“Remember how cute I am when I wake in the night at home…”
In the early days of parenthood, one of your biggest questions is probably, “When do babies sleep through the night?” And if you’ve just come back from traveling with your baby, your latest question may be “When will my baby sleep through the night again?”
We call it the “travel hangover.” It covers those baby sleep problems after travel that inevitably pop up. We experienced it frequently after trips. Although coping with the death of my father took an extra toll after one vacation. Both kids ended up in our bed at some point over the two weeks following it. But that was really nothing new for us after traveling together.
It doesn’t stress me out anymore, because I know eventually we’ll be back on track. But I do remember, when my daughter was a baby, fretting over our seemingly lost routine .
I admit to being much lazier once we had two kids and a King-sized bed. If either had an issue, into our bed they’d come. (In our olden days and in our olden bed, I thought differently.) I was too nervous co-sleeping in our old Queen bed. And our daughter as a baby and toddler was, quite possibly, the world’s worst bedmate. We probably would have co-slept more often if it meant we actually slept. For us it was more like co-pinching-kicking-squirming-nose-and-eye-poking than actual sleeping.
What did we do? We stuck it out.
Tips for fixing baby sleep problems after travel:
1. We went immediately back to our routine at home.
We were all much happier and more content with a structured routine, so it was important to regain our footings with that asap. Our daughter would go down ok on her own (most of the time). But there would be a late night waking that would inevitably keep all of us up if we didn’t address it.
I had a pillow and sleeping bag on standby, and if she squawked in the night I would plod down the hall and park myself on her floor. It wasn’t the comfiest, but my presence eventually calmed her and she would settle. Usually I’d wake up an hour or two later, and be able to creep back to my own bed.
2. We prepared for the worst.
And our worst was about two and a half weeks. That was when she was not quite two and a half, but I’m not sure that has anything to do with it
