Silent Night: 5 Infant Sleep Tips for Holiday Travel

Traveling with an infant can be intimidating at best and feel like a chore at worst. One key to help you enjoy the holidays when you’re home away from home is to make sure your infant is well rested. The entire experience of traveling, being in a foreign place (even if it’s only a 3 hour drive), with new sounds and the adoring attention of relatives is exhausting and over stimulating for an infant. If your baby is able to get enough sleep – you’ll both be able to enjoy the holidays.

Here’s 5 tips to help your infant get enough rest:

• Get the lay of the land: Ask your host a few questions prior to your stay about where she’s planning to have you sleep. If she plans to put you in the room adjacent to where your little cousins are staying - find out if there’s another option. The best room is a quiet, peaceful place away from all of the noise and action.
• Routine, Routine, Routine: The holiday hustle and bustle coupled with a hectic travel schedule can wreak havoc on your infant’s sleep schedule. Make it your goal to adhere to your infant’s normal sleep routine as much as possible. If you typically nurse your infant and put her down for an afternoon nap around 1, do the same thing when you’re away from home. While it might be easier to give her a bottle of expressed milk and try to quickly put her down, your infant is much more likely to fall asleep  if you follow your typical routine.
• Over Pack: In truth, when you have an infant – it’s really not over packing as much as it’s being prepared.  You’ll feel like you’re over packing though – and that’s ok. Bring essential sleep related items that your infant is accustomed to, which will help ease the transition and make a foreign place feel familiar.
• Travel Friendly Sleepers: No – your car seat does not count! There are so many great products on the market that are made in portable sizes. I have two of them and they were both LIFESAVERS when Felicity was an infant. The first one, which she still uses to this day when she sleeps over grandma’s house is the Graco Travel Lite Crib with Stages. This is awesome! I only used the first two stages for a couple of months, but now she uses it as a regular mini crib. The second – I can’t say enough about this product - is the Fisher Price Newborn Rock N’ Play Sleeper. Not only is it easy to travel with – it was essential for us. We used this product for months in our own home and while traveling. She slept so soundly in it, the incline aided in relieving her reflux, and I could put it right next to me wherever I was. We began affectionately referring to it as “the hammock”. The weight limit says 25 lbs, but if your child is so long that his legs dangle or mobile enough to try to get out - don’t use this.
• Hotel It: If the accommodations are not ideal and you’re worried about your infant getting a good night rest, opt to stay at an inn or hotel instead. This way you know you can control your infant’s surroundings and make it as peaceful as possible.

Another major point to mention is sleep safety. Wherever you go this holiday season, make sure that your child’s sleep environment is as safe as it is in your own house. This means following all of the same guidelines – back to sleep; no loose fitting sheets or mattresses; no items in crib that could pose a strangulation risk; get rid of crib bumpers; keep your baby away from smokers; just say no to your infant bed sharing with another child; only co-sleep if you’re accustomed to it and know how to do it correctly. For more information – read the AAP guidelines.

One final point – some of these tips may have you feeling as though you’re a high maintenance guest. I assure you – your hosts would much rather have your baby comfortable and well-rested. A tired baby is a fussy and cranky baby which leads to a stressed mom and an anxious host. By helping baby get a good rest you’re doing everyone a favor.