How to Maintain Your Kids’ Sleeping Routines When You Leave Home

Why Children Sleep Worse Away From Home

Travel changes almost every sleep method your child relies on, which is why sleep can be so difficult to get away from home. You already know this, but it helps to mention why it happens. A new place changes almost every way of sleeping at the same time: the light is different, the sound is unfamiliar, the temperature is unknown, and the process revolves around trips and families. For a child who reads the world normally, it’s a lot of difference that moves overnight.

There is also the simple fact that walking is energizing. New faces, new rooms, a day full of action. All of these leave your child wired in a way that makes them uncomfortable. None of this means your child is “not doing well.” It means that symbols have changed, and symbols are what you can rebuild.

Parents who travel very well are not so lucky. They just have to learn to keep a few things constant so that everything else can be flexible. That’s all the games and sleep routines for kids on the road.

Create a Habit, Not a Nursery

The biggest mistake is trying to renovate the house. You can’t fit a nursery in a suitcase, and you don’t need to. All you need is schedule: the same steps in the order that tell your baby to sleep coming.

If your vacation home is a bath, a sleeping bag, a book, music, then that’s what moves. You can skip the bath if there is none; the rest of the system is still working. Consistency in steps is more important than perfection in actions.

A few anchors are worth securing on any trip:

• A sleeping bag. The most common layer is the portable connection you have. It feels and smells like home and works for any bed. For hot trips, Nested Bean’s Zen Sack™ Premier of breathable bamboo keeps your baby comfortable in unexpected rooms, and the Zen Footie™ is a great choice for active babies who want to kick around in the bag. Each one carries a Cuddle Pad ™ that adapts to your touch, so sleep time to hear the same wherever you are.
• The last song or book. Small, lightweight, and a powerful symbol.
• White noise. A small portable device or phone app masks unfamiliar sounds and recreates the listening environment your child is familiar with. Put this first. Everything else is negotiable.

Establishing Sleep in an Unfamiliar Room

When you arrive, spend ten minutes turning a strange room into a comfortable bedroom. It is the highest effort of the whole trip.

Dirty it. Hotel curtains don’t close all the way, and grandma’s guest room may not have any shadows at all. Black carrying covers, or a black blanket draped over the barbed wire, make more of a difference than anything else. This is especially important with the summer evenings that challenge you.

Cool and move the air. Try to have a room that sounds good to you with a light layer, and bring or rent a mixer for movement and clean noise. A room that is too warm is one of the reasons why a child wakes up in an unfamiliar place. Our guide to helping your baby sleep well all summer long covers heat and light in depth.

Keep the shelter safe and clean. Wherever your baby sleeps (travel crib, rental pack-and-play), the same rules apply: a firm, flat surface with no loose blankets, pillows, or bumpers. The AAP’s safe sleeping guidelines apply to the road just as much as they do at home, and our safe sleeping guidelines cover the same setup in detail. It’s another reason that the Nested Bean sleeping bag can carry blankets.

Rebuild the site. If your child sleeps in their own space at home, try to give them a separate sleeping area rather than a bed, even in the same room. If you don’t know when to make this transition, our articles on when a baby should sleep in his room are useful.

Handling Time Zones and Late Nights

An occasional walk, or a few late summer evenings, disrupts the internal clock. You don’t have to deal with it perfectly.

For multi-day trips, many families find it convenient be relaxed at homemostly short hops of one or two zones. To stay longer, gradually moving to local time using light is the best way: morning light drives the clock earlier, evening darkness changes it later. Your baby’s circadian rhythm responds to light more than clocks, so use it to your advantage.

Late night can’t be missed on the trip: long cooking, fireworks, cousin’s wedding. When it happens, protect it the next morning not that night. Let your baby take a nap, enjoy the first time, and come back to feel better the next day. Another late night is a blip. It’s the accumulation of several without the revision that leads to problems.

And if you skip sleep, count on going to bed that night. Fatigue, not lack of sleep, is what disturbs the next night.

Restoring Children’s Sleep at Home

The ride is over, the clothes are on, and your child is a little tripped up. This is the easy part: you’re back in the middle of what you’re used to, and babies bounce back faster than parents expect.

Return to your normal routine at home on the first night, even if the schedule is disrupted for days. Normal movement in the common room is a strong sign, and most babies return within one to three nights. Avoid the urge to start a recovery process; consistency and recovery plan.

If your child is actually gone longer than a few nights, look for other changes (teething, developmental jumps, or a cold caught on the road) rather than assuming that the trip “disrupted” sleep. A well-known sleeping bag and your routine will be much heavier than any rough night on vacation. If sleep is the missing piece, our tips for getting your baby to sleep longer and for baby comfort translate directly to home.

You have put a lot of effort into building a solid bed for the kids. Walking tempts them, but it doesn’t get rid of them.