sleep tips when traveling with bebe.

Happy Friday!!

Woot woot it's almost the weekend- 

and guess what?!

ZAK COMES HOME TONIGHT!

Can I get an amen?!

It's only for the weekend, then he's back on the road for good ole residency interviews-

but it'll be SO nice to have him home for a couple nights.

Anywho!

I wanted to chat a little about how I kept my cool and slept well while traveling this summer!

I'm such a routine person and creature of habit-

so as much as I wanted to travel with Liam, I was a bit worried about messing up his sleep schedule and being a zombie while on vacation. 

This summer we've gone on 10 plane flights, had lots of hotel stays, camping trips, long car rides and enjoyed some beach days too {on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts}.

And after all this traveling I've learned a few sleeping tips that have saved Liam's routine and my sanity!

Oh and double plus, it's made the transition home a little easier too. 

So I thought I'd share them with yah in case you're planning on traveling with your little anytime soon!

They're super simple, but super helpful:

Go with the flow!

Simplicity is key. Slow and steady wins the race. Stop and smell the roses. You get the gist right?! Well same thing goes with your baby. When you're on vacation, it sounds weird to say but, lower your expectations.

And I mean that in the best of ways!

I used to plan our trips down to a T.
We would literally have an Excel sheet of places we'd wanna see, complete with times, costs and transportation.

HA!

We went to five states this summer, had an absolute blast, and I didn't have a single itinerary with us!

Mind you, I did have some ideas obviously of what I wanted to do.

But we kept it super easy going and relaxed.

Because traveling with a little {especially if you're alone} can be tough just getting up, fed, showered, dressed, ready and out the door by lets say, 8:00 AM. 

So give yourself time and grace. 

And be realistic.

In Seattle we wanted to be outta the house at 10:00 each morning, but realistically it was 11:30-

And that was okay! 

We let Liam take his nap before we left, caught a later ferry and still got to check out Pike Place and have a really fun afternoon. 

So if your baby falls asleep in the car, but that museum tour starts in 10 minutes-

let him sleep and find something else to do!

Then sit back and relax while he snoozes and take a little time to yourself.

Because I promise if you just let the cookie crumble and go at your family's pace, everyone will have a better time.

Stay in your time zone!

When we went to the East Coast, Zak was 3 hours ahead of us!

That's a big difference.

Liam and I stayed on MST so that way we could keep his napping the same and not throw him off.

Remember step one, go with the flow?!

Welp, this is a perfect example of just that.

While we'd be ready to go at 10:30 each morning, it was really 1:30 Zak's time so it seemed like the day was half way over!

But we just said "oh well!"and made the most of the time we had.

Zak adjusted for our time difference and everything worked out!

I do have to admit though, think about flight times when sticking to your time zone.

Our departure flight was like 5:00 AM in VA, which was really 2:00 AM in AZ-

so we were both zonked on the plane and it felt like the longest flight ever....

but hey!

When we got home we both napped and then got right back on our schedule like nothing ever happened!

 Stick to your bed time routine no matter what!

It's soooo easy to wanna just say, "let's skip bath time" while on vacation and just cuddle up as soon as you make it back to your hotel room-

trust us we've been there!

Especially after a really long day, when everyones super tired.

But!

Sticking to your routine just helps the little to know when it's time to settle down and go to sleep.

With all the fun stuff going on while traveling, it's good to have some consistency-

and that's where your bed time routine comes in.

So whatever it is you do each night to go to sleep-

bring that on the road with yah and stick to it!

For us it's dinner for Liam {solid food}, bath time, jammies, a book and prayer while I nurse him to sleep.

And tickle his cute little hand too.

Because it's the sweetest thing in the world, and he asks for it each time we lie down.

Melts my mama heart!

Nested Bean Sleep Sack

Liam did awesome sleeping on the go!

He would literally sleep for like two hours during our long car rides, which was soooo nice for Zak and I!

It was like a little date night in the car.

But, when we got back home and weren't on the go in the car so much those long naps turned into.... cat naps.

So!

I got a little help from the Nested Bean Zen Sleep Sack, which simulates the pressure from a mother's touch with a lightly weighted pad.
It helps the baby feel as secure as being held in your arms, after you lie them down.

I started using it as soon as we got home and can totally notice that Liam sleeps longer while wearing it.

Hooray!!

It's the little things in life, like an extra 20 minutes of nap time AKA "me time" that makes this mama's world go round.

Welp!

I hope some of these little pointers helped.

They're very short and sweet to make traveling less stressful and more enjoyable for you and your family.

Have a lovely day!

xoxo