his cot at home. And he uses the same sheets and blankets and sleeping bag that he has at home. And we try to follow the same bedtime routine that we use at home. He is also entirely happy to play in the travel cot during the day, so we pop him in it for a few minutes to get him used to it when we get to the place we're staying at. He's also entirely happy visiting new places and new people and is usually running about playing within just a few minutes of arriving somewhere new. But the minute he goes into his travel for bed, all hell breaks loose for those 10 or 20 minutes that I mentioned.

Any suggestions?

 

[Kte]

Hey Colsy, I saw your post in the Bumpkins but will reply here

The only thing I could suggest is that he may be just really interested in whats going on and the new people around him / the different environment so he is fussing becasue he doesn't want to go to sleep and miss out.

When we stayed over at my Sisters we put Chloe in her travel cot, her own toys and teddies but we had to leave her in the room to cry a little too but she soon settled. It helped if we were all quiet so she couldn't hear anything and feel she was missing out.

She is fine when we go away just us 3 so I think its more to do with feeling like they are missing out, even when they are tired!

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Ruby won't go to sleep at other people's houses. I think for the reasons Kte mentions. I'm no help sorry!

 

[colsy]

The only thing I could suggest is that he may be just really interested in whats going on and the new people around him / the different environment so he is fussing becasue he doesn't want to go to sleep and miss out.

I think you're totally right. It's just all so exciting I guess that at some stage (I wonder when?), he will get over it and realise that all the new fun stuff will still happen in the morning but first he needs to sleep.