Helpful Tips To Consider To Managing Kids’ Bedtimes

There’s something truly special about travel with a child. Not only can the experience be incredibly enjoyable for you, as a parent, but it can also prove to be a wonderful gift for your kid, too. Whether you’re traveling for business or for pleasure, bringing your child along for the ride can open them up to a whole new world of experiences.

However, it’s not all fun and games - especially when it comes to sleep and kids’ bedtimes when you're on the road. Traveling with a little one can be difficult, particularly when it comes to setting up a good sleep environment, sticking to a routine, and managing the right kids’ bedtimes.

If you’re trying to figure out how to navigate this tricky issue, you’ll find some helpful tips in this article.

Setting Up Sleep Environment

Before you do anything else, you’ll need to figure out how you can set up the right sleep environment for your child. Do everything in your power to create a sleep environment that is as close as possible to the one they enjoy at home. It should be cool, dark, and in a separate space from yours whenever possible.

Of course, staying in a hotel, renting a place, or staying at a family member or friend’s home will all present their own unique challenges. We’ll address all of those - and pose some possible solutions - in this article.

Sleep Tips For A Hotel

The good news about staying in a hotel is that most hotels will provide you with everything you need to set up the proper sleep environment. Most rooms come with their own black-out shades and thermostats so you can adjust the temperature of the room to make it nice and cool.

As far as a separate sleep space goes, this one can be a bit trickier. You’ll need to rent a crib from the hotel, in most cases, to accomplish this task. Even if your child is a bit older than one year, asking the hotel for a crib is recommended for a couple of reasons. First, it will provide your child with a space to sleep that isn’t the main bed, and it will also be more comfortable. Crib mattresses tend to be more accommodating for little ones, and it will also give your child more space. 

In some rare cases, your hotel might not have a crib (this is something that’s worth looking into before you decide to book a hotel room, though, as many do). If you’ve found yourself cribless, though, don’t panic. There are all kinds of baby equipment rental services that provide high chairs, strollers, cribs, and more. You’ll be able to enjoy all the comforts of home without having to lug everything with you. Alternatively, if you find that you travel a lot, you may just want to spring for a lightweight mini travel crib or a pack and play so that you have somewhere for your child to sleep. 

When you’re setting up the crib in the hotel room, position it so that it’s the furthest away from the door. This may help you feel safer, and it will also help buffer your child from the noise in the hotel hallway. If your child is used to sleeping with a white noise machine, you might want to bring on along with you to block out unwanted noise.

Sleep Tips For Rental Vacation Home

Staying in an Airbnb or a similar kind of rental vacation home? If so, you’ll want to follow many of the same steps listed above. You’ll need to take a few steps in addition to this, too.

For example, it’s still important that the room be as dark as possible. You can bring along blackout shades for the windows or even make do with alternatives like tin foil or black trash bags taped to the window. This will help block out light, something that will help you sleep better as well as your child. Blocking out light is essential, after all, when it comes to producing melatonin!

If you’re traveling during the winter months, when it takes a long time for sunlight to come streaming into the room, these items might be less essential (though still vital). However, in the summer, you’ll find that you really need to be proactive about keeping light out of the room, as sunlight will creep in during the earliest hours of the morning and wake your child prematurely.

There’s one exception to the lighting situation, and that’s if your child is sleeping in his or her room and is a bit older. You may want to leave some sort of low light on so that your child can figure out where he or she is if they happen to awaken during the night.

You will also need to find a way to provide a separate sleeping space. If you can’t bring a crib or pack and play with you, check with the vacation home owners to see what kinds of amenities they might offer. They might have children of their own and be willing to accommodate you. If this isn’t an option, again, you can look into renting equipment locally.

Be sure to bring that white noise machine with you, too. Although rented vacation homes tend to be much quieter than hotel rooms, you’ll still have unexpected noises like road traffic and dogs barking to contend with.

Encouraging Sleep While Traveling

As best as you can, try to keep your child on the same nap schedule that you would follow if you were not on the road. Sure, sleep is going to be a bit off when you’re on the move, particularly if you have flight schedules to contend with.

However, try your best to get your child to nap on the plane or in the car. Once you arrive at your destination, you can make moves back toward the normal sleep schedule. The exception to this is if you are traveling to a new time zone, where it might be more difficult for your child to adjust.

Remember that exposing your child to artificial lighting (like what you might find on an airplane or in an airport) can create difficulties in maintaining a regular sleep and nap schedule. You may find that your child has a hard time falling or staying asleep. This is because artificial light makes it difficult for your body to produce its natural sleep hormone. You can mitigate these effects by wearing blue light blocking glasses.

Keep the routine as close to normal as possible, too. This kind of consistency will help tell your child’s little body that it’s time to go to sleep.

Adapting To New Time Zones

As difficult as it can be for you to adapt to a new time zone, it’s going to be doubly difficult for your child. That’s true even if the time zone difference seems to you to be inconsequential. 

To get around this, you will want to take a look at the time zone difference and then, on the first day halve it. For a two-hour time zone difference, for instance, you’ll cut that down to one hour, putting your child down for naps and for bedtime either an hour later or an hour earlier, depending on which way you are traveling. The next day, you’ll move it up an hour more.

If you plan on staying for just a few days in your new time zone, it may make more sense to keep your child in the original time zone. That’s because the time that it takes to adjust to the new time zone will be so substantial that it makes more sense to stay on the original, since they’ll have to adjust back as soon as they get home. However, if you plan on staying a week or more, make the change.

Remember that it’s easier to adjust to the time zone difference if you’re traveling east. Traveling west is more challenging, so you’ll need to be more mindful of the transition.

Another good rule of thumb for sleep while traveling in general - but especially when you’re trying to help kids adjust - is to try to keep the routine as close to what you do ordinarily at home as you can. If the routine is dinner, followed by a bath, then a lullaby, and bedtime, you should try to keep the routine the same so that you can encourage your child to fall asleep at the right times.

Spread Out

As much as possible, spread everybody out while sleeping. For example, put the pack and play in a large closet to mimic the feeling of a separate room or use a portable toddler cot for preschoolers.  

A portable toddler bed is especially helpful because you can move it around as needed during the night. Your child might feel a bit uncertain while traveling because of the new environment. You can move the bed next to yours so that your child doesn’t feel scared or alone, but you won’t be forced to sleep with a toddler in your bed. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Sleep Packing List

While it might not seem like you need a lot for sleep, there are several items you can bring with you that will help make sleeping during travel a much easier process for your little one.

For example, you might want to bring a travel crib or pack and play, as mentioned above, along with a white noise machine or baby shusher. Blue light blocking glasses can help, as can items for babies like a nursing pillow, sleep sack, bodysuits, and comfort toy. 

In general, you’ll want to pack anything that you need and use for bedtime at home. If your child needs to have a book before she falls asleep, pack a book. If your child has a special blanket, bring the blanket. You may even need to bring your own pillows. 

This can be challenging, particularly when you’re trying to find more space inside your already crammed luggage. However, sleep props are essential when it comes to getting your child to enjoy a restful night’s sleep - and to help you enjoy the rest of your trip!

Lower Expectations On Sleep During Travel

Although you can do everything in your power to help your child get better sleep while you’re traveling, the reality is that you may need to lower your expectations. Your child is just not going to sleep as much on vacation as he would at home - and that’s okay. You can squeeze in naps wherever possible - and you might want to look up the closest coffee shop to your hotel, too! 

Even if you can’t maintain your child’s regular sleep routines, there are easy steps you can take to make it more likely that your children will fall and stay asleep at the right times while you are traveling.  

If you’re traveling with a toddler or baby, you can start a trip at nap time. Your children might not stay asleep, but you can increase the likelihood of them staying asleep by making sure they have clean diapers and recently ate.  

If you’re traveling with older children, starting a trip after some outdoor playtime is a good idea, as it will tire your child out and get them ready to sleep on the journey. You can also encourage your child to go to the bathroom before you leave and to give him or her a snack, which will reduce those “are we there yet?” questions that are sure to come.

Once you arrive at your destination, you may want to allow your child to do some physical activity to get him ready for sleep later on. Even if that’s just lying on a blanket and stretching (particularly in the case of babies), this can be an effective way to get your child ready for sleep.

Managing Kids’ Bedtimes and Sleep Schedule Can Help Reduce Stress

Traveling is inevitably going to be less about sleep and more about making memories with your family. Your child’s sleep schedule will eventually return to normal and if you don’t sleep as well while traveling, it’s not the end of the world. 

However, by following these steps to manage bedtimes when you are traveling with your kids, you can reduce your sleep-related stress. Hopefully, everybody will get some restful sleep while you’re enjoying your relaxing time away from home!

Rebekah Pierce is a professional social blogger and has worked on several online publications including Citrus Sleep. Rebekah is an experienced content writer and copyeditor. You will find many of her works throughout CitrusSleep.com that cover a wide array of subjects including sleep education, natural, sleep products, electronics, fashion and many more. She is passionate about her work and family.

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