Did your child’s sleep fall apart when you were traveling this summer? If so, you may be wondering why you ever even considered leaving home. Nothing takes the fun out of vacation faster than being in a hotel room at 2:00 am with an over-tired child that refuses to sleep!
If your child’s travel-related sleep challenges have followed you back home, read on. Here are the most common issues, and how to get sleep back on track asap.
The Problem: Your child was an independent sleeper, but developed unwanted sleep associations while you were away.
If your child had a hard time sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings you may have resorted to rocking, patting or nursing them to sleep at bedtime and throughout the night. Because new habits can form in just a few days, your child now assumes that rocking, patting or nursing is the norm.
The Solution: Start by reminding yourself that your child really does know how to put themselves to sleep! As soon as you get home, revert immediately back to your normal sleep routines. Kiss your child goodnight, tuck them in and give them a few minutes to settle themselves. If they ‘re having difficulty settling, offer some extra reassurance and then step back and give them the space to try again. Keep checking and reassuring until they fall asleep, and do the same thing if they wake up in the middle of the night. Stay consistent, resist the urge to cave in, and your child’s sleep should be back to normal in just a few nights.
IMPORTANT: If your child is less than a year old and was night weaned but you started feeding them again in the middle of the night, you’ll want to gradually reduce night time calories instead of stopping cold turkey. For example, if on vacation your nine month old was drinking 4 ounces of formula three times a night, continue to offer the bottle, but offer an ounce less each night. Once you’ve reduced down to 2 ounces you can stop offering the bottle completely, knowing that their body has adjusted to receiving less calories and they’re no longer hungry when they wake.
The Problem: Your child hasn’t learned independent sleep skills. They still need you to rock, pat or feed them to sleep. But now, instead of waking up one or two times a night, they’re up every hour or two all night long.
The Solution: If your child is developmentally ready (typically sometime between four and a half and six months of age) it’s time to teach your child to fall asleep without the associations that are getting in the way of healthy sleep. If nursing or using the bottle to fall asleep is the main association, be sure to have a thoughtful feeding/reduction plan built into your plan. If you’re not quite ready to coach but want to eliminate the extra feeds that crept in while you were away, you can reduce them out gradually and replace them with an another sleep association like rocking or patting. Replacing one sleep crutch with another may not lead to less night wakings, but you might find that rocking your child to sleep is preferable to nursing or offering bottles all night long.
The Problem: Your child slept well while away, but their schedule was thrown off due to late nights and/or time zone changes.
The Solution: If your child’s bedtime is only off by an hour or so, you may find that nudging their schedule daily in 15 to 20 minute increments is the best strategy, especially if your working on making bedtime later and your child tends to get overtired. For bigger schedule shifts due to multiple time zone changes, it’s usually best to jump to the local time first thing in the morning on the day after your arrival home. Shift wake up time, naps and all meals and activities to the local time, and be sure expose your child to natural light first thing in the morning. Exposure to light is the most powerful way to re-set their internal clock – and yours too!
For more tips on travel and children’s sleep, click here.
Sweet Dreams,
Alison Bevan – Sleepytime Coach
Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant – The Center For Advanced Pediatrics
