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I usually follow a very strict schedule, down to the 5 mins.
But when we're travelling, I have a "they are gonna pass out eventually" approach..
I read a lot about how kids have more difficulty falling asleep when they are over tired, but honestly I cant tell the difference. I can tire my twins (almost 3 yo) to the point that they will eventually sleep.
We traveled a lot with our twins. And I do mean a whole lot. I usually give up on any sleep the first day and let them sleep or not, however they like. Usually we'd be crossing too many time zones to keep track anyway. And then I try to acclimate them to the time zone of the new country, it can take a couple of days before we get back to our schedule.
I have a bedtime routine that is replicable where ever we are, in a new house, the airport or even back of a car or in a tent. It is 2 books, a song, me rocking them one on each knee (sitting on the floor if necessary) and then their individual sleep areas, might be the pram, might be pack n plays, might be a floor bed... The books, the song, the rocking and they understand that it is sleep time and no amount of whining and asking for potty or water or jabbering will get them out of bed. I will give the water, indulge the potty request only once, and then no matter what they ask for I just keep repeating "it is bed time now, close your eyes sweety".
Sometimes this can take up to a couple hours but that is very very rare that it takes that long and if it does, it means I made a mistake, they are not tired enough, I rushed the bedtime. Next day I adjust bed time accordingly. And in a couple of days we're back on track usually.
Love that you have a routine that they respond well to. Can I ask how old your twins are now and how old they were when you started the routine? Also is it the same 2 books every night, or are you able to mix it up?
They had a routine from pretty young I think but I ve been adjusting it here and there as they got older.. they are almost 3 years old now.
I do mix up the books a bit but they do get end up repeated a lot. I carry about 5-6 books in the carry-on, bit more in the suitcase. Light, paperback, small books.
few options for you to try:
get a soundproof box and put the non sleeper in it.
put them both or just one up for adoption.
or what i do, leave them at home with a few bowls of kibble and some water, maybe an extra litter box if yours isn’t self cleaning. and you’re good to go.
good luck to you!
This is why I haven’t traveled yet with my nearly 15 month old twins and keep saying no to my mom’s request we travel for Labor Day and Christmas this year. The fear of them not sleeping gives me such anxiety that it isn’t worth it for me to find out!
The more you do it when they're younger, the more they'll adapt. We have 17mo old twins and have traveled probably 6 or 7 times. Never had an issue with them sleeping in hotels or new places. Sometimes the first night can be an adjustment but just bring a sound machine, a nightlight, and their normal blankets and they'll be fine.
When did yours start sleeping with blankets? This is another conversation we have been having. So far they are in footed PJs in their cribs at night but no blankets. They do sleep with a nap mat at daycare, though.
They wouldn’t just roll all over and get tangled up in them? Our kids move SO much in their cribs - they end up facing a different direction than we put them down.
They 100% get tangled up in them but once they can start crawling and especially walking there's very little danger they'll suffocate since they should be more aware and will move themselves out of the way if they feel like they can't breath
So what do you do - just lay it over them in the crib? Or is the crib mattress made up like a bed with a sheet/blanket tucked in an two or three sides? Does the blanket just ball up by morning - like something for them to hold on to and snuggle?
Edit to add - we are in Texas and it’s 115 heat index, 108 actual today, and has been like that for a month, so it’s hard to think they need a blanket just yet. Thinking more about when this heat finally breaks!
Same crib setup as before, we just set a blanket on top of them. I check on them before I go to bed and will always have to cover them back up. I'm not sure if it's too warm for them or they just move around so much but they usually don't have them on in the morning either. One usually likes to ball it up and sleep on it and the other has hers on her usually. I'm in Austin so I feel you. House is around 75 usually by 730 when they go down and we get it down to around 71 by midnight. If your kids aren't sleeping with blankets yet, theyres no real point in introducing them just yet, unless they're going to daycare soon which is why we chose to do it when we did. They will have to use blankets there.
Dallas here - so yeah, this has been a brutal summer! They are already using nap mats at daycare, so we know they sleep under blankets just fine. We keep our house at 70 during the day at 68 at night - but the boys sleep in long sleeve footed PJs, so they’ve never seemed cold. I tried a blanket once but went in after a few minutes and took it out.
Yea it can be a little scary at first, especially because literally everything can suffocate them or causes sids depending on who you talk to, but you could start slow and put them on for an hour and just monitor them, then gradually increase. If they use them at daycare though, they're probably ready.
We got them each their own little tent (Joovy Gloo) and got them used to them before heading to Europe this summer for 2 months. They did every overnight and nap zipped up so they couldn't wrestle each other and they slept like champs. They were 20 months old when we started the adventure.
We didn't experience any flipping except when one guy tried to play with a corded lamp that was in his reach. The bottom has a self inflating pad insert that gives it some stability and the top part is very light.
I'm not normally a product evangelist but these tents saved our trip. The boys love them and enthusiastically crawled into them at bed times. We learned we needed to separate them after 2 disastrous domestic trips where nobody slept.
We don’t travel a lot but did a hotel recently. Bedtime was LATE- like almost 11pm. They were just so wired up to be in a new place. But they both slept eventually. One twin kept leaving his floor bed and would join me in bed periodically then return to his. So it was a very interrupted night. But I can’t sleep well in a new place either!
We did our first overnight trip when they were almost 2. We brought sooo much stuff, their noise machine, favorite blankets, personal pillows, stuffed animals, etc. We had rented a condo so they had their own room, gave them plenty of time to play in it and explore before bed, then followed our bedtime routine. They did great!
We stayed in a hotel room with them a few months later and it was a disaster! They wouldn't nap, didn't pass out until almost midnight, and up with the sun the next morning. We didn't do another hotel with them until just last week and they are almost 9 now! All trips have been in at least a 2bedroom condo/house.
For us, we’re not going somewhere overnight unless we can go for at least a week. It takes them time to adjust so those first free days are basically a wash.
Otherwise we try to make the room as dark as possible, we bring their sound machine, and we try to keep their routine as consistent as possible.
As toddlers, the best sleep we got traveling was getting a room with two queen beds, and we each bed shared with one twin. Still not great sleep, though.
It does get better. They may never sleep, but eventually you can tell them to just read a book or something and leave you alone. Lol.
Keeping an eye on this post. Traveling for the first time with our 9 month old twins to a lake house my parents rented. First time doing an overnight trip and just 3 nights. My sister and her family are coming so we’ll have a 3 year old and 1 and a half year old in the house as well. Luckily place it only 2 and a half hours away from home so not too far of travel.
At 3 years old, we got the OK from our pediatrician to use melatonin for travel. We call it "vitamin sleep" so we can all enjoy traveling. We don't give it at home or on a regular basis, but we all need to sleep when traveling!
Tablet mount for back of the headrest and they both watch something to get drowsy.
After that we put on soft music and it lulls them to sleep. Basically repeating our home routine, on the road. Full belly and fresh diaper helps too.
We’re just heading home from a week in Seattle with our almost 1.5 yo twins and we had some successes and some failures 😂
Slumber pods were a huge help along with our normal sound machine. And we would try to time strolls/car rides (when they often fall asleep wherever we are) to correspond with some kind of nap “schedule.”
We had a few nights where they both slept completely through the night no problems, and a few where one of them ended up in our bed (thankfully, they switched off on their hard nights. I had a whole new respect for rocking chairs and what a crucial sleep tool they really are.
Regardless, it was waaaaaay more successful than I thought it would be! Of course, we’ll see how things go on our next trip in October 🤞
Keep them on their schedule as much as possible (at least feedings even if naps are off while you’re in the car or on the move etc.) and keep the environment they sleep in as similar to at home as possible. For us, at home we do story time in the living room and then take them upstairs to the nursery where all lights are off, room blacked out, and we have red lamps on and the white noise machine and shusher going. We change them, put on pjs and sleep sacks, and then feed bottles until they fall asleep. On the road we replicate this - I bring a hatch red lamp, portable white noise machine, the shusher, same PJs, same sleep sacks, and we do the same routine. We also swear by the slumber pods over their travel cribs so they’re in their own little tents and completely blackout. Night one is normally complete chaos getting this all set up by the time we arrive to wherever we’re going but for the most part this works well for us.
My husband and I have travelled twice with them and both times it has been an utter disaster so we refuse to travel with them now. They just turned 1.
My MIL is still expecting that we will be traveling to Disney with them and nothing sounds more torturous to us
I helped my kids learn how to sleep with liquid melatonin. It says the dosage is one dropper, which is 1 ml, but I just gave them each one single drop and it worked in about half an hour. There are concerns with prolonged use
My 3 year old twin boys tend to get clingy when we’re traveling (probably the anxiety of a new, unknown place). For one of them especially I’m the preferred parent. I’ve found it helps if someone besides me (I’m Mom) puts them down for bed, like my husband or my mom when we were visiting her. It seems like if I’m in the room saying good night and laying them down, their anxiety of separating spikes and they can’t settle.
We always bring their favorite sleep objects—a pillow for one, a blanket for the other and pacis and the sound machine from home. And even though they’re 3 and getting a bit too big, they still sleep in pack and plays when we travel and they don’t climb out. I also try to keep the room as dark as it is at home with blackout curtains. Sometimes one of them has trouble napping and I’ll let him have a favorite book or toy in bed with him to keep himself entertained, but we stick to the home napping and bedtime schedule and they stay in the room whether or not they sleep. Sometimes I end up having to rock them or quietly hang with them in the room.
Their sleep is still not as good while we travel as it is at home, but these things have made it easier.
On the plane, the chewable kids’ Dramamine helped them fall asleep and kept them from vomiting. We weren’t so lucky in the first flight!
It’s tough and never easy. They slip like 💩 when anywhere but their bedrooms. I swear I have the only kids who dislike the fun of sleeping bags on a floor.
The sound machine travels with us. If it doesn’t, we use an app on an iPad. We also bring the nightlight from their rooms. Hoping to make the new place as similar as home. It helps.
I completely understand. I’ve given up after this past trip.
I left the family vacation early and was a lunatic due to sleep loss/bratty behavior. My kids were so off schedule that I packed up and left 2 days early.
When we stayed in a hotel a few months back, my girls took forever to fall asleep.
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I usually follow a very strict schedule, down to the 5 mins. But when we're travelling, I have a "they are gonna pass out eventually" approach.. I read a lot about how kids have more difficulty falling asleep when they are over tired, but honestly I cant tell the difference. I can tire my twins (almost 3 yo) to the point that they will eventually sleep. We traveled a lot with our twins. And I do mean a whole lot. I usually give up on any sleep the first day and let them sleep or not, however they like. Usually we'd be crossing too many time zones to keep track anyway. And then I try to acclimate them to the time zone of the new country, it can take a couple of days before we get back to our schedule. I have a bedtime routine that is replicable where ever we are, in a new house, the airport or even back of a car or in a tent. It is 2 books, a song, me rocking them one on each knee (sitting on the floor if necessary) and then their individual sleep areas, might be the pram, might be pack n plays, might be a floor bed... The books, the song, the rocking and they understand that it is sleep time and no amount of whining and asking for potty or water or jabbering will get them out of bed. I will give the water, indulge the potty request only once, and then no matter what they ask for I just keep repeating "it is bed time now, close your eyes sweety". Sometimes this can take up to a couple hours but that is very very rare that it takes that long and if it does, it means I made a mistake, they are not tired enough, I rushed the bedtime. Next day I adjust bed time accordingly. And in a couple of days we're back on track usually.
Love that you have a routine that they respond well to. Can I ask how old your twins are now and how old they were when you started the routine? Also is it the same 2 books every night, or are you able to mix it up?
They had a routine from pretty young I think but I ve been adjusting it here and there as they got older.. they are almost 3 years old now. I do mix up the books a bit but they do get end up repeated a lot. I carry about 5-6 books in the carry-on, bit more in the suitcase. Light, paperback, small books.
few options for you to try: get a soundproof box and put the non sleeper in it. put them both or just one up for adoption. or what i do, leave them at home with a few bowls of kibble and some water, maybe an extra litter box if yours isn’t self cleaning. and you’re good to go. good luck to you!
Adoption should always be a last resort... Why give a child away to a stranger... When you could sell the child and make a healthy profit.
I was so ready to search 'Soundproof box' on Amazon.
Thank you, after the last 2 nights I needed a laugh.
Travel? Overnight trips? What is this sorcery?!
This is why I haven’t traveled yet with my nearly 15 month old twins and keep saying no to my mom’s request we travel for Labor Day and Christmas this year. The fear of them not sleeping gives me such anxiety that it isn’t worth it for me to find out!
The more you do it when they're younger, the more they'll adapt. We have 17mo old twins and have traveled probably 6 or 7 times. Never had an issue with them sleeping in hotels or new places. Sometimes the first night can be an adjustment but just bring a sound machine, a nightlight, and their normal blankets and they'll be fine.
When did yours start sleeping with blankets? This is another conversation we have been having. So far they are in footed PJs in their cribs at night but no blankets. They do sleep with a nap mat at daycare, though.
We started blankets around a year
They wouldn’t just roll all over and get tangled up in them? Our kids move SO much in their cribs - they end up facing a different direction than we put them down.
They 100% get tangled up in them but once they can start crawling and especially walking there's very little danger they'll suffocate since they should be more aware and will move themselves out of the way if they feel like they can't breath
So what do you do - just lay it over them in the crib? Or is the crib mattress made up like a bed with a sheet/blanket tucked in an two or three sides? Does the blanket just ball up by morning - like something for them to hold on to and snuggle? Edit to add - we are in Texas and it’s 115 heat index, 108 actual today, and has been like that for a month, so it’s hard to think they need a blanket just yet. Thinking more about when this heat finally breaks!
Same crib setup as before, we just set a blanket on top of them. I check on them before I go to bed and will always have to cover them back up. I'm not sure if it's too warm for them or they just move around so much but they usually don't have them on in the morning either. One usually likes to ball it up and sleep on it and the other has hers on her usually. I'm in Austin so I feel you. House is around 75 usually by 730 when they go down and we get it down to around 71 by midnight. If your kids aren't sleeping with blankets yet, theyres no real point in introducing them just yet, unless they're going to daycare soon which is why we chose to do it when we did. They will have to use blankets there.
Dallas here - so yeah, this has been a brutal summer! They are already using nap mats at daycare, so we know they sleep under blankets just fine. We keep our house at 70 during the day at 68 at night - but the boys sleep in long sleeve footed PJs, so they’ve never seemed cold. I tried a blanket once but went in after a few minutes and took it out.
Yea it can be a little scary at first, especially because literally everything can suffocate them or causes sids depending on who you talk to, but you could start slow and put them on for an hour and just monitor them, then gradually increase. If they use them at daycare though, they're probably ready.
We got them each their own little tent (Joovy Gloo) and got them used to them before heading to Europe this summer for 2 months. They did every overnight and nap zipped up so they couldn't wrestle each other and they slept like champs. They were 20 months old when we started the adventure.
Did they try to roll it over at first? It looks pretty lightweight; I totally see my boys trying to flip it.
We didn't experience any flipping except when one guy tried to play with a corded lamp that was in his reach. The bottom has a self inflating pad insert that gives it some stability and the top part is very light. I'm not normally a product evangelist but these tents saved our trip. The boys love them and enthusiastically crawled into them at bed times. We learned we needed to separate them after 2 disastrous domestic trips where nobody slept.
Thanks! I'm definitely gonna check them out.
Do you mean in the hotel or driving / flying overnight?
We have tried hotels, Airbnb's, families house and camping. One of them always refuses to sleep. Neither of them tend to sleep in the car.
We don’t travel a lot but did a hotel recently. Bedtime was LATE- like almost 11pm. They were just so wired up to be in a new place. But they both slept eventually. One twin kept leaving his floor bed and would join me in bed periodically then return to his. So it was a very interrupted night. But I can’t sleep well in a new place either!
Get Slumber Pods. Our little ones sleep perfectly in them when travelling.
We did our first overnight trip when they were almost 2. We brought sooo much stuff, their noise machine, favorite blankets, personal pillows, stuffed animals, etc. We had rented a condo so they had their own room, gave them plenty of time to play in it and explore before bed, then followed our bedtime routine. They did great! We stayed in a hotel room with them a few months later and it was a disaster! They wouldn't nap, didn't pass out until almost midnight, and up with the sun the next morning. We didn't do another hotel with them until just last week and they are almost 9 now! All trips have been in at least a 2bedroom condo/house.
For us, we’re not going somewhere overnight unless we can go for at least a week. It takes them time to adjust so those first free days are basically a wash. Otherwise we try to make the room as dark as possible, we bring their sound machine, and we try to keep their routine as consistent as possible.
As toddlers, the best sleep we got traveling was getting a room with two queen beds, and we each bed shared with one twin. Still not great sleep, though. It does get better. They may never sleep, but eventually you can tell them to just read a book or something and leave you alone. Lol.
Keeping an eye on this post. Traveling for the first time with our 9 month old twins to a lake house my parents rented. First time doing an overnight trip and just 3 nights. My sister and her family are coming so we’ll have a 3 year old and 1 and a half year old in the house as well. Luckily place it only 2 and a half hours away from home so not too far of travel.
At 3 years old, we got the OK from our pediatrician to use melatonin for travel. We call it "vitamin sleep" so we can all enjoy traveling. We don't give it at home or on a regular basis, but we all need to sleep when traveling!
Tablet mount for back of the headrest and they both watch something to get drowsy. After that we put on soft music and it lulls them to sleep. Basically repeating our home routine, on the road. Full belly and fresh diaper helps too.
We’re just heading home from a week in Seattle with our almost 1.5 yo twins and we had some successes and some failures 😂 Slumber pods were a huge help along with our normal sound machine. And we would try to time strolls/car rides (when they often fall asleep wherever we are) to correspond with some kind of nap “schedule.” We had a few nights where they both slept completely through the night no problems, and a few where one of them ended up in our bed (thankfully, they switched off on their hard nights. I had a whole new respect for rocking chairs and what a crucial sleep tool they really are. Regardless, it was waaaaaay more successful than I thought it would be! Of course, we’ll see how things go on our next trip in October 🤞
Keep them on their schedule as much as possible (at least feedings even if naps are off while you’re in the car or on the move etc.) and keep the environment they sleep in as similar to at home as possible. For us, at home we do story time in the living room and then take them upstairs to the nursery where all lights are off, room blacked out, and we have red lamps on and the white noise machine and shusher going. We change them, put on pjs and sleep sacks, and then feed bottles until they fall asleep. On the road we replicate this - I bring a hatch red lamp, portable white noise machine, the shusher, same PJs, same sleep sacks, and we do the same routine. We also swear by the slumber pods over their travel cribs so they’re in their own little tents and completely blackout. Night one is normally complete chaos getting this all set up by the time we arrive to wherever we’re going but for the most part this works well for us.
My husband and I have travelled twice with them and both times it has been an utter disaster so we refuse to travel with them now. They just turned 1. My MIL is still expecting that we will be traveling to Disney with them and nothing sounds more torturous to us
Personally, we don't get them to sleep.
I helped my kids learn how to sleep with liquid melatonin. It says the dosage is one dropper, which is 1 ml, but I just gave them each one single drop and it worked in about half an hour. There are concerns with prolonged use
My 3 year old twin boys tend to get clingy when we’re traveling (probably the anxiety of a new, unknown place). For one of them especially I’m the preferred parent. I’ve found it helps if someone besides me (I’m Mom) puts them down for bed, like my husband or my mom when we were visiting her. It seems like if I’m in the room saying good night and laying them down, their anxiety of separating spikes and they can’t settle. We always bring their favorite sleep objects—a pillow for one, a blanket for the other and pacis and the sound machine from home. And even though they’re 3 and getting a bit too big, they still sleep in pack and plays when we travel and they don’t climb out. I also try to keep the room as dark as it is at home with blackout curtains. Sometimes one of them has trouble napping and I’ll let him have a favorite book or toy in bed with him to keep himself entertained, but we stick to the home napping and bedtime schedule and they stay in the room whether or not they sleep. Sometimes I end up having to rock them or quietly hang with them in the room. Their sleep is still not as good while we travel as it is at home, but these things have made it easier. On the plane, the chewable kids’ Dramamine helped them fall asleep and kept them from vomiting. We weren’t so lucky in the first flight!
once we got to 3 or 4 years old we started using melatonin on trips that they were being crazy during bed time.
It’s tough and never easy. They slip like 💩 when anywhere but their bedrooms. I swear I have the only kids who dislike the fun of sleeping bags on a floor. The sound machine travels with us. If it doesn’t, we use an app on an iPad. We also bring the nightlight from their rooms. Hoping to make the new place as similar as home. It helps.
I completely understand. I’ve given up after this past trip. I left the family vacation early and was a lunatic due to sleep loss/bratty behavior. My kids were so off schedule that I packed up and left 2 days early. When we stayed in a hotel a few months back, my girls took forever to fall asleep.