ROFL at this one. Oh yes, we’re still in the midst of those “MOM! I can’t sleep because he’s bugging me” wonder-years.

Here’s two things which I do to try to make sure that everyone gets a (fairly) decent night’s sleep:
1. If you’re renting a 2-bed condo/apartment/house, make sure there’s a sofa in the living room. S/He who yells loudest gets relegated to said sofa.
2. Bring a sleeping bag. Invest in an REI kid-sized one. (Worth every penny).
3. Look for rentals with single beds rather than queens. Seems counter-intuitive, but you can push beds together for grownups. And the kids will manage better just sharing a room rather than sharing room and bed.
4. If all else fails (i.e. you have 2 queen beds): Lift sleeping children into desired sleeping arrangement once asleep.

My youngest is definately a contortionist while sleeping, while my older son is like sleeping with a baby giraffe, all bony legs. I have found that since my husband and I stay up later than the children, we put one in one bed and one in the other until they are both asleep and then move (usually the smaller one, who will fall asleep first) to the bed with the first and they will sleep peacefully together. If not, I suggest the roll-away ; ).

When my kids were younger, we also used the “put one kid down in each bed and move them once they’re asleep” approach. I was so happy to see them outgrow the need for this shifting over the past few years, and am decidedly not pleased to hear that our current bed cooperation may be but a fleeting phase!

Hilarious article :) Although I am not sure it was so funny at the time. My 2 year old daughter sounds exactly like your son. She likes to put her feet on my belly or back (depending how I am lying) and literally climb up my body, bouncing as she goes… all night. Fidget, roll, steal the covers, crying out etc. The only way I can sleep with her is ear plugs and a pillow or 2 between us…. or she has her own single bed; which we did for a month touring England and Wales.

Seana’s solution has always worked for us too- once they are deeply asleep we move one out of our bed. So far, it’s worked! They sleep til the older one wakes up at 6am. He’s been taught to quietly crawl to the bathroom (or living room if it’s a suite) and watch his portable DVD player until everyone else wakes up to avoid waking up his younger sister. This has a 60% success rate. :)

oh no, you’ve totally shattered my hypothesis that my kids will magically start to fall asleep in the same bed together in just 6 more months ;)

It is good to hear that I am not the only one experiencing similar trials on vacations. Still, it is good to hear that all ended well and that your vacation was a success.

Hahahaha makes me realize all the times that I nagged my brother into not sharing the bed with me when we were off travelling around.

I’ve also put the kids to bed at opposite ends of the same bed. their legs aren’t long enough to reach other and it seems like they fall asleep quicker if they aren’t right next to someone.
A rollaway or a room that had a fold out couch worked for my family as we were growing up as well.
Good luck:)

I have a great solution for you! While we just have one 2.5 year old son (and travel all over the world with the military), he sleeps just like your son– all over, kicking, mumbling, jabbing, falling out of bed, etc. We have never slept with him! Ouch!

So, since he’s outgrown sleeping in portacribs, and hates them anyway, and I needed a solution to have him sleep safely (not in a bed, since he rolls out):

I bought a Thomas pop up “tent”/play house. It folds up so small, is light weight and fits in a suitcase or carry on. Pop it up, and take a hotel blanket and fold it as a mattress in the tent (I always ask for fresh ones, not the ones in the closet), and fold a clean hotel sheet around it to make it snug.

If you’re stressing that the hotel floor is dirty, and the blanket won’t make a soft enough mattress….. don’t! My son has never ended up sleeping on the carpet, and you can pile up more blankets if you want. Anyway, it’s no softer or harder than a portacrib mattress!

He sleeps so happily in his Thomas tent, and I’m sure there are other types of tents like these that would work great!

I still have nightmares about sharing a bed with my sister. And don’t get me started on having to share the backseat of the car with her on long road trips. She never stayed on her side. NEVER NEVER NEVER.

But I second the pop-up tent and blankets idea. We have the Spider-man playhut and, let me tell you, it’s great for letting Chet get cozy and allowing me to keep on a light for reading without repeatedly hearing, “Mommy, wake up now?”

I’d go with wandermom – get a sleeping bag(s). It cuts out the toenail / blanket hogging problems. and you can always put them on the floor :-)

There were four of us. Needless to say, never enough beds on vacation. We always alternated who had the bed. My one sister and I shard well so we would have the bed one night, then my other sister who moved too much, and then my brother. It worked for us. It’s worth a try.

During family trips in the Airstream trailer when I was a kid, my parents would each sleep in the 2 double beds with one kid (the 3rd kid, the lucky one, got the bunk). All 3 of us kicked relentlessly at night, so my parents would roll up a blanket to put between them and their allotted child on the bed. It still allowed everyone freedom of movement, but created a barrier to keep from getting elbowed or kicked at night.

Good luck. :)

That’s so true.. My kids are 7 and 5 and I think we might have to start doing that soon. Our recent cabin trip we actually sleep together all in one room. But I put extra comforter and duvet on the floor for Miss J to sleep and Mr. Z slept in the King bed with us.

I really enjoyed your post. I will have to come back again to read some more of them.