what is baby bunching?

  • Baby Bunching™ is two years of pregnancy and back-to-back infants and toddlers with nary a break for you. Baby Bunching means chaos for you, and your little twiblings. No worries, they become good friends as a result of your bunching strategy. You will become strong, creative, organized, calm and at peace with your new lifestyle without even realizing it.

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Jul 20, 2010

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jean grow

We have had to travel waaaaay too much with our twin boys, and just a bit with our new 'plus one' but we're minimalist about it. The security of falling asleep with your parents around (our nighttime prayer routine is long and imminently travelable!) plus the benefit of hotel pool exaustion are our best weapons. Never go to a hotel without a pool. If you go to a hotel with a toddler-friendly pool, keep the number in your cell phone.
Free breakfasts are the secnd most important resource. Go in shifts, eat really well, have the kids in a breakfast-daze until noon. Besides, you know you'll need the five cups of coffee you'll drink while they eat their waffles.

jean grow

It occurred to me that the "eating breakfast in shifts" might need to be explained:
Every baby buncher has had those horrible moments with relatives (or without them!) when you find yourself with an unruly bunch having a badly-timed eating experience at a restaurant. This is exactly why hotel breakfasts are the bomb. You can go with one kid, eat a quality meal (I'm talking about hotels that at the very least have a fresh-waffle maker or scrambled eggs) and concentrate on discussing the trip with your toddler, or on the news while you hold the infant. Meanwhile, Mr. Wonderfull can take his 45 minute shower, iron his shirt (really, who NEEDS an ironed shirt?) maybe even watch the news, and do that minimalist thing he does where at least the other kid has no chance to stick his/her finger in an electrical outlet. Then you switch. Or in our case, I get another 2 cups of coffee down while watching the second child eat. You can re-use the same sticky table the first kid messed up, and feel that much less guilty about what mess you can't help but leave behind. (I'm always cleaning the floor and wiping the table, but there is always some kind of mess you can't fix without cleaners or something.) Being a baby-bunching mom, you're probably already dressed for the day, or (like me) have a spare shirt in the car to change into. This way Dad can come out with his kid and have a fast breakfast himself, while you duck back into the room to stack the bags outside, or double-check the day-bag and change the baby's onsie from the breakfast mess.

Michelle

Another good way to do this is, if you know you're going to be bunching everyone in the same room for awhile, get used to it before you go. Put at least 2 of your kids in the same room--preferably the lightest sleepers, so that they get used to sleeping with other people around. My husband and I decided to have our girls, 20 months apart, always share a room. And the result? They can fall asleep together, anywhere. It's beautiful.

kelly

I just stayed in a hotel room w/ my 2 kiddos (14 months and not quite 3) and it was not fun! I made a seperate area for baby in the corner w/ a sheet draped over a lamp and a chair so she couldn't see the beds and that worked out really well. She did great, it was my big one that was the issue! He kept waking up and then waking her up! soo frustrating! I wrote a little blog about it the other day. http://dariusandkelly.blogspot.com/2010/07/wilken-family-reunion.html
I keep thinking I should move them into the same bedroom so we dont have to deal with that anymore (like at every holiday when we travel to see family, but I dont know how I would deal w/ naptime...)

Monica

I suggest that you try to keep up some of your morning/evening traditions when traveling. For example, my husband eats breakfast with my older daughter and plans the day (this could be done down in the hotel dining room), while I shower and feed the baby. Plus, when we're staying in one location more than one night we look for rooms with a kitchenette and small fridge or even rent a condo/timeshare with a full kitchen and laundry.

AZ

I definitely second the 'stay at a hotel with a pool', as well as breakfast buffet. These were some of the best things at our hotel on our last trip with a 21 month old and 6 week old.

I would also add, it is nice if you are in a hotel not close to any city amenities, if it has a restaurant or coffee shop in the lobby and internet access. That way you can come down in the evening with one kid and relax while one of you is prepping another kid for bed.

Definitely try and get a suite if you can afford it, or a room with a balcony. I also found it annoying when the kids went to bed, that we both had to be really quiet as we were all in the same room.

Also - hotel drawers that come out, can become makeshift bassinets when the hotel messes up and cant give you the pack and play you ordered ahead of time (arrgh!!). NOTE: if you DONT want your baby to sleep in a drawer like ours did, bring a back up pack and play or co-sleeper with you.

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