Parenting,  Travel

Get Your Toddler to Sleep Anywhere

December 8, 2019

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The joys of traveling with kids. . .

With the holidays upon us and lots of people planning to travel with their little ones, I thought I would share how we make sure our twins sleep properly when we’re traveling. We took Noah and Sophie on their first road trip when they were 3 months old, and it was an absolute nightmare. They cried the entire time in the car, I had to pump several times WHILE driving, we had to stop a thousand times for diaper changes, full outfit changes, feedings. What should have been a 5 or 6 hour trip took NINE hours. It was awful. But. . . the drive home was better. And every trip after that has only gotten easier.

The twins flew for the first time when they were a little under 6 months old from Vegas to Kansas City, then a few weeks later we flew with them to Puerto Vallarta where my family was spending the Thanksgiving holiday.

The pack-n-play days

When the twins were little, we would always take their pack-n-plays, or we would make sure if we were flying somewhere that we had rented some from a local company (many places will provide ONE pack-n-play, high chair, etc., but once they got too big to share, we would always have to make sure there was a second one available).

Eventually the twins outgrew their pack-n-plays and we had to get creative. I am a sleep zealot, so sharing a bed (and frankly, usually even a room) with the twins is a hard pass for me. I was pretty anxious about a trip to South Carolina we were taking this past March for spring break because, although we would have enough bedrooms for the twins to have their own room, I couldn’t figure out how and where they would actually sleep.

Now what?

After some internet research, I found these little Hiccapop inflatable mattresses that you can put right on the floor. These work great when we don’t have beds for them and, of course, when there’s enough room on the floor somewhere. They come with an electric pump, so blowing them up is a breeze. We blew them up and left them in the living room for a couple of days when we first got them to get the twins excited to sleep on their new “vacation beds.” They did great the first time we used them.

The next time we took a trip, we were going to be staying in a place that had a dedicated bedroom for the twins, but it had two twin beds and not much floor space. We were going to need something else. Luckily, I’m an overbuyer (if you haven’t gathered that yet from following me).

We’ve found a winner!

Hiccapop ended up coming through again. I ordered these inflatable bumpers that can be slipped under the bed sheets to keep the kids from rolling out of the bed. These are a DREAM. What’s great about these is (1) they are more compact that the mattresses, and (2) they can be used on any bed to make it safe for a little one.

We have used these SO much since we got them – in rental homes, hotels, and relatives’ homes, on regular beds, pull-out couches, and futons. Like the inflatable mattress, these also come with an electric pump, so they’re easy to set up, and we have not had a tumble yet! Then you just deflate, roll them up, and tuck them into the suitcase when you’re ready to go home.

A few more tips. . .

In addition to the physical sleeping arrangements, there are a few other things we do to make sure the twins go straight to bed no matter where we are:

  1. Schedule. To the extent possible, we try to keep the twins on our home schedule. So if we’re in a time zone that’s two hours ahead, they go to bed at 10 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. because that’s when it’s 8 p.m. at home. Instead of waking up at 6 a.m., they naturally wake up at 8 a.m. This means we don’t need any adjustment period when we start a trip or when we come home.
  2. Clear Arrangements. As soon as we get somewhere, we set up their beds and show them their room so they know where they’ll be sleeping.
  3. Familiar items. You’ll see in almost all of the pictures above, we have Sophie’s Frozen blanket, Belle pillow, and pink elephant lovey. Noah always has his Star Wars blanket, Mickey pillow, and blue elephant lovey. We always pack these when we travel because it signals to the twins that THIS is where we’re sleeping, and we’ve got all our stuff here, so we’re all good.
  4. Books. We always take paperback books that aren’t too heavy to pack to keep our routine the same as at home – pajamas, brush teeth, potty, books, bedtime.
  5. Monitor. We always pack our trusty baby monitor (we’ve had this one since they were born) so that we don’t feel anxious that we can’t see/hear them or that they’re up to something.
  6. White noise. Until the twins were total travel pros, we always packed their white noise machine when we traveled. This lets us be in the other room watching TV or playing a game and drowns out unfamiliar outside ambient noises so they fall asleep and stay asleep. Amazon no longer sells the one we have, but this one is very similar – super simple without a lot of extra features.
  7. Playlist. The twins have a bedtime playlist that I play on their nursery Amazon Echo. When we travel, sometimes they request their “lullabies.” I keep this playlist downloaded on my iPhone so that I can play it anywhere, even if the WiFi is spotty.

Like I mentioned, our kids are old hands at travel by now, but I hope you find these tips helpful with your own little ones – please let me know if you try any of these over the holidays or your next trip and how it goes for you!

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