Summertime Travel and Sleep
Summer is here! And that means... TRAVELING!
I am going to share some travel tips with you. Get ready to take some notes!
Starting off with travel tip number ONE.
Creating a Sleep Sanctuary.
Make sure you bring your child’s lovey and/or blanket with you on the trip! Keep things as consistent as possible.
If your little one is sleeping independently at home, don’t bed share on your trip. This can wreck havoc upon your return home.
Most hotels have a crib you can use or rent, or take your pack and play along and use that as a safe sleeping space. And if you plan on taking a pack n okay, I HIGHLY suggest the Snoozeshade or Slumberpod for travel. Which brings me to my next point...
Darkness is our friend. It is best to keep rooms dark, and I mean level 10 dark, to avoid any decrease in production of melatonin, the sleep hormone, and increase in cortisol, the awake hormone.
My final sanctuary tip extends beyond the sleeping space to all other sleep props. You might be tempted to feed to sleep, offer a pacifier or rock your little to sleep if they begin disturbing the rest of the house, but that is a HUGE mistake as babe will likely catch on very quickly. With the choice to do this, it will likely result in your little one waking up much more frequently, expecting to be rocked or needing their pacifier, which is going to end up disturbing everyone quite a bit more than a little extra protest at bedtime the first night or two.
Be purposeful with your travel time!
If you’re driving to your destination, a clever trick is to schedule your driving time over baby’s naps. Car naps aren’t ideal, but compared to no naps at all, they’re the lesser of two evils by a mile. So if at all possible, get on the road right around the time that baby would normally be taking their first nap.
If you’re flying, well, my heart goes out to you.
It’s no secret that planes and babies just don’t seem to like each other, so I suggest (and this is the only time you’ll hear me say this) that you do whatever gets you through the flight with a minimum amount of fuss. Hand out snacks, let them play with your phone, and otherwise let them do anything they want to do.
The truth is, if they don’t want to sleep on the plane, they’re just not going to, so don’t try to force it. It will just result in a lot of frustration for both of you. (And, most likely, the passengers around you.)
Once you get to your holiday destination, either create the time and space for a nap (if baby’s “regular” schedule aligns with that) or push through and bump up bedtime by an hour.
Strategically plan your days and nights
This time of year we overbook ourselves, especially during vacation! Between the travel, the excitement, the constant attention and then travel all over again, the holidays are the single easiest way to throw all of your hard work out with the wrapping paper and turkey bones.
But I’m happy to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way! With some strategic planning and an iron will, you can keep that carefully orchestrated routine running just the way you did at home.
If you plan to have a day out and about, maybe sightseeing or visit multiple houses with little opportunity for excellent naps, consider heading home before dark for an early bedtime. On the other hand, if you have a late night planned because of a family dinner or you’re going to see a show, be mindful that baby will need some extra sleeping time the next day to pay off any sleep debt.
Purposefully carving out “down time” can be very helpful in avoiding overtiredness. Plus, it gives you an excuse to opt-out of any activities that you don’t particularly enjoy
Discuss expectations
Family and friends will often give you a hard time about putting baby to bed at their normal bedtime during the summer season. Most will expect that because it’s summer, you will bend the rules and let baby stay up with the rest of the group. While this is okay for an occasional day here or there, it can really derail your child’s sleep rhythm. So let them know when your little one will be getting up so they can hang around for post nap snuggles, come back in the morning, or catch baby before their next nap. Remember that you are the parents and YOU should decide what your priorities are!
My tip to you... have the conversation about expectations before your travel begins. That way family and friends know what to expect when it comes to your daily sleep schedule and are able to respect what you’ve worked so hard to create.
Give it some time to get back on track when you return home
Once you return home and are back to your “normal”, be patient while you are trying to get back on track. Try your best to avoid cramming a bunch of extra responsibilities into the week you return (I know, you have a bunch to catch up on... it can wait). If you can, my recommendation is to take an extra day off to devote to getting the schedule back to normal. Vacations, as well as holidays, can be very overwhelming and exhausting. Remember it takes time to recover. Give yourself and your little lots of patience and understanding while you both adjust.
You will need to support your child while they recall their learned skill of independent sleep. The best way to do this is to comfort them when needed and remain consistent with sleep boundaries. Your little one will be used to extra holiday attention and may request some, but be firm in remembering that they just need a “reset”, so try not to cave into their requests of “one more story”, “hold me”, or maybe even “tickle my back”. But be consistent, and know that while the holidays may cause them to fall out of healthy sleep habits, they certainly can quickly find their way back to sleep independence!