Routines
Sleep on Holiday: Travel, New Rooms, and Jet Lag
6 min read
Holidays break toddler sleep in three separate ways: an unfamiliar room, a different schedule, and often a parent sleeping four feet away. Each is manageable; together they're why so many families come home more tired than they left.
The general principle is that you can't take the schedule with you, but you can take the routine.
Pack the cues, not the furniture
- The comfort object, obviously — and consider a duplicate if losing it would be catastrophic.
- Their own pillowcase or a familiar blanket. Smell does a lot of work.
- A travel blackout blind, or binder clips and a dark scarf. Unfamiliar rooms are almost always too light.
- White noise, if you use it — a phone app covers corridors, air conditioning, and other guests.
- Two or three familiar stories, or the app you already read from, so the ending of the routine is identical.
The point of all of this is that the last fifteen minutes should feel the same as at home even though nothing else does.
Sharing a room
A toddler who can see you will not go to sleep. Put the cot or bed out of the direct line of sight if you can — around a corner, behind a wardrobe, in a dressing area or on a balcony space with the door open.
Then be prepared to sit in the dark or leave the room for a while after lights out. It's the least glamorous part of travelling with small children and it's usually only needed for the first night or two.
The first night is the worst night
Expect it and don't respond to it with structural changes. A child who takes an hour to settle in a strange room on night one is generally fine by night three. If you move them into your bed on night one, you'll be doing that all week and probably renegotiating it at home.
Time zones
- For trips of one or two hours' difference, don't adjust anything — just run the normal routine at local times and accept a couple of odd days.
- For bigger shifts, get outside in daylight at the destination as early as possible. Light resets the clock faster than anything else you can do.
- Aim for local meal times and local bedtimes from day one rather than easing in.
- Roughly a day per hour of difference is a fair expectation for full adjustment, and children often manage it faster than adults.
- For very short trips, sometimes staying on home time is easier than adjusting twice.
Accept a worse holiday schedule
Naps in the buggy, a later bedtime because dinner is at eight, an early start because the sun comes up over the sea — a holiday is not the place to defend a schedule. Protect the routine's shape and total sleep roughly, and let the timings move.
Coming home
Go back to the normal routine on the first night home, even if you arrive late and everyone is a mess. The familiar room does most of the work, and a week of gradual re-entry is much harder than one difficult evening.
Common questions
- How do I get my toddler to sleep in a hotel room?
- Bring the cues from home — comfort object, familiar bedding smell, blackout cover, white noise, the same stories — and put the bed out of your child's direct line of sight. Expect the first night to be the hardest.
- How long does jet lag last for toddlers?
- Roughly a day per hour of time difference, and often faster than adults. Daylight at the destination is the strongest tool; aim for local meal and bedtimes from the first day.
- Should I keep my toddler's normal nap schedule on holiday?
- Not rigidly. Protect the shape of the bedtime routine and the rough daily sleep total, and let the timings move. A holiday is a bad place to defend a schedule.
Tonight's story, ready to read
Original illustrated bedtime stories for ages 2+, by a professional narrator or in your own recorded voice. Some are free — no account needed.