We arrived to our Plaza Hotel in
downtown Las Vegas at around 10 pm. Right after checking in, we decided to go
for a walk. I have been to Las Vegas before (5 times) but never with a baby.
The downtown is an old Las Vegas.
It has a covered walk called Fremont Street Experience. The canopy that covers
Fremont Street is actually a video screen. Under the canopy they also have a
zip-line and several bands performed on the street. In short, it was loud,
funny and shiny.
It turned out that Nicole was
mesmerized by the screen, she loved loved loved all shiny stuff and moving
pictures. She would pull away from me watching blinking lights and videos
upside down. It was super fun for her. But it was quite difficult to hold her
head and I did not want to let it go in case she bends too far backwards.
After walking the street twice,
we came back to the hotel. After all those crowds, we did not feel like have a
sit up dinner. Instead with went to a Subway. Nicole wanted out subs! And she
is 17 month old! Not only she insisted on eating them but she also wanted to
hold them in her hands without our help. I did not feel secure giving her my subs
so my husband fed the baby. I guess we are not going to have problems with
feeding the baby on this trip.
My next concern was putting
Nicole to bed. At home she sleeps at her own crib in her own room. The bedtime routine
is very simple: Nicole drinks milk from a sippy cup, I help her to put on the pajamas,
turn off lights, turn on the noise machine, hold her for 10 seconds, put her in
the crib, give her the soft kitten toy and the blanket, and leave the room
closing a door behind me. She is fast asleep within 5 minutes, usually faster.
It was pretty clear that this routine was not going to work at a hotel room.
Our room had two queen size beds
separated by a night table. I moved one of them to the adjacent wall. I did not
want Nicole to be able to fall off the bed during the night. After that I
prepared for bed myself. In a few days I skipped that step and regretted it
dearly. Had to clean the teeth and ect. without lights with a sleeping baby
nearby.
After we got the baby changed
into her pajamas, gave her the sippy cup with milk and her blanket, we turned
off the lights. Baby climbed onto me and fell asleep on my stomach hugging me.
Not bad!
During the following nights, the
going to bed routine improved slightly. I did not have to hold her until she
would fall asleep. What we had to do though is to stop all activity (or she
will be distracted), lay with her in the dark room, while Nicole tossed and
turned at her half of the bed. She always fell asleep within 10-15 minutes.
After that I could read books on my phone or surf internet. We did not dare to
turn on lights though.
Here are my recommendations for
establishing a working bedtime routine for toddlers while on traveling:
1. It
is best to create a routine at home that could be easily used at a hotel room.
From my point of view, taking a bath before bed is not a good option. It is
possible to have it at a hotel (at least some of them) but it is clearly
impossible to do so on a plane. 2. Turn off all lights and keep silent – it is easier to fall asleep in a dark quite room. That means no lights, not TV, no moving around. Once the child is asleep, it might be safe to turn on some light or a TV.
When I write it, it sounds like common sense. It is shocking though how many people ignore those simple steps!
Nicole woke up at 7 am, as usual. We had breakfast and headed to her daycare and then to Red Rocks for some rock-climbing.
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