So you’re planning a family trip! Whether you’re flying across the country or just headed across town to grandma’s, it’s always fun to have time with your family away from home.
When your kids are young, it is really special to witness them enjoying a new place and making memories. But worrying about getting bad sleep keeps a lot of parents from even attempting a trip. It isn’t fun to be in an unfamiliar place with a cranky child. So ... once you’re a parent, do trips have to be a thing of the past?
Definitely not!
At Sleep Baby Sleep Consulting, we love encouraging parents to travel with their kids and help ease their fears about sleep while they are gone. There are lots of things you can do to help your children sleep well on vacation, here are our top three tips:
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Make their room conducive for good sleep.
At home, your child’s room is set up perfectly for them. Before you leave for your trip, try to find pictures of the room where they will be sleeping and make a plan for how it may be tweaked to help your child sleep best. Bring everything from home that you can ... like swaddles or sleep sacks, sheets for the bed, and sound machines. And make sure their space is dark! The SlumberPod is our absolute favorite way to give babies and toddlers their own space that is dark so they can sleep well! It makes sharing a room with little ones a breeze for parents and siblings too. - Keep routines normal.
Recreate the same bedtime routines that you do at home while you are away. These help kids wind down and signal to them that it is time to sleep. It also is very comforting for kids to go through the routines that they are used to. Anything that can make a new place more comfortable will help them sleep better. -
Maintain consistently with meal and nap schedules as much as you can.
It’s a whole lot more fun to travel with happy kids than exhausted whiny ones! This may mean changing your evening plans so that your kids can go to bed at their normal time or being back at the room for a nap. It isn’t always fun to be the one who has to head in, but the rest of the time will be a whole lot more fun if baby is happy.
If you’re traveling with others, trade-off who is on "sleep duty" so that you don’t have to do it every time. You may want to bend the rules a bit for just one or two nights when you allow baby to stay up later to enjoy a new experience.
With the current world climate, travel is going to look different this year, but a lot of us are still taking trips somewhere. If they are going to be less frequent, that is all the more reason to make sure your kids are sleeping well so you all can enjoy it!
If you want even more ways to make sure your children can be rested during your trip, Sleep Baby has released a Handbook for Travel with Kids. This e-book contains nearly 40 pages of tips and resources to help your trip go smoothly!
We’d love to help you feel confident about travel with your family and get the most enjoyment out of your trip! Contact us for more information.
Elizabeth King
Founder and CEO
Sleep Baby Sleep Consulting
Elizabeth and her team of consultants love working with families to help give them and their little ones the gift of a peaceful night’s sleep and long naps. They are passionate about sleep and believe that every baby can sleep well. The Sleep Baby Sleep Consulting team will work with you to develop a plan that accomplishes this while fitting with your family’s needs and desires.
Elizabeth lives in Charlotte, NC with her husband and three boys ages 6, 4, and 2. When she’s not talking with parents about sleep, she is outside playing with her family, making memories while trying to use up as much of their energy as possible. She also loves sitting down with a good book and cheering on the Clemson Tigers.
Want to connect with others who are traveling with little ones? Click here to join our Facebook Group.
