If you want or NEED to travel with your baby, and you’re worried about how your baby might sleep while away from home, know that you’re not the only one! Many new parents have these concerns, and the good news is that most of the time, babies do very well.

Are YOU a good traveler?

Your baby’s sleep can be a concern whether you’re someone who loves to travel or not. Know that if you love to travel and think it’s going to be the same to travel with a baby, you may need to adjust your expectations. You can still enjoy traveling, but you might want to plan ahead a little to make sure things go smoothly. Babies have different needs, and when those needs are not met, it can definitely put a damper on your good time.

Also know that if you’re not a person who loves to travel, or just if traveling with a baby is no fun for you, there are things you can do to make it better, OR you can choose to minimize your travel whenever possible. If you don’t have an urgent need to travel, it’s ok to put it off until you’re ready. As babies grow into toddlers, and toddlers into children, you might start to feel very differently. I have never been a big traveler, and I did not enjoy traveling with babies.

When my babies became kids though, I suddenly LOVED traveling! There was something about showing them new places and things that made it all fun and exciting for me. Now that they are teenagers, it’s changing again, but the point is that everyone is different and it is normal to go through some changes.

Some tips for making sleep and travel with a baby easier and more enjoyable:

• Don’t overschedule. Make sure you have breaks in between excursions or events so your baby can nap well and be sure to get in all their meals. It’s great to feed your baby while you’re out if that works, but especially older babies can get distracted easily and might not get in a full meal while you’re busy.
• Plan your packing. Travel can be a lot more frustrating when you’re carrying lots of stuff. You might be able to plan ahead and have things like diapers delivered to your travel location, ask your hotel or guest house about anything they might have for babies, or just buy or borrow some of the things you need when you get there.
• Use a baby carrier. It’s best to get your baby comfortable in the carrier before you start your travel plans. It can be a life saver on vacation. Babies tend to be happy in a carrier, and it can help get your baby to sleep, even on the go, or in strange places and circumstances.
• Prioritize naps. If your baby has some bad nights, naps are a great opportunity to make up the sleep.

What do people worry about most?

You might be someone who is VERY worried about how your baby will sleep away from home. There might be a lot of reasons for these worries. You and your baby might sleep really well at home. Maybe it wasn’t always that way, and you’re worried about regression. Your baby might just be starting to sleep a little better and you worry that all your progress will be lost. Your baby might not sleep well at all at home, and you worry that dealing with that while on a trip will make you all miserable. In the worst case, your baby does sleep pretty badly, and so do you. That might mean some tiredness and crabbiness while you’re traveling. You might also experience some struggles to get back on track with sleep when you get home.

The good news?

Even if the worst case plays out while you’re traveling and when you get back home, babies do recover and so will you. It doesn’t usually take all that long to get back on track.

Even better news is that, most of the time, the worst case does NOT play out. Most of the time, babies do better than expected. A baby who seems to fight sleep consistently at home might suddenly fall asleep so easily while on vacation.

There could be a number of reasons for this:

• If you happen to be more relaxed while on vacation, your baby might also feel more relaxed. That can definitely make it easier to sleep.
• Your baby might be allowed to fall asleep on their own more natural cycle while traveling. If you have a lot of structure and routines in place at home, it can sometimes be harder to get babies on board with that, especially when they’re very young. On vacation, we can sometimes let the strict structure go, and then we see our babies sleeping when they’re sleepy!
• Moving babies tend to sleep well. This isn’t true for ALL babies, but many of them are soothed by movement. When you’re traveling, you might be spending a lot of time in cars, trains, planes, and walking. Your baby may take great naps in the car or stroller, or if you’re carrying them in a baby carrier.

What babies need most

The most obvious and easy answer is YOU. You are the most consistent sleep aid in your baby’s life. You helped them sleep when they were in the womb, and you are still most likely the strongest association they have with sleep. That is great news for travel situations. As long as you’re there, your baby is likely to sleep just fine.

Some people work hard to set up very structured sleep conditions and routines at home. You might start with a bath, some lotion and massage, a song or story, then nursing, and finally the baby gets into their crib or bassinet with a special night light, blanket, and white noise machine. The set up is very consistent, and you might think they NEED all of these things to be able to fall asleep. These routines can be very helpful at home when you have a consistent daily schedule.

So what happens when you travel? Some people think that the babies won’t know how to sleep without all of their sleep aids and routines. This just doesn’t tend to be true. Babies are more adaptable than you might think.

If you can plan ahead when you’re setting up bedtime routines, you might consider including things that are easy to travel with. Some things that might work include:

• A lullaby
• A small night light
• A small white noise machine
• A special blanket
• A special naturally scented lotion for a bedtime massage
• YOU – You can walk, rock, nurse, rub, or pat your baby to sleep. No special supplies necessary!

Most parents pack a lot more than they actually need the first time traveling with a baby. It’s almost a rite of passage! But if you can plan ahead a little, you might be able to get away with less, and you’ll likely be glad for that. Especially remember that most babies won’t need a lot of stuff to be able to sleep well as long as you’re there. We hope you can relax and enjoy some travel time with your baby! If you’d like to know a little more about normal infant sleep, consider taking our class with psychologist, Dr. Ellie Wheeler.