Top Tips For Stress Free Travel With Your Baby

Hello everybody. Welcome to episode five of the Let's Sleep podcast. I am super excited for today's topic. I feel like I say that every single week, but I genuinely really am today. Um, this episode is being recorded the day before the Let's Travel Masterclass live event, which is my first ever live masterclass that I've run. And I'm super excited to be talking about a topic that I just love, I love traveling with, um, with my family. And in this episode I'm going to share with you that that wasn't always the case. It used to cause me a lot of stress and a lot of anxiety, and that's what's prompted me to actually host a masterclass on this very topic because I know that a lot of the clients that I work with in my group program and also one-to-one, they really avoid traveling. They avoid maybe even doing naps on the go, and they just feel very, very housebound because they just stress about what's going to happen with sleep.

Speaker 0 (00:01:07) - What if they get overtired and all of the things come into their head. So today I'm going to share with you a little mini version of what I'll be talking about in the masterclass, and I will put in the show notes a link for you to, um, to book the masterclass. You probably won't be joining live on the day as it will be 1:00 PM A E D t, um, tomorrow, which is, uh, Thursday the 27th of October. However, for the four weeks following the live event, you can actually purchase the recording and you'll also get a P D F guide to go along with it. And so you can watch that, you know, after the fact, which is awesome. So today I just wanted to share a little bit about why, why is travel so important for me to talk about, um, and why it's something that I actually spend a lot of time talking to my clients about.

Speaker 0 (00:02:04) - I used to really fear breaking the routine. Hazel's sleep used to give me a lot of anxiety, which may seem quite ironic because I've actually been a sleep consultant. Um, you know, the, the whole time that I've been a mom and, you know, I completed my training just before she was born. So you'd think, oh, well you are equipped with all the tools and you knew what to do, why were you stressed? And that's because, you know, and if you are a perfectionist or an A type, we tend to catastrophize and worry about things that haven't happened yet. And that's especially relevant when you're a parent because we can feel a little bit out of control and we just don't know what's going to come next. And that's what it was for me. It wasn't because of what was happening with her sleep, but what might happen, it was the unknown.

Speaker 0 (00:02:54) - I had the routine down pat, but I just didn't have the off routine down pat. And it really, really scared me. It absolutely terrified me. And as I said, this is known as catastrophizing. I was creating stories in my head and they haven't, EEA hadn't even happened yet. Maybe they were from hearing, you know, other people's experiences with travel or their baby's sleep, who knows? But regardless, I was really stuck and, you know, I didn't even wanna go and spend a night, um, you know, at a friend's house. And I definitely wasn't even thinking about, you know, going away for a weekend or booking a trip away around eight months of age when Hazel turned eight months. That was around the time that I made a conscious decision to change things because travel is something that my husband and I have always loved, and I really wanted to continue doing that and also to share those experiences with Hazel.

Speaker 0 (00:03:49) - So this is where I can see parents feel trapped and controlled by their baby's routine. They might be fearful of breaking the usual daily patterns just for fear of what might happen. I can see this because it was me. I was at risk of loathing the routine because it was making me feel really trapped at home. And I've never been someone that, you know, likes to spend a huge amount of time at home. I quite like getting out and about, you know, often twice a day with Hazel. I like being out most of the morning and most of the afternoon. And, you know, I've always liked being, you know, keeping busy, missing naps over tiredness. How will she react? Will she be a total mess by bedtime? What's the night going to be like for us? All of these things were going through my head when I thought about travel, but as I said, when she turned eight months, ultimately I decided that I was the only one that could push through that fear and build my own confidence in the off routine. And after all, you know, adventure, spontaneity and experiences is what life is all about.

Speaker 0 (00:05:02) - So I know you might be feeling anxious about travel and off routine days, but I really promise you that by the end of this podcast episode, definitely if you come over and watch the masterclass, you'll be one step closer to loving the crap out of traveling with your babies. And you know, I, as I said, I now love traveling with Hazel and it just doesn't stress me out anymore. We've done it that many times that it's just a lot easier now, and I just don't sweat the small stuff. I'm happy to throw in some off routine days. You know, we've, we've done trips where we are flying, you know, for a few hours over her nap time and she doesn't nap and you know, she has a little nap in the car and we get there and then goes to bed early and that, that would've, that made my palm sweaty back in the day, but now it just doesn't stress me out and it's worth pushing through that to get to where, you know, where how I feel about travel now.

Speaker 0 (00:06:03) - So here are some words of wisdom for you. When your baby follows a predictable routine, majority of the time and is well rested, they don't have that accumulative over tiredness that they might have if they are having frequent night wakes, they're kidnapping, you know, whatever the thing is, if they're in a good routine with their sleep at home, they're going to be more adaptable and resilient when they go off routine, and that's because they are well rested. And you can throw more curve balls at a baby that is well rested above that you know isn't in a routine and you know, is quite overtired from night waking, kidnapping, whatever the thing is. I can guarantee that when you throw them a curve ball, like, you know, an off routine day or you know, you, you go on a trip, you're going to find that they're just not quite as resilient as a bub that's actually well rested before you decide to have that off routine time.

Speaker 0 (00:07:04) - Now, like many things in life, you're only going to build confidence by giving travel a go. And even if it doesn't go quite to plan, pick yourself back up and try again. And this is what I did. You know, we had a couple of weekends away that felt really quite challenging, but you know, we kept, we kept at it and it's been so worth it. So there's plenty that you can do to support your little one to sleep well, even whilst you're traveling or staying in different accommodation. And I'm going to touch a little bit today on what I'd recommend considering, um, taking with you when you go traveling with your little ones. The other thing that's super key is having a good troubleshooting system in place to help you navigate off routine days and travel. And this is what all of my group and one-to-one families have.

Speaker 0 (00:08:00) - And you can actually grab this on the website in either the four to 24 month sleep guide, or if your little one's a bit older, the two to five year sleep guide. And that will literally walk you through my con complete troubleshooting guide to navigating off routine days or when something doesn't go quite to plan. So I just wanna briefly interrupt with sharing a couple of client stories. So these are clients that I've worked with in the past that, you know, weren't doing a lot of travel and were having challenges with sleep. And these are stories that they've sent me about traveling after we finished working together. So this is mom Amy with 15 month old Andrew. She says, we're in WA this week. It's so beautiful. We had a massive off routine day yesterday so we could see our family. I was going to take Andrew home so he could sleep while everyone else went to a big family gathering.

Speaker 0 (00:08:58) - Instead, I heard your voice in my head reminding me it's okay to have an off routine day. And we had the best time. Andrew slept in my arms and then transferred to the car and then transferred to the cot. Magical, he had a two hour sleep all up. Mom had champagne and we had the best time. Thanks for giving me the confidence to go off script and still enjoy life. And I'll just read one more from Mom Sam, with eight month old Tate. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen this is the family, um, where the bub was asleep in <laugh>, wrapped up in, um, a coat on a boat. It was very cute. He had his little life jacket on and he is all snug <laugh> on the boat. Um, she says, we just got back from our travels to New South Wales.

Speaker 0 (00:09:45) - We went away with so much confidence in Tate with his sleep and he slept like a star. He napped in his car seat, prem carrier cot and on the boat <laugh>, I found he was naturally getting tired around the two and a half hour mark every day with so much going on each day. He slept when he needed to without a fuss. He slept through the night most nights. And overall we had the best family holiday. Thank you so much for guiding us and giving us confidence with Tate's sleep. They're just a couple of stories from, as I said, from clients that I've worked with, um, you know, this year that have gone and done some travel once we've finished. And I, it's a big part of what I do with families. I really encourage you as soon as we get that routine down pat by the end of the two or four week program with me, that you start planning in some off routine.

Speaker 0 (00:10:34) - Like even book a day trip or you know, go into the city or you know, whatever you wanna do, go book a week away somewhere, but start throwing in some off routine early in the piece so that you build that confidence early on. Now in the masterclass I cover like a huge list of all the things you could consider packing for your little one. But today on this episode, I'm gonna just pick my three most recommended things to take with you on holidays. Um, and you know, if you'd like to hear about my full list of things that I recommend packing or at least considering packing, as I said, that's all inside that masterclass and I'll pop a link to that in the show notes. So these are the three items that I would not travel without and there's many others, but these are the three, the three top ones that I definitely wouldn't travel without.

Speaker 0 (00:11:29) - So again, if you follow me on Instagram, you would've seen that. Um, we use a slumber pod when we travel, and this has honestly been the best thing I have ever purchased for Hazel. Um, it is essentially a blackout popup tent that will provide an instant blackout environment for your little one. You literally put it together, it takes about 30 seconds and it's a bottomless tent, so you put it over the top of your little one's porta cot, and that's a blackout environment for them. It is, it meets the Australian, um, standards for, um, for safety. It's, um, they're actually featured on Sharpe Tank back in the day, but it's an incredible product, really safe. I'm very, very mindful of, um, safety with sleeping. And it's for indoor use only. So if you're going camping or something like that, then it's not suitable for that. It's also not something I would be just be very mindful of using it in very warm temperatures. So if the room's, you know, 26, 27 plus, um, that's degrees Celsius, I would definitely consider not using it or at least opening up the flap on the tent and, um, having good airflow through, um, through the slumber pod. Just because, you know, in a room that's above 27 degrees overnight, you feel very hot anyway. Um, so you know, you could also consider just sleeping bubs in a nappy or something like that rather than their sleeping bag.

Speaker 0 (00:13:00) - Excuse me. So that is number one, the slumber pod. It's having a drink <laugh>. Um, number two. Now this is another blackout, um, blind option. The reason why these are both in there is because honestly having a blackout environment that is easy to set up is so, so important for travel and it's really crucial that you don't wanna arrive somewhere and be stressing about, oh, how are we gonna black out the blinds? And, you know, h how big are the windows? And all this stuff. It's just really overwhelming. So that's why the slumber pot is something that I go with quite regularly. The other option is Mahalo eco blinds, which are fantastic. Um, I'm gonna pop a link in the show notes. I have a little code that, um, you can use if you want to grab those. These blinds are an awesome alternative to the slumber pod.

Speaker 0 (00:14:00) - They actually use Velcro to adhere to the window frame and it's really easy to take them down during awake times. Um, and I, I'd just be mindful when you're taking blinds away with you like that, have a think about what are the window sizes. So you know, if it's, um, if it's a house that I knew well or like going to a friend's house or something and I knew that the blind was gonna fit that window, I'd probably take the, the consider taking the Mahalo eco blinds. Um, but yeah, the slumber pod's very good for environments that you, when you don't know what the window's gonna be like, because sometimes they're floor to ceiling and there's no way that a blind is actually gonna cover that, that size window. Most of the time the Mahalo eco blinds will cover the window that, you know, um, that you need to cover.

Speaker 0 (00:14:49) - And then the third thing that I'll do three A and three B <laugh>, I, I struggle to narrow it down, but the third thing is I always take a one tog and a 2.5 or a 3.5 tog sleeping bag. And that's because, you know, the, the temperature of the room when you're traveling can really vary. So I like to have both of those options, um, just in case, you know, it's a, it's a cooler night or, or it's a warm night. So a one tog and a 2.5 or a 3.5. And then, you know, obviously packing a range of, um, different, you know, pajama options for your little one as well. And then three B is, uh, definitely taking a portable white noise machine with you. It really doesn't matter what one it is. Um, you just want one with continuous play. So we use, uh, it's called My Baby by Home Medics Sound Spa.

Speaker 0 (00:15:48) - And that is the thing I like about that is you can plug it in at the wall so it can be, you know, just runoff, um, electricity or you can run it on batteries. So it's both portable, but also you can have it plugged in, which is awesome. So I definitely would recommend taking that, especially, you know, if you're on holidays and people are being noisy where you're staying or you're playing some music, it's nice just to have, um, the white noise machine going for peace of mind. So there, the, the main kind of three or four things that I would definitely travel with. Um, as I said, I talk about a lot more detail and there's sort of things I always pack when I travel and then there's other things to consider. So there's actually two pages of packing, um, packing lists, <laugh> in the P d f you get with the masterclass. So, um, as I said, I will put a link to that in the show notes if you'd like to, um, yeah, jump into the masterclass.

Speaker 0 (00:16:50) - The other thing I'm going to touch on, which I get a lot of questions about is how do I balance the off routine and the routine when I'm on holidays? You know, how do I make sure that my baby's getting the sleep they need? But, um, you know, that we can still have some flexibility and like go out for dinner and all this sort of stuff and I want you to feel relaxed on holidays. I don't want you to feel like you have to follow the routine to a tea because you don't. Um, and the more you build in some little off routine days and things on trips, you'll feel, you know, you'll, you'll lean into it and you'll find it not stressful anymore. So when you are planning your daily outings and events on holidays, just consider balancing some restorative sleeps in there in your baby's porta cot or cot.

Speaker 0 (00:17:45) - Um, and then obviously building in some, some naps on the go, whether that's the car or the carrier or the pram. So for us, for example, when we went to Nua with Hazel when she was, we went for her first birthday, um, instead of party we, yeah, we went to Nua, which was wonderful. So we, we really did probably, we were there for, for a week, so it was seven days and I'd say five of those days we did her lunch nap in the cot at home, you know, at the accommodation, the morning nap we almost always did in the pram or the car, and she wasn't having a third nap at that stage, obviously being, um, 12 months. So we didn't have to think about that. But the reason why we actually liked doing her lunch nap in the cot most days is because we knew she was going to get a nice long sleep, we often actually pushed that lunch nap a little bit later so that we could go out for dinner with her and actually push bedtime a little bit later.

Speaker 0 (00:18:49) - So just think about what do you wanna fit in for the day? And this really helps you with planning your activities in the week when you're, when you're, um, out and about. So for example, if you are having a day at, um, like where you went to Australia Zoo, so if you are doing something like that, we did her morning nap in the car on the way there, that was say nine 30 till 10 15, I think she slept. And then we got to the zoo, we had a few hours there, and then I think around one 30 we left and she slept for about an hour in the car on the way home. And then we did an early bedtime for her and that worked beautifully well. Um, the other days, you know, there was a few nights where we went out for dinner, like it is still an early dinner, five 30 or six o'clock, but those days we really prioritized having the nap in the cot so that we knew she was, you know, charged up with lots of energy, um, to enjoy her afternoon and come out for dinner and be able to go to bed at more like, you know, seven 30 or something like that.

Speaker 0 (00:19:54) - So just think about this, you know, it's not, I can't really give you a, a set plan for your week on holidays, but really think about that balancing the off routine with the routine. The other thing I'm gonna put in the show notes is a link to the previous episode, the 60 40 rule, because that is how I, how in my head I balance the on routine with the off routine. And this can really be relevant, um, all the time, even just, uh, uh, you know, when you're not on holidays, um, in terms of having peace of mind that your baby is getting the sleep they need, but you're also not feeling stressed about them not, um, always having the perfect day of sleep. And that might be, you know, just a brief overview of that. For example, um, the 60% incl is, you know, when they typically have maybe their longest nap of the day in the cot, they follow the routine for the day.

Speaker 0 (00:20:50) - They have their usual wind down routine, they have their night sleep in their cot. It's a typical normal day. Um, the 40%, you know, and that think about night sleep, that makes up a large portion of their, their overall sleep in a week. You know, if you think about a full seven days night's sleep makes up a large portion of that. So the 40% in, you know, that's things like daycare where their naps might be a bit off or not as, you know, not as long as they normally are. Day trips, naps in the car or the pram dinners and lunches out where, you know, the, the nap time or bedtime is a bit different. Pushing out nap times or shorter nap times compared to usual because you're out and about. That's how I balance it, you know, in my head I always think roughly the 60 40 rules.

Speaker 0 (00:21:37) - So for example, you know Hazel, now she's, um, almost two and a half and she goes to daycare four days. So you know, some days she naps pretty well and she'll have like an hour and a half, two hours at daycare, but some days she has 45 minutes to an hour and you know, I don't stress about that. Yes, she'll probably be quite tired when she comes home, but we just pop her to bed early and those shorter naps and things they, they make up, um, the 40%. But you know, she's, she's going to bed at her usual time. She is, um, you know, having all of her nights sleep in her cot, et cetera, and, you know, waking up at her usual time in the morning. So that's that beautiful 60% that's providing consistency for your little one. So they were the main things I really wanted to talk to you about today.

Speaker 0 (00:22:28) - As I said, I cover in a lot more depth in the masterclass. Um, all things travel, including time zone changes, we talk through, um, the mindset stuff that's holding you back from booking trips. We talk about assisted naps, um, all all the things that you need to really feel confident, um, to yeah, to book that trip with your little one that you may have been putting off. So I hope you've enjoyed this episode. If you have any questions or you'd love to, to share some feedback, slide into my dms. I love hearing from you. I really enjoy connecting with families on Instagram and it's the best place to reach me and it's such a nice way to just chat back and forward and have it really nice and, um, social rather than a formal email. I'm all about, um, the DM chats. So thank you so much and I'm really excited for the Let's Travel Masterclass. Um, that yeah, that's on tomorrow or if you're listening to this episode on the day it's released, the masterclass will be today. So that's exciting. Um, and yeah, have a beautiful day everyone, and I will catch you next week.