Getting Sleep Back on Track After Traveling
I’d be lying if I said that my kids slept perfectly when we travel. In fact, it always seems like they adopt some new weird habit when we’re away from home. I don’t blame them though - it’s a new sleep environment, a new bed, and sleeping in a different room is so hard. Heck, I don’t even sleep very well in a hotel room.
I can vividly remember one of our trips to California. We only had 2 kids at the time and I was pregnant with our third. My daughter was only 9 months while we were traveling and she started waking up screaming at night. She was sharing a room with my 3 year old, so I was panicking when I heard her. I rushed to her side with some cuddles and a bottle just to quiet her. She drank it, but seemed restless afterwards. For our entire 14 day vacation, she woke up at night and I responded with a bottle.
Some other things that threw our schedule off were super short naps, skipping naps, and all-around poor sleep. Georgia isn’t a great on-the-go napper (she never has been), so I only prioritized one of her naps to happen in the crib, that way we could venture off in the afternoon and do our activities then.
By the time our vacation was over we were sun-kissed, but exhausted. I couldn’t imagine that sort of sleep being our family’s normal.
When we got home, we had to go back through some basic sleep training for her.
We had done our nightly routine each night on vacation, but being in our home environment was essential for Georgia.
I always recommend a 30-minute bedtime routine. The purpose of a bedtime routine is to prepare your child’s body to be ready for sleep. Since Georgia had gotten used to feeding to sleep in the middle of the night, I made sure that she was eating well during the day so she wasn’t relying on those nighttime calories from her bottle.
We made sure that her feeding was the first step of her bedtime routine. I actually recommend that feeding is the first step of every child’s routine once they’re older than 6 months old. This just helps make sure that they aren’t getting drowsy during the feeding which could act like a cat-nap for them.
The rest of the bedtime routine looks like this:
Feeding
Bath/Shower
Diaper/PJs/Sleep Sack
Cuddles, Stories, and Songs
Lay them into the crib awake
The last step of the routine is always the trickiest! Just how “awake” do you want your child to be? Awake, awake, but tired - not drowsy. Meaning, we’re at the end of your child’s wake window, but they aren’t falling asleep in your arms. If they could wave goodbye to you as you left the room, they would.
The most important part of getting sleep back on track after a vacation is to make sure that you are being as consistent as you can with them. If you had used a sleep training method with your baby beforehand, you can revert back to that plan. If you have never done sleep training, then I would recommend seeking out some support or a plan before getting started. That way you’re not trying something new with little-to-no guidance.
For our situation with Georgia, we used a check-in method with her during the night when she woke up, and she ended up falling asleep after just 1 check in. Within 2 nights, she was back to sleeping through the night and everyone felt so much more rested.
Whenever your child goes through challenging sleep times, whether it be sickness, teething, or travel - the best thing you can do is once you’re back to “normal,” start being super consistent again. This way your child can follow that exact consistency and they’ll know how to respond too.
If you need sleep help with your kiddos, please don’t hesitate to reach out and book a free discovery call with me to chat all-things sleep training.
