Travel bed for ~3 year old?

[lauralala]

DS is still in a crib at home. He has never tried to climb out, so we are leaving him there until we really start potty training this December. We go out of town a couple of times a month, and we need a place for him to sleep. He has completely outgrown the pack n play - we pushed it as far as we could.

He is fine sleeping in a bed once he is asleep, but will not stay in it to go to sleep. We have had to let him stay up until he is exhausted, then pat him to sleep, like they used to do at his daycare. This is clearly not ideal, because we are gone pretty often, and don't want his sleep to suffer.

I have tried looking for travel beds with sides, but they are all the size of a pack n play mattress or smaller. Toddler or twin mattresses just don't contain him. Is there some magical product I am missing, or is this (as I suspect) simply just a sign that it is time to teach him to stay in bed?

[auberge]

Our son is still in his crib too. We are transitioning him to his big boy bed next weekend. When we travel it's a nightmare because he has to sleep in between us and it hard to get him to go asleep.
We are traveling for the holidays so I'm trying to get him comfortable at home first.

[brit1017]

Oct 22, 2012 13:08:01 GMT -5 @chloe77 said:

I think he is ready for a bed. You have to deal with it (teaching him to stay in bed and sleep) at some point, so you might as well do it now rather than waste time looking for a big portable crib that he will barely use.

I agree. We switched DD to a twin bed at ~2, and there were a few months where we would have to put her back in bed multiple times. After awhile, she learned not to get up, and now she stays in bed and falls asleep no problem. We took several vacations this summer and had no problem staying in bed and falling asleep in a number of different circumstances.

[Redpoppy]

We have the toddler aerobed. The sides are a little elevated so it's hard to role off, but it doesn't contain. DS was never one to climb out of bed though. He does tend to go to sleep later on vacation.

Maybe a Peapod Plus? It says they are good til 49 inches.

[niki]

We tried the aerobed on vacation a couple of months ago. No go. He refused to stay in it and slept in bed with us for 8 nights.

[Deleted]

Yeah, I think 3 is too old for a crib. I know every kid is different but DD has been in a bed forever.

Do you have rails on the bed? and they make toddler beds that have rails too- my ILs have one for DD' s bed.

Or what about a larger bed? DD sleeps on a queen.

[satama]

,I cant imagine it would be easy to travel with anything big enough to contain a 3 year old. I would make the transition to a bed.

DS will be 3 in December and he sleeps in a regular bed when we travel. He sleeps in a twin bed with a rail at home and does get out and move around his room if he wants but knows not to leave his room (he calls us if he needs to go to the bathroom). When we are traveling he knows not to get out of the bed and will stay there and call for us instead. We worried he would not stay in bed while traveling, but I think because it is not familiar he is more hesitant to get out of bed and wander around.

He also does overnights at my moms house and knows that he can just come out of his room and call for her or knock on her door. He sleeps in a queen bed there and loves it

[lauralala]

Technically I know it's time to move him, but I am terrified of his freedom. There is no way to keep him in his room. He can open doors with safety covers on the knobs, climbs over baby gates, etc. The crib has been about safety as much as convenience.

Of course, yesterday I thought he was taking a nap, but he was breaking apart the mini blinds, which he can - just barely - reach while standing in his crib. I am scared of what full access will bring!

[6fsn]

Our son was in a crib until we kicked him out at 3.5. He outgrew the pnp by 2.5 so we just put him in the sleeping bag. He does great in it.

[livinitup]

We love the Peapod. And it travels really easily.

[lindyanne]

We use this but that clearly doesn't do anything to contain him. It's very light & portable though.

www.amazon.com/Regalo-Cot-Portable-Royal-Blue/dp/B000H1MRJO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350934477&sr=8-1&keywords=folding+child+bed

[mrssandro]

We just transitioned DD from her big girl bed. She was 100% ready. Not really about the climbing out part but just that she needed more space. It's been smooth sailing so far.

When traveling we just put her on a normal bed and put pillows all around her. She loves sleeping in the big beds.

[grk2012]

If you don't want to move him to a bed yet, you can rent a full-sized crib from a baby equipment rental company. We've used several, in various states, since we started traveling with DS at 10wks. You can also rent bed rails if the full crib seems excessive.

[jena]

Regular bed. Travel with a bed rail if needed.

Don't let him stay up later, that is causing you more issues, but it's ok to stay until he's asleep in the beginning.

Sent from my HTCEVOV4G using proboards

[GailGoldie]

when we travel with our boys we just have them sleep in beds - even when they were still in cribs at home.

[dutchgirl678]

DD transitioned to a bed at 2.5 but even before then whenever we would go camping we'd bring the Aerobed Toddler inflatable mattress with us. She still sleeps on it when we visit the in-laws or when we have company at our house and she needs to give up her room. She does fine on it. It has raised sides so she doesn't roll off and it has a soft removable cover that you can wash.

www.amazon.com/AeroBed-Sleep-Tight-Inflatable-Kids/dp/B00006IV33/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1351032911&sr=8-2&keywords=toddler+inflatable+mattress