After getting up to my crying toddler at 4.30 this morning I lay in bed wondering how families travelling with a baby or toddler deal with this situation. My son was 5 when we left to travel Australia and obviously past the problems of waking and crying in the night.
A baby crying in a caravan park or camping ground creates the obvious problem of possibly waking nearby campers. If it were my bub I would be worried about waking the neighbours and would do whatever I could to shut bubs up as quickly as possible. I can imagine that this would lead to night feeds, getting baby up and rocking them or taking them into my bed, in other words forming sleep associations that baby may not have had before. Within a few nights bubs will be unable to get back to sleep without comforting and it's all downhill from there! How do you retrain your baby or toddler (which usually involves a bit of crying) when you are in a caravan park?
A baby crying in a caravan park or camping ground creates the obvious problem of possibly waking nearby campers. If it were my bub I would be worried about waking the neighbours and would do whatever I could to shut bubs up as quickly as possible. I can imagine that this would lead to night feeds, getting baby up and rocking them or taking them into my bed, in other words forming sleep associations that baby may not have had before. Within a few nights bubs will be unable to get back to sleep without comforting and it's all downhill from there! How do you retrain your baby or toddler (which usually involves a bit of crying) when you are in a caravan park?
I personally would plan to travel after the youngest had turned 3 but that's just me. There are plenty of families out there driving around Australia or taking road trips and camping holidays with babies.
We met a family in Broome who had driven from Qld with their 3 kids, the youngest being about 8 months old. Baby was a light sleeper and was being woken by noises from inside and outside the van. She would start crying, and worried about disturbing the other campers mum would stick her on the boob. She predictably started to wake every couple of hours either due to noise or just for a feed. An exhausted mum and the kids ended up flying home to Brisbane leaving dad to drive the rig back. She told me that she didn't regret the trip at all but realised it was probably better if they waited until their little one was a bit older. I hope they did get back on the road again...
We met a family in Broome who had driven from Qld with their 3 kids, the youngest being about 8 months old. Baby was a light sleeper and was being woken by noises from inside and outside the van. She would start crying, and worried about disturbing the other campers mum would stick her on the boob. She predictably started to wake every couple of hours either due to noise or just for a feed. An exhausted mum and the kids ended up flying home to Brisbane leaving dad to drive the rig back. She told me that she didn't regret the trip at all but realised it was probably better if they waited until their little one was a bit older. I hope they did get back on the road again...
Anyway what does one do about this? Babies and toddlers wake at night, it's part of the deal. For me early this morning it was probably teething or a lost dummy but when it's nothing in particular I let him grizzle himself back to sleep. It only takes a few minutes but in a caravan park I wouldn't feel comfortable doing this.
If anyone has any solutions or thoughts about this please post a comment.
Hi Jacquie, i always enjoy your stories. No hints on crying babes in caravans but have my own exp's with kids in caravans which might interest readers. Many years ago when my first born was 3ish we lived in a van on site at argyle diamond mine while hubbie was working there. (We had been travelling around but needed money!) When that work finished we decided to head home and build a house but lived in the van in a park while building. My little boy had been dry at night for ages but reverted back to bedwetting for a few weeks when we moved. Luckily, he settled quickly but i was curious to see that it happened again when we moved into the new home. He's now 27 (!eek where did that go???)and i'm sure he won't mind me discussing his history of enuresis online lol! Hmmm... better use a pseudonym, See ya, Mobby. p,s, i once bought a caravan because it had such beautiful interior woodwork - it looked just like a little yacht - i regret selling that one. Sniff.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mary for being my blog's current biggest fan!Living in a van with kids is a challenge but easier to cope with when you get to travel and change your 'backyard' every other day. It must have been difficult living in the van while hubby was working and you couldn't leave! At least you were togther, not like my husband who only gets to come home every third week!
ReplyDeleteBrayden was 5 when we left for our trip around Australia and he wet the bed the first night. I spoke to other parents while travelling whose kids had done the same. The good thing about most kids is that they adapt to change pretty quickly!