A few weeks ago we had the most magical stay at The Disneyland Hotel. It was just for one night and happens to be a short 1-hour drive from our house but regardless, we had to get creative when it came to bedtime. We have traveled quite a bit with Elouise and now we are learning all sorts of new tricks since we’ve been hitting the road with Sully. Traveling with a baby and a toddler, or any amount of children, is totally possible and can still be fun, even if you aren’t staying at the happiest place on earth. Keep scrolling, because I decided to share some of my best tips for getting a good nights sleep while traveling as a family.

 Now, why you’re really here…

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5 Tips for Getting Sleep During Family Travel

 

1. Try your best to spend a little bit of time in the room before bedtime: Here’s why, it will get you and your kiddos comfortable with the room. They will get to experience things while it’s light and they can really acquaint themselves with the surroundings. It also gives you a chance to figure out sleeping arrangements.
2. Decide on sleeping arrangements when you check in: Here’s where things may get tricky, but you just have to do your best with what you know your kids will adapt to. Typically when we have travelled with just Elouise, we request a crib in the room if possible. Well we had just recently put a toddler rail on her bed at home so we weren’t sure if she’d want to sleep in a crib. After exploring the room we decided the best option for her would be to pull the mattress out of the pull out couch and lay it on the floor. Good thing we did, because she totally rolled off the bed in the night! If you have a baby, you can either request a crib or bring your own portable crib. We used the Baby Bjorn Travel Crib Light and are obsessed. Sullivan slept better in that thing than he does at home!
3. Bring pieces of home with you: For Elouise, we brought her pillow, blanket, paci, and three stuffed animals. These are all things she sleeps with at home and we knew that having them would help her feel comfortable and safe. Sullivan sleeps with a sleep sack in his Dock a Tot so we made sure to bring both of those. These things may seem small but it really helps to keep things feeling as normal as possible. We also try to keep to our bedtime routine, even if it’s not at the same time as normal. Brushing teeth, singing our special song, reading goodnight moon, and prayers are always something we make time for. If we have time we will try a bath or shower too because that always seems to boost the relaxation factor to the max!
4. Keep your daytime busy: This may seem silly, but the more you do during the day, the more tired your kiddos will be at bedtime. We did Disneyland hard all day and both kids went to sleep like champs. Even if you aren’t at a place like Disneyland you can always find a small patch of grass, a park, hotel pool, or some place to let your kids be outside and run off some steam. This is also a good tip because when you’re traveling with kids, unless you also travel with a babysitter, your days typically end pretty early. Mom and Dad may end up hanging in the hallway or the bathroom for a while once the kids go to sleep and that’s a little more bearable if you’ve had a full day of fun.
5. Bring a baby carrier: This one is especially for those of you with littler ones. There may be times where being on a vacation or just away from home is totally overstimulating. This might result in a really tough bedtime, but baby carriers are a win because they have built in sleepy dust. Once they relax enough to fall asleep in the carrier you can transfer them to the crib. It has for sure saved our sanity before.

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We got to have this fun mini getaway because of a fun event with Baby Bjorn, and it just so happens that we fell in love with some of their products. I’ll chat a bit more about that in my tips. I do want to say that having a hotel close to the parks was the best thing ever. As someone who has had a Disneyland pass most of my life, having the opportunity to take a nap, freshen up, or head straight to bed without driving home, was just not a thing for me. So, getting to have that cozy little safe haven ready for us when we needed it was the best. Now I’m going to try to convince my hubby that we need to book a room every time we go to the parks, haha. Here are a few fun photos by the lovely Morgan Pansing from the event.

 

Hey girl, go ahead and save me to your favorite Pinterest board:

 

*Thanks to Baby Bjorn for hosting us. This post is in no way sponsored or endorsed, all opinions and words are my own.