Traveling With a Baby or Toddler?

  Are you planning a trip or a family holiday with your little ones this year? Are you worried that things might be different where you're going? That they're not going to be in their usual sleep environment? And that the day-to-day routine is going to be different? And does it concern you that you want to be able to do fun things and take days out, and enjoy your family time away without feeling totally tied to a little one's routine, but at the same time, without completely breaking them in terms of their sleep?  Try these ideas: Starting off with the journey When you head off on your trip, whether you're going by road, rail, plane, it doesn't matter, the core principles are the same, and that is on that journey, you're going to need to take care of a few key things. One of them is going to be entertainment.  So what could that look like? Well, think about your mode of transport and what would be suitable. For instance, there are things that you can do with your child if you're a passenger sitting next to them on an aeroplane that you can't do with your child if you’re driving a car so you've got to consider what it's going to be. Is it something they can do themselves, or is it something that you need to assist with? If they're going to have some screen time, then have a think about when that's most appropriate, when do you need to pull that one out of the bag most? Let's face it, as parents, sometimes that can be a useful secret weapon when we just need to figure something out, or we're driving, or we just need to appease them for a little while, so when would that be suitable, and therefore you can then try to avoid it being ALL the time, so they're not just glued to a screen for the entire journey. Also, try and avoid that screen time right when you want them to go to sleep, because it will wire them, and it will stop them falling asleep. What kinds of entertainment can you give your little ones? If they're old enough for audiobooks, those are amazing, because you can put that on in the car, you can give them headphones and let them listen to that on any form of transport. If you have a few children, they can listen to their own ones on their headphones, so audiobooks are great, and of course they can also fall asleep to them, so if they’re listening to one, they're more likely to nod off than they would be if their eyes are fixed on a screen. If they're not old enough for audiobooks, then they maybe just enjoy some music. Put some of their favorite tunes into a playlist, and again, whether you play that to the whole car, or whether they're on a plane and you're going to put that on headphones, music can be helpful.  But really little ones, babies and toddlers, probably would not sit still for more than one song, and they're going to need more physical forms of entertainment, so I recommend small, unbreakable, light toys, and I like to use the idea of pocket money toys. I highly recommend ahead of your trip that you slowly start to accumulate a few new little toys, a variety of things that you can pull out of the bag to grab their attention for a little while on your journey. It's like a little holiday swag bag of new things. And don't let them delve into that bag and look at them all at once, space it out so that you can pull out a new thing at various intervals. Food  When you're on the journey, they're probably going to be hungry, unless the journey's very, very short, so you need to think about this, and if you're on the road, are you going to factor in stops for food or feeding your baby? If you're flying, are you taking things with you, have you arranged with the airline... Are you going to have meals on board?