sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings

[Jo Jo]

Just wondering if anyone can help me. I was going to stay the night at my mums house with my 13week old DD last week but my DD wouldn't settle. She has been sleeping through the night the last 2 weeks no stirring at all. I went to put her down at my mums & she woke 15mins later & wouldn't settle, i think she could sense she was in a different place so i ended going home where she slept fine. My DH wants the 3 of us to go away for the weekend but i'm not sure that she will settle. Has anyone else had this happen or any suggestions??
Thanks, am new to this site & have found it very helpfull.

[Kirst11]

I never had the issue, sorry. But have you tried maybe putting one of your t-shirts in the cot with her? Something that smells familiar might help her settle. Are you using her sheets? Ones that you have washed - again, familiar smells.

[mrscricket]

Hi JoJo - i had a similar situation with my son at his first sleep over at my sisters house. the first night he would not settle and lay away for 3 hours looking around. The next time we took his music box and used a sheet that my husband and i had lay on so that it smelt of us. He settled much better, not as well as at home but better. Good luck

[aussienic]

We found with all 3 of our boys the first night away they slept terribly but then they were fine after that.. No idea why.. Even if we stayed at the grandparents place which is something we do quite often that first night was always a trial.. They also all grew out of it by 6-8 months

[Emma1979]

last time i was at another house my dd would not sleep in the portacot at all... she ended up sleeping with me and taking naps in my arms, for three days!! when she was younger though she was great in the portacot...

now if i go anywhere different i take all the exact same stuff straight off her bed, blanket, teddy etc, and i also take the lullaby cd that we play for her as well, to try and make as much as possible familiar, even though the room is different... hope this helps.

[Eugenia]

I don't know if you co-sleep at all but I found when we went away it was much easier to just have Sophia in the bed with us. She also found it hard to settle in an unfamiliar place so I would just let her go to sleep in my arms then place her in the cot if I wasn't ready to go to sleep myself and when she woke she would just come into the bed with us. Even though we did this for two weeks when we went to Tassie over Christmas I didn't find it hard to settle her back into her normal routine once we returned home. It only took two or three days for her to feel comfortable in her familiar surroundings once again.

[Erin_25]

I haven't had this problem either & we just recently spent a week at a hotel & it was DS first time in a porta cot. However, we made it as much like home as possible. He had his rugs from cot, dummy, teddy & an Ipod with the music on it we normally play. Are there things you can take to make it more like your place, so to speak. I'll be heading home for Christmas for a week, though it's more to pack I will again take his blanket & so on.

[Jo Jo]

Thanks for the suggestions, i will give them all a try. I did have her sheepskin in the cot same as at home, but i guess there was more commotion going on at mums house where as at home i keep the lights low & it is fairly quiet & i play a lullaby cd when dressing & bathing her. I did try co-sleeping one night when DD was unsettled but i couldn't sleep as i was too anxious having her there plus she makes so much noise grunting e.t.c. My DH is a smoker so i don't really feel comfortable having her in our bed. I suppose if she is too unsettled i could go into another bedroom & co-sleep with her there, she was fine co-sleeping it's just i couldn't relax. She is a very alert bub too always looking around having a stickybeak at whats going on so she is very aware when things are unfamiliar. I don't want to never be able to go anywhere though so i'll give it a go & see what happens.