5 Summer Travel Sleep Tips
It’s vacation season! Taking your kids to spend time with family or explore new places is often the very best part of summer. These adventures often lead to lots of questions about sleep. Here are 5 Summer Travel Sleep Tips that will help your family stay well-rested while you travel.
1. Pack with sleep in mind. Packing a few key items can help you replicate your little one’s sleep environment. If your child uses any of these items you don’t want to forget to pack them. Remember their sleep sack, toddler pillow, lovey, travel toddler clock, and travel white noise. You also want to remember to bring your child’s favorite bedtime story.
Do you need to share a room with your infant or toddler while you’re traveling? If so, consider purchasing a Slumberpod (my SLEEPANDWELLNESS20 discount code will save you $20).
If you’re staying at a hotel, you should be all set with blackout shades. If you’re renting a house or staying with family and you need an easy hack for blackout shades, consider packing black garbage bags and painters tape.
2. On your travel day, take sleep where you can get it. If you’re traveling in a car, you can often keep naps happening at the correct time by turning off the music and not talking as nap time approaches. If you’re flying, however, take sleep where you can get it. If you’re in the air during nap time or bedtime, offering a feeding and then singing the song you use for naps and bedtime can help your child fall asleep. If it’s a longer flight and your kiddo has their own seat, this handy tool can definitely help provide a more comfortable sleep space!
3. Adjust to the new time as quickly as possible. Our sleep rhythms are primarily driven off daylight and the rhythm of our day (e.g. meals). If you’re traveling to a different time zone, switch your child’s schedule to the new time as soon as possible. The longer the travels and/or the more sleep that was missed or didn’t occur at the right times, the sooner you can often switch them to the new time.
For example, a couple of years ago we flew to Rome overnight. The kids went to bed on the flight within an hour and a half of their normal bedtimes and slept until we woke them about 7 hours later. It was awesome, but that left them 4-5 hours short of a typical night of sleep. Once we arrived, however, excitement kicked in. We ate lunch on Rome time and then powered through on adrenaline until dinner. My 6 year old was able to go to bed that night and slept the full night. I was able to have her make the 6 hour switch instantly upon arrival. My 4.5 year old wasn’t able to fall asleep until 12am (6pm back home), but I got her up at 8am the next morning and that set her rhythm for that day. She was on the new time from that point forward.
If you have an infant who is napping, it can certainly take up to 48 hours to get the nap schedule switched over. Shift their schedule halfway on your first day and get them on their normal schedule by day two. The most important thing you can do to help your child switch to a new time is to wake them at their typical morning wake time after their first night in your new location. This sets your second day up for sleep success.
4. Maintain your child’s sleep schedule. This is particularly important for infants. Nothing can take the fun out of a vacation faster than having a child waking up in the middle of the night. The fastest way to get an overtired infant or preschooler is to throw their sleep schedule out the window. It’s counterintuitive, but the more overtired they are, the more likely they are to wake during the night and/or early in the morning. Schedule activities around nap time and try to protect your little one’s bedtime, particularly if they have had a busy day or are trying to adjust to a different time zone. Some children are more flexible than others when it comes to sleep – know your child’s limits.
5. Return to your healthy sleep habits immediately when you get back home. Did you all sleep in the same room or co-sleep during your vacation? Did you need to provide your baby with extra assistance during the night to help them sleep? If that’s not how you typically roll at home, don’t let the vacation sleep setup come into your home for even a single night.
As soon as you’re back home, go back to your healthy sleep habits. Even with infants, it typically doesn’t take more than a couple of trips for them to learn that sleep expectations might be different when you travel, but at home everyone sleeps in their own bed and sleeps through the night. If you’re returning from a different time zone and it’s resulting in your kiddo having a hard time falling asleep at bedtime or waking early, remember to adjust them back to their normal schedule within two days and help their body adjust quickly by installing blackout shades in their room. These shades are inexpensive and can be installed in minutes.
Non sleep related travel tip: For our trip to Italy, I had to figure out how to safely travel in Ubers and taxis with my 35 pound girls. They are still in forward facing car seats at home and obviously I didn’t want to carry car seats or booster seats around everywhere. In a travel group, I was told about this travel vest and we were so glad we bought them. They kept the seatbelt well positioned on long and short car and bus rides and they pack into a bag that is easy to take into restaurants, etc.
Affiliate Disclosure. Sleep and Wellness Coach is associated with affiliate networks, which means that we may receive a small fee when you link off this site. Among others, we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.