As I sit here listening to the waves crash, waiting for the sunrise over the ocean…I reflect on this family trip so far.
I have two perspectives. The first, of a tired parent who is constantly changing diapers, wet bathing suits and washing sand off..pretty much everything.
It’s exhausting travelling with kids. Sitting down is a luxury. In between keeping them safe, playing with them and feeding them, there is little time for rest and relaxation for parents. The funny thing is that I brought a book! Thinking I would have time to read…pfff! lol.
The second perspective is a bigger understanding of the value of spending focused time together. Making memories, laughing together and being present. My husband and I have witnessed our kids explore new things, share together, embrace new experiences and enjoy themselves so frikken much. Which is worth every wet bathing suit moment.
However, in order to enjoy the latter and not be overcome with exhaustion, the key is always: Sleep.
We ensure that we sleep well on vacation. It allows us to start each day with energy, excitement and a clear mind. To enjoy our experiences more clearly and to be our best selves.
Our kids sleep the same here as at home, although the circumstances are not always perfect. We still aim for a 7pm to 7am schedule with at least 12 hours of night sleep. Along with one/two good naps of at least 2.5 hours for our 16 month old and 1.5 hours or sometimes longer for our 3 year old (I’ll explain below in lesson 5, why I allow them to be longer and how I adjust while on vacation).
How do we do this? Below are some lessons and observations on how we achieve some great sleep while traveling!
Lesson 1: What we would change. Don’t book an overnight flight if you can avoid it.
One of the biggest lessons on this trip was realizing that booking an 8 hour overnight flight was a BAD idea. You expect your children to sleep on this flight…but that is not guaranteed and in fact, probably not realistic. Our kids did not sleep AT ALL. Between being overtired, dinner and snack service, lights on an off…its was impossible to have both fall asleep. It’s also something very new for them and thus they were less likely to fall asleep. Let’s just say it was a rough flight, despite our best efforts to do a bedtime routine and pjs on the plane.
I ended up sleep deprived, grouchy and stressed about their sleep. A feeling I had forgotten about and a reminder how awful it is.
I will never book an overnight flight again. I think flying during the day and planning naps on the plane is a much better option. You can probably get a few good naps, although they may be short but then you will arrive at your destination ready for night sleep. This ensures that your babies don’t miss out on a full nights rest and that if anything is messed up, it’s your days which are easier to recover from.
Lesson 2: What I loved. Get help.
We were lucky to be visiting family who helped out a lot, as they hadn’t seen the kids and wanted to spend time with them. We also invested in hiring some help. We hired a nanny that helped out with key tasks like getting them fed, diaper changes and helping us bath them. She was also there to watch them during the day, she took them for walks and watched them at night while they slept so mom and dad could enjoy some nights out and sleep in, occasionally. Although we were still with them, an extra pair of hands made a HUGE difference.
Many resorts have kids club or babysitting services, I would recommend taking advantage of them, as you will need a breather and perhaps a quiet lunch or dinner alone with your partner.
Lesson 3: What we realized. Separate sleep spaces if possible.
This was not always possible for us but it made a huge difference when we could achieve it. We found out the hard way that having our kids in pack n plays beside each other was NOT the best idea. As soon as one woke up slightly, they would engage each other and going back to sleep was nearly impossible.
If they had to share the same room we tried to separate the pack n plays as much as possible, on opposite ends of the room. This was a game changer!
**yes I insisted my three year old be in a play pen. He is still in a crib (for good reason) and vacation is never the time to start new transitions. We made his playpen feel as close to his crib as possible (we brought all of his bunnies and stuffed friends). I would not have been comfortable leaving him sleeping in a bed, because I knew he would wake up and try to find us (it’s not an environment he’s used to and he still has little impulse control) and leaving him with someone while we went out was out of the question if we suspected he could sneak out of bed.
Lesson 4: What I could not live without. Products that I recommend as travel essentials.
There are a few products that I would always recommend bringing. To save money, we rented them from a local Toronto rental service @travelingmunchkin. It was a life saver! We didn’t have to go out and buy these products but rented them for a fraction of the cost, they are all covered by insurance so we didn't have to worry about them being banged up at gate check.
The side by side double stroller we rented was the Valco Baby Snap Duo and we are in love with it!
It lies down fully for sleeping at the airport and naps on the go. The canopy is a full cover so it makes the stroller dark! It’s so smooth and easy to maneuver and extremely light. It also has a one handed fold and folds in half with a band to put over your shoulder if you need to carry it around, it’s super light and easy to take anywhere! Definitely our favourite rental from @travelingmunchkin.
Isa having her 30 minute sleep on the plane
The second product we loved was the @planepal, although our kids slept very little on the flight, with one child it would have been perfect. We have a wiggly 16 month old that refused to sit still anywhere and thus kept waking her brother up as he slept in his “plane bed”. It did however, fit both kids. It was also really easy to set up and take down and no one even noticed we had it other than the kids who lay down there to read books.
We also, can’t live without our @slumberpod. It’s probably the most essential for sleeping away from home. We wish we had two actually. We used it in the hotel and any air conditioned spaces. At the beach we used it with the flaps open because there was no air conditioning and it was muggy and HOT. We also had a big fan going directly into their pack n plays.
Last but definitely not least, the packing cubes were A-mazing. Going from location to location, mean packing and unpacking…every single time. The packing cubes made that super easy. We used the small cubes for short trips and the bigger ones to store clothes and dirty laundry.
Lesson 5: Time it right! Naps and schedules
Here is where we had to troubleshoot big time!
We also had to take into consideration many different factors that affected our kids wake windows; the temperature (the heat made the kids feel more tired, sooner), activity level (we were super active and there was a lot of physical activity, even walking in the sand on the beach was exhausting) we made the call to put Isa down for a nap around 10am or sometimes earlier and both kids went down earlier for their lunch nap and we let them sleep as long as possible. We had to adjust to the environment, I remember the first day Isa was so cranky by 9:30am and fell flat on her face in the sand from exhaustion. I knew it was time to offer a nap, even if it was not what we had been used to.
Making these accommodations and gaging how the environment is affecting our children is so important. On trips, the likelihood that their wake windows will be shorter is much higher. They will be tired but also they will be overstimulated. More sleep during the day might be necessary and stroller naps might just have to happen!
Try to make the environment as un-stimulating as possible, cover the stroller so it’s at least semi dark, white noise (I can’t tell you how many people looked at us trying to figure out where the noise was coming from!), if you have to go for a nice walk in the stroller, do it! At night, as close to home as possible. Kids adjust, our kids did and we managed to still prioritize sleep.
Where there late nights? YES. Where some naps terrible? ABSOLUTELY! Did we always achieve optimal sleep conditions or timing? NOPE! Did our kids have meltdowns because they were overtired? HELL YA.
All you can do is try. After that..we just reminded ourselves that it was temporary. We would soon be back to normal and sleep would come.
In the end we have to let go (I have to admit I had a hard time with this, maybe because I know how vital sleep is for our bodies and minds). Control what we can control and enjoy our time together.
Connect with me about how to go back to your regular schedule or get your baby sleeping for once. Whether you are traveling, sick or baby is experiencing some rapid development all of this can affect sleep and how we as parents respond. Let’s talk about how to avoid and resolve this once and for all.
