Tips for Toddler and Infant Sleep during Holiday Travels
One of the most common questions I get this time of year is how do I support sleep during the holidays? Whether it’s travel, hosting family, or just a lot of different events, there is a lot to navigate. You want to enjoy the time without undermining your littles sleep too much, and there can be a lot to consider. Below are some of the most common questions and areas of struggle I hear from parents struggling with what to do about infant and toddler sleeping arrangements during travel.
Kids, sleep, and traveling
How do I safely sleep with my bedsharing baby while traveling, in a hotel or someone’s home?
When you are bedsharing, it is essential to assess the safety of any new bed you are sleeping in while traveling. Depending on your littles age, the safety concerns will vary. For all young children, high beds pose a risk of falling. For babies under a year, soft matrasses, heavy bedding, too many pillows, and gaps around the mattress are all a concern.
If you aren’t comfortable with the setup, here are a few options:
Remove excess bedding and pillows.
Pull the matrass on to the floor to create a floor bed.
Move furniture around to get rid of gaps.
Make sure you have another safe sleep option like a travel crib/pack n play just in case. Some of the travel cribs even have a side that unzips, making it easier to snuggle your little one in a separate sleep space.
How do I help my children adjust to the time change?
Time changes are rough on everyone. Some babies handle them better than others, just like some adults do. Use bright morning light, lots of outside time, and dim light in the evening to support your little’s circadian rhythm while traveling. Try and aim for their normal rhythm with sleep, but don’t be surprised if times are different than expected. Some babies will adjust quickly with all the environmental cues. Others will still be on their normal internal timings or even somewhere in the middle.
Managing the holidays with young children, whether you are traveling or not
Do I need to keep my child’s routine’s consistent while traveling or with family visiting?
Consistency is important, but so is flexibility in these situations. This is a balance that will look different from family to family. Consistency in routines and sleep timings can help your little feel safe in the predictability and help make sure they are getting enough sleep. However, don’t be afraid of flexibility. A few late nights, missed bedtime routines, skipped naps…or anything else…is not that big of a deal in the big picture. It’s ok to embrace some flexibility to enjoy holiday memories with family and friends.
Think about any deal breakers that you know will be a huge problem and focus on consistency with them. It could be bedtime, a long afternoon nap, or just making sure connection time happens within the busyness. You know your family best so don’t feel bad if you need to firmly hold to a consistent part of your routine for everyone’s well-being.
My baby is extra clingy. Why is that?
Lots of family events can be overstimulating for some children. Be mindful of less connection time between you and your child. Watch to see if they are enjoying all the family or if it’s becoming overwhelming. You might need to take some breaks and shift into a more low key environment. Maybe that’s a walk outside, a trip to a park, or a quiet moment in another room to nurse or snuggle with a book.
Feeding and sleep – while this is less of a question, I often see issues in this area.
If you are nursing - Remember to nurse your baby as often as they normally do. Between overstimulation and everyone wanting to hold baby, It’s easy to accidently go longer intervals between feeds. This can have a negative impact on your supply and also encourage baby to feed more at night to make up for less daytime feeds .
How do I handle the unwanted comments about sleep?
This is a tricky one. Everyone loves to share their thoughts on parenting and sleep and when your family doesn’t share your parenting values, that makes it even harder.
It can feel overwhelming, discouraging, and really stressful to have your family question your choices and share strategies that you know you don’t want to use. And if they are doing this even after you’ve tried to set the boundary or share your approach, it’s even more difficult.
Going into big family gatherings prepared with your responses can help you feel more confident. Try these ideas:
Do you want to educate, or do you want to not engage? Come armed with some facts or some go to phrases to deflect.
If you want to educate – “isn’t it great how much research has come out on development/sleep/feeding/parenting? I love learning new tools and perspectives… can I share with you why we are doing this?”
Acknowledging but not engaging - It’s ok to thank them and move on. A simple “thank you for sharing what worked for you.” Or “I can see how that worked well for you. We have some tools that work well for us.”
Avoiding the situation if you can - not everyone is entitled to know all the details. You don’t need to share if you know people won’t be supportive.
Having some quick lines to toss out – “yes, they sleep like a baby.”
There isn’t one right way to navigate these situations, but going into them with some ideas can help you feel less overwhelmed.
I hope these ideas help you navigate the holidays with more confidence and enjoy the memories you make with your littles!