Traveling with Children & Prioritizing Their Sleep
My family was recently traveling and we were staying with my in-laws in Colorado. My husband’s aunt was over one evening, and as I was visiting with her, I said, “I’ll be right back. I need to go put the baby to bed.”
I did what I needed to do - gave Lulu a bath, put her in her pajamas, nursed her, and her a song, and put her to bed. It took about 30 minutes. It’s about 6:45 p.m. Then, I came and got Lukas - it was his turn! Another 30 minutes later, I emerged and my husband’s aunt was sitting there in disbelief.
“How did you do that?! They’re both sleeping already?!”
“Um, yeah. That’s just how we do it every night,” I replied.
She went on to tell me about her son’s family: “I go to my son’s house EVERY WEEK to help. He has three young children, and bedtime takes hours. The youngest doesn't even go to bed until midnight and once they are asleep, one or all three wake up multiple times at night.”
Now it was my turn to sit there in disbelief!
This family needed three adults for three kids, at bedtime. In comparison, my children go down like a dream, even when we’re traveling.
I want you to know - your family, too, can have great little sleepers. You can have the freedom to travel and live your life because you have great little sleepers! Keep reading for my best advice when traveling with young children.
A Strong Sleep Foundation
If you want to make sure sleep while traveling happens, you first need to make sure that sleep is prioritized at home. You can’t expect a child who doesn’t sleep well at home to sleep well while your family is traveling.
Have bedtime routines. Follow age-appropriate schedules. Teach independent sleep skills.
If you can do all of these things first at home, it can easily flow into sleep at other places.
Not sure how to do this? I can help.
Packing for Your Trip
First things first, you need to make sure you set yourself up for success by having everything you need for quality sleep.
Pack all sleep essentials:
Slumberpod (seriously this is a life changer when it comes to room-sharing while traveling) use promocode: stepbystepbabyconsulting for 10% off
Pacifier if your baby sleeps with one
Lovey if your child sleeps with one
Books
The last thing you’d want to happen is getting to your destination, getting everything ready for bed, only to discover that you forget the lovey! Or, heck, the white noise machine! Make sure you’ve got everything your little one needs for a solid night’s sleep.
How to Handle Day of Travel with Your Baby or Young Child
One the days you’re traveling, you just need to go with the flow.
I repeat: YOU JUST NEED TO GO WITH THE FLOW.
Schedules will be off. Routines will be off. You can’t expect too much from your child, and that’s okay. Give them, and yourself, grace.
If your little one looks tired, try for a nap. If it’s short, that’s okay. If it’s an hour, that’s amazing! That’s what I would call a “Super Win!”
Now, regardless of how things went during the day, sleep on-the-go is never high quality, so always opt for an early bedtime when you get to your destination. Set up your child’s sleep space as soon as you arrive so it’s ready to go when they’re ready to sleep.
Once You Get to Your Destination
Okay, you’ve arrived, you’ve set up the sleep paces, and you made it through night one. Regardless of how the night went, you’re going to want to get going with getting your child on their normal schedule (in the new time zone) and get outside.
It’s taken my kids about two days to get on their regular schedule. When we were on the west coast, both of my kids were up at 5:00 a.m. and guess what?? By 6:00 a.m. we were at the park. Get those children outside!
This helps regulate their circadian rhythm with the new time zone.
Then, plan outings during your travels around the nap- and bedtime schedule. If your little one is skipping a nap/naps that day, offer an earlier bedtime. If you know they’re going to be out later at night, let them sleep in, offer an additional nap and/or offer the nap/naps slightly later and let them sleep longer than usual (if they will) to make it through the evening.
Basically, adjust accordingly where you can to prevent too much overtiredness.
Getting Back on Track After Traveling
When you arrive back home after your adventures, it’s time to get back on track.
I always recommend offering an early bedtime, and try to wake your child around their normal time. This will help them adjust back to their schedule at home.
With my daughter, who still naps, I would aim to get her down for her nap a little earlier and let her sleep a little longer to get closer to her normal bedtime without getting too overtired.
Now, what if - as it does happen - sleep gets way off track while you’re traveling?
Your child may need a “sleep reset” when you get back home. We also had to do this with my daughter recently.
We were room sharing - my husband and I with my daughter and son in the same room, both of them set up under their Slumberpods. My daughter, throughout our trip, was waking every night between 3-4:00 a.m. I would nurse her back to sleep. I knew this was because we were in close proximity and if I didn’t, she was going to wake up the whole house.
When we got back home, I talked with her about it and told her I wasn’t going to come back in and nurse her at night since we were back home and weren’t sharing a room anymore. She slept through the night again right away. Now, if she had woken, I would have sent my husband in there to comfort her and tell her to go back to sleep, and we would have repeated that strategy until she was 100% back on track.
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!
Need More Help?
Traveling with children isn’t always easy, but the memories you make are ALWAYS WORTH IT!
And, if you’re going to do it, why not make sure things go as smoothly as possible so you can also enjoy your trip?
For only $20, you can master traveling with your child(ren) and set them up for sleep success, with our 21 page downloadable (PDF) Travel Sleep Guide.
This guide covers everything from planning your trip, packing list, tips for car and plane travel, how to handle sleep when you arrive at your destination and so much more. Travel with confidence with our guide, no more sleepless nights on your trip!
