6 Helpful Sleeping Tips for Summer Travel With Your Little Ones!

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Thinking of traveling this Summer with a little one? There are many things to consider to make your travels more enjoyable… for everyone. In my opinion, sleep is the most important. Just think, if you don’t get a good night’s sleep, you certainly feel the effects the next day. Babies, infants and toddlers are just the same. We are all at our best when we are well rested. With that in mind, I would like to share with you some tips I learned while traveling with my little one across 2 time zones this Spring! I have prepared a number of helpful tips with The Baby Sleep Site to help ease your mind and enjoy your vacation!

The Baby Sleep Site offers a variety of packages to help families struggling to get a good night’s rest. They offer everything from their Express Sleep Plan to a Members Area which offer great resources. They also have personalized sleep consultations, perfect for tailoring a plan specifically to your family’s needs. Plus you can find free resources, such as sample schedules and e-books, right on their website!

Now, onto our 6 Helpful Sleeping Tips for Summer Travel With Your Little Ones:

1. Talk about your trip with your child(ren): Let them know where everyone is going, what you will be doing and discuss where you will be staying. Whether you are rooming with extended family, or staying at a hotel, it’s best to prep your child(ren) on their environmental changes. This way, if they are someone who likes to stick to their schedule, they will know that things might be a little different, but that it’s only going to last for a little while.


2. Make their sleeping environment reminiscent of home: This can be done by packing some of their favorites things that they like to sleep on or with. Perhaps they have a favorite blanket, stuffed animal, nap couch, or enjoy a Pack & Play. By bringing an item or two like these with you, they will feel more at ease sleeping in a new place. It will have their scent on it and the smell of home.


3. Try to stay on schedule: This can be best done when you don’t travel too far from home, or are in the same time zone. If you can keep your same nap and sleep time schedule, you won’t have to configure any new sleeping patterns. Easy breezy!


4. Bring along sleep promoting products: I am sure we have all encountered sleeping situations that were less than optimal when staying at a hotel or another person’s home. Whether it was the people in the hotel room next to you slamming their door at 3am or the blinds not blocking out the light, we have all been there one time or another. My best tips for both of these factors would be to bring portable black-out blinds and a white noise machine. In fact, I am pretty sure you could probably find an app for the latter.


5. For those traveling further distances and changing time zones: This makes things a little bit trickier, but don’t fret. When I traveled with my daughter this past Spring, we went through 2 time zones and I was able to get her on track right away. Your best friend is going to be their complete exhaustion from traveling. Use it to your advantage to set their new schedule. When they wake up in the morning, calculate out how many hours it would normally be (when they are at home) until their nap time. Then, just use that calculation to set their new nap time and do the same for when they go to bed at night. If you are traveling late at night, you might need the next day to relax and unwind and get back on track. This will help to make your transition across time zones easier and/or combat jet lag.


6. Back at home: Once you have arrived back at home, it’s time to get back to your normal sleep schedule… if it was off track. Planning for an earlier bedtime for a few nights will help your little one(s) get their much needed sleep and ‘catch up’ on some that they missed.

I hope these 6 tips will make traveling with your little one a breeze! This way you can focus on the fun that you are going to have and all the wonderful memories you are going to make. Remember to bring your camera and take lots of pictures. They are only this little for a short time and when you get home you can fondly look at all the memories you made together.

Connect: Find out more about The Baby Sleep Site by visiting their website. Then make sure you “like” them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Buy It: You can purchase any of their helpful services on their website.