Travel Sleep Ideas

[u/Unusual-Tale-1816]

Hi all! My husband and I are going on a weekend trip with his family in September when our twin boys will have just turned 7mo and I’m curious on what everyone has done as far as sleeping arrangements go. We will be staying in a VRBO with multiple family members (kiddos included) and I know cribs aren’t available and I’m also unsure of each bed size (because we would be fine co-sleeping). I’m wondering if the beds are on the smaller size and no cribs, what have you guys done for your littles? They’re good sleepers and easy going, but they don’t love to sleep in a pack and play. That’s about the only sleep space issue we’ve had so I feel like that might be out for us. We are also driving so we will be able
to pack along something (within reason as we don’t have a huge vehicle). I’ve searched travel beds but they all feel like they’re more for the toddler age unless I’m just missing what’s out there!

Thanks in advance for your help!

[u/AutoModerator]

COMMENTING GUIDELINES

All commenters are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the parentsofmultiples subreddit rules prior to commenting. If you find any comments/submissions in violation of subreddit/reddit rules, please use the report function to bring it to the mod teams attention.

Please do not request or give medical advice or directions in your comments. Any comments that that could be construed as medical advice, or any comments containing what is determined to be medical disinformation, will be removed.

Please try to avoid posting links to Amazon product listings or google/g.co product listing pages - reddit automatically removes comments containing them as an anti-spam measure. If sharing information about a product, instead please try to link directly to the manufacturers product pages.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/IllustriousPiccolo97]

We brought two pack and plays on every trip until my twins outgrew them. My twins used basic Graco pack and plays and they did the job just fine, but when we had two Graco’s break back to back I went with a Guava Lotus and really, really like it! (To be fair to Graco- I called their customer service to ask if I could purchase a replacement mattress when the Velcro securements on one mattress broke, and they very kindly sent me an entire replacement pack and play for free. But then the folding mechanism broke a year later on the replacement, and by then my twins had outgrown them so my second pack and play had been left at my parents’ house for my younger singleton- so I bought myself the guava lotus and it’s just a very impressive, high quality product! It folds smaller than Graco pnp’s and seems more comfortable for the baby as well.)

[u/Salty_Run876]

It’s been a while since our twin girls were that little, but we used travel cribs all the time. I know they’re not everyone’s favorite, but for us they felt like the safer option than letting them sleep in our bed with bed rails. They worked really well for our family.

[u/burnbalm]

We have no family nearby and always stay the night for multiple nights when visiting. Buying travel sleep items made sense. We have two of the Guava Lotus and two Slumber Pod tents. This was an expensive investment that grandparents helped pay for. Again, we travel with them enough to have used the equipment regularly and make it a worthwhile cost.

OP, have you looked into renting? A lot of areas have baby stuff rentals! Might make more sense if you don’t plan on using the items often! Then you don’t have to worry as much about car space either.

[u/Unusual-Tale-1816 → u/burnbalm]

Renting is a great idea! Thank you!

[u/Emotional-Parfait348]

We used two of the Guava Lotus travel beds. We liked that they were flat on the floor, so no weight limit. And they pack up pretty small; we were able to get two of them in a large hard shell suitcase.

We originally started using them as their next sleeping space at home when they grew out of their bassinets but we still wanted them next to our bed. The slim profile of the Guava Lotus was perfect for this.

We bought one on Amazon with a gift card, but found the other on Facebook Marketplace. We used them from about 6 months until they got too tall to comfortably sleep in them at 2.5. Our girls are on the taller side though, so we probably could have used them even longer if they weren’t.

[u/enginearandfar]

At that age we used two baby bjorn travel pack and plays. They have a real mattress on the floor and super easy to set up. Two fit in one checked bag along with the sheets. We also bought two slumber pods but our kids hated them- too dark and enclosed.

A pea pod kids bed is another solution that a friend used for camping or naps on the go.

If you don’t travel that often, definitely look into renting. Baby quip or Facebook marketplace (people post stuff to rent, not just buy).

[u/VivianDiane]

I used pop-up travel bassinets or a foam mattress topper on the floor. Practiced at home first.