Is your child’s sleep a hot mess after summer vacations? Oftentimes there is a change in a baby or toddler’s sleep that is significant enough to allow new habits to creep in. A child’s sleep can go awry for a number of reasons. It might be due to sickness, a change in schedule, or the arrival of a new sibling. But, one of the most common reasons is travel.
How do you get your child’s sleep back on track after a vacation?
If your kiddo has always struggled with going to sleep easily at bedtime, night wakings, or short naps, then book a call with me so that we can discuss the root of the problem and how to solve it.
If you had an independent sleeper before your trip and now you don’t, I’ll go over a few checklist items to help get sleep back on track.
It’s not uncommon to throw all the sleep “rules” out the window when on a trip. Sometimes it’s because you are out and about naps are on the go and bedtimes are late because you are trying to fit in all of the fun stuff. Another common reason is trying to keep the peace. If you have a little one waking frequently, doing “whatever it takes” to get them to sleep so that they don’t wake up other family members can be where it starts. If it goes on longer than a day or two, you’ve now got a habit on your hands. Maybe there’s a night feed when a baby used to sleep all night. Or your toddler needs you to rub their back when they used to fall asleep easily and independently after being tucked in.
Regardless of how you got here, let’s figure out how to get your child sleeping through the night again.
Getting Sleep Back On Track Checklist
Wind down routine
What’s going on before you start the bedtime routine? I recommend doing a winddown routine before you start the bedtime process. That means after dinner you are allowing your kiddo to get out their wiggles. Spend 10-20 minutes playing outside, having a dance party, or having a living room wrestling match. Then, calm down the energy and lower the lights to help prepare the body for sleep. Do a quiet activity together in the living room before heading up to the bedrooms.
Did you meet their needs?
Of course, you are making sure your child is fed, loved, dry, etc. But if you have a toddler or preschooler you know the negotiation skills are fierce. Put the time and effort in to make sure all of their needs are met by eliminating possible stalling tactics. You are making sure they’ve had their last snack, drink, pet the dog, told their big bro goodnight, etc. No more excuses!
Clean up the bedtime routine
Sometimes we get a little loose with the bedtime routine and it needs a bit of a facelift. The ideal bedtime routine is about 30 minutes in total. Start with a bath that’s 10 minutes or less and is followed by 4 or 5 steps that happen in the same order every night. Be sure to include choices throughout the bedtime routine so that your kiddo has some ownership in the process. Lastly, pick how many books you read during bedtime and keep it that way. There will be a lot less negotiating if you don’t waver with this one.
Go back to basics
If you have tried all of the above and it’s just not improving sleep, it’s probably time for a do-over with sleep training. What did you do to get your little one sleeping like a champ initially? If It’s been a while since you sleep-trained your babe, you will most likely need to make adjustments to the sleep plan. Get the plan ready, be consistent, and be patient. You know your kiddo has the skills and they can be a great sleeper again.
My suggestion to all of the families I work with is to keep it consistent 80% of the time and allow for flexibility 20%. If you do this, you will rarely need to have a do-over with sleep training. Your little one is human and will struggle with things along the way. But, here’s always a way to get sleep back on track.
If you want guidance on getting sleep back on track after traveling, shoot me an email and we can book a call together to chat about solutions