Help! Pack n plays are too small....

I travel four hours away with my 22 month olds to see my husband/their Daddy - one weekend a month. But they are just too big for their pack n plays. Now what?! Where do they sleep? I don't co-sleep with them at home so that would be a disaster to try in the hotel. Any ideas?!

Thanks in advance!

 

Maybe try letting them sleep in their own bed? I know my girls like to fall asleep on their floor with their boppies and some soft bedding. Maybe it's time to transition to big girl beds?

 

I would agree or maybe try an air mattress :unsure:

 

I was surprised that mine did really well with sleeping bags on the floor when they started climbing out of pack-n-plays.

 

I never thought to introduce them to toddler beds since they're not climbing out of their cribs. My fear of letting them sleep w/o containment is that the will get into everthing....and while I'm asleep! Especially in a hotel room with lots of things to get into to. :crazy: What would keep them on the mattress/sleeping bag?

 

We use PeaPod travel beds for our babies. If you haven't see them, they are like little tents with thin air mattresses and zipper closures. They are totatlly portable. We have taken them on a cruise and on a trip to Grandma's house. The beds fit into our lugguge.

 

We also have the PeaPod tents. They come in Pink, Army camo, and red/blue. From hearing other suggestions we opted for the red/blue because they are supposed to be darker inside...easier to sleep.

They fold up well & are lightweight, but one of mine was too rough and bent the frame a little. Still works though. Crib mattress sheets fit the airmattress in it.

Good luck!

 

We have PeaPod Plus tents, too. Make sure you get the Plus - I think the regular ones are a little smaller. The Plus says they'll fit them until they're 5, but I can honestly get inside myself if I curl up! They've been great every time we've travelled with them. They can unzip them and escape, but mine like them so much that they don't. We talk it up as "camping" so they are excited about it. We have the red/blue, too, and I LOVE them. It's so much more convenient and light weight than a pank n play, except that you have to inflate the mattress each time. It comes with a hand pump, but if you use them a lot, I would either get some type of electric travel pump or leave them inflated if they fit in the car.

 

We have the Peapod Plus for my DS (29 lbs - my big boy) and the peapod for my DD (19 lbs, my tiny girl). I love them! Whenever we travel I place them facing each other and put their plush turtle constellation nightlight in between them. I also place a few soft toys/animals in each tent for them which is what they have in their cribs. They sleep great in them and the tens are so easy to set up and break down again. Amazon or Ebay seem to have the best prices for them, too. There are a lot of different colors and models, though - some have self inflatable mattresses (awesome) some have pumps, some you have to blow up the mattress yourself.

Also, if you decide to get them, I put the mattresses inside the tens rather than in the pocket under the tents. This way I can wrap a crib sheet around the mattress and tuck it underneath.

 

When my older dd outgrew the pack n play, I just took the pack n play mattress with us, put a sheet on it like normal, and then used a toddler sheet and blanket and tucked them underneath the bottom of the mattress to hold them in place, and made her a little "bed". She stayed in it remarkably well, we also talked up the "camping" type aspect of it!

 

We have Peapods but unfortunately now my kids have figured out how to unzip them from inside so they are useless. I really wish they had thought about this when they designed it. Our last trip to MIL was a disaster because they got out after 10 seconds, then would not stay on the mattresses on the floor. We tried to get them to sleep with us, even moved our bed and put the mattress on the floor, they were just playing and running and climbing everywhere. I absolutely don't recommend to try to get them to sleep not contained if they are not used to it. We ended up having to find a hotel at midnight that had pack'n plays - yeah, they were a bit small, but it worked fine and we actually managed to sleep! I know some people put safety pins to lock the zippers but I'm not using those next to my kids.

In your case I would try to switch them to twin beds at home so you can just get a room with regular beds.