My Baby + Sleep posts are very popular around here, so be sure to check out my Baby Sleep Series for more tips on improving sleep!
Traveling with a baby or toddler can really wreak havoc on sleep for both you and your child. For the small child, new and unfamiliar environments can lead to difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. No need to avoid travel out of fear of compromised sleep.

As parents, we can do a few things to help our children sleep better while away from home.
This is not a quick fix, just practical solutions that may offer a better travel experience.
1. How to prepare a sleep station…
Once you arrive at your destination, set up a ‘sleep station’ or a special area where your child will sleep. A sleep station may include a pack ‘n play (playard) with a soft and comfortable sheet, along with a lovey and sleep sack or wearable blanket placed in the playard.
If you will be sleeping in the same room as your child, attach a towel or blanket around the outside perimeter of the playard using safety pins to prevent your child from seeing you in the room. Often times, seeing a parent in the room can cause the child to think it’s time to get up. Using the blanket to block your child’s view can encourage them to go back to sleep if they wake up.
While setting up the sleep station, have your child watch you assemble it, and explain this is where he will be sleeping. Throughout the day, remind your child about his sleep area to help him prepare.
You may also want to evaluate if the room is too bright. Sometimes mini-blinds are not sufficient enough to dim the room for naps.
To help dim the room and encourage sleep, bringing along a dark colored sheet and some thumbtacks to hang the sheet over window, if necessary. Taping aluminum foil is another very cheap, yet effective way to block light from a window.
2. Should I use white noise?
Even if you do not use white noise at home, this can be extremely helpful during travel. It can be a real challenged always reminding everyone to be quiet while the baby is sleeping.
Using white noise can eliminate the need to be super quiet. Using a small fan, place it in the baby’s room to be turned on during naps and bedtime. A gentle humming will help lull your baby to sleep and drown out noise to prevent premature waking.
2. Keep as much the same as possible…
Traveling is a very chaotic time for a baby or toddler, as they cannot understand or prepare for your well-intended travel plans. Try keeping as much the same as possible to offer the child security and comfort. If you have a pre-nap and bedtime routine, do the same routine while traveling.
Using a lovie in the bed at home with your child offers an opportunity to provide consistency during travel. When you travel, place the lovie in every new sleep area to encourage feelings of security and to cue your child for sleep.
3. Do consistent bedtime and wake-up times really matter?
Maintaining the same wake-up time and bedtime used at home can really make all the difference in the world. Night sleep is the most restorative, so going out of your way to protect it can really mean the difference between a happy spirit or a crabby spirit.
This doesn’t mean, there are not going to be nights every now and then when your child will stay up past bedtime. Sometimes you just can’t avoid a later bedtime. However, trying to keep a consistent bedtime most nights helps encourage and preserve sleep during travel.
4. How to manage naps…
Travel should be a fun and enjoyable time, and it’s difficult to enjoy activities when you’re a slave to your child’s sleep. Being flexible with nap times during travel can help offer a little bit of sanity. Attempt to lay your child down for nap during a time range, rather than an exact time.
We can also consider trying to fit in at least a short nap. Some sleep is better than no sleep, and often enough, a little recharge can go a long way. On the other hand, skipping naps all together can lead to trouble or what I like to call a very crabby spirit. Skipping naps is okay on rare occasion, but skipping naps several days in a row will surely lead to an over-tired, crabby child.
5. How to add a little TLC during travel…
This may come in the form of extra kisses and cuddles before betimes and naps. It may also come in the form of a few night feedings to help your baby along. Even if you dropped night feedings long ago, a small, short feeding during the night may offer just enough comfort to your child to aid him back to sleep.
Extra TLC during travel may also involve a longer wind-down time before sleep to help set the stage. Taking the time for some TLC is totally worth it if it translates to better nighttime sleep, at least in my book.
Traveling with children is one of parenting’s true art forms, and it tends to get better each time, as we gain more experience about what works and what doesn’t. Preserving and encouraging sleep during time away from home can really make all the difference in enjoying your family vacation.
Want more on parenting?
- Top 10 Newborn Baby Sleep Tips That Will Help Baby Sleep Longer Stretches
- 8 Infant Sleep Fact Every Parent Should Know
- Ultimate Newborn Baby Routine That Will Help Baby Fall Asleep Faster
- Best 1 Year Old Sleep Schedules From Real Mamas
- How to Help a Toddler Fall Asleep Fast
- 2 Year Old Sleep Regression Explained! Why It Happens and How to Fix It
Hey Lauren! Comment #1 today haha!
I’ve got 4 munchkins and I do pretty much what you suggest and it works well for us too. I also take along a couple of books and dvds for the older kids. I pop them and the toddler in a shared room, they all snuggle up together and watch a kiddo dvd on the laptop. That just gives me a bit of time to tend to baby without the crew crashing in on us too much.
Ha, you are too funny! Thanks for your added tips! Most of my best ideas actually come from other moms. Thanks so much for visiting. Looking forward to hearing how your experiment goes!
Hey! I love your tips!
It made me realize a lot of things that I actually did right without even knowing it! Like white noise… we brought my daughters music with us and she transitioned SO nicely. Being flexible with naps bedtime but still keeping a routine is a good idea too 🙂
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
A few little things really can go a long way! Thanks for visiting back!
I never would have thought to talk Mia through the process of setting up where she will be sleeping! We will totally do that next time and see how she reacts to that!
We never use white noise at home so I never thought to take a machine with us while traveling… that is genius! Definitely trying that out as well!
Great! I hope it talking about Mia’s sleep area and using white noise helps! Thanks so much for visiting!
Great tips! Love the idea of putting a blanket/sheet over the pack ‘n play so the baby can’t see us if he wakes up. GENIUS. Why haven’t I thought of that?!
Yes, I’m always trying to hide from my son when we have to sleep in the same room 🙂