20 Ways to Get Your Baby to Sleep on Vacation (how to Get Sleep)

You’re here because you’re about to take a vacation and you’re wondering if your baby will sleep (and let you sleep) at all. Okay, let’s do this. This is both an easy and a hard topic for me, as someone who stresses about family sleep and also as someone who has all the ways I’ve nailed it.

From traveling internationally with our baby and toddler, to traveling with TWO kids under 3 years old in tote, I don’t have any magic potions to give your baby or toddler, but I DO have a bag of tricks to help you.

In this list, your takeaways will be HOW to get your baby or toddler to sleep on vacation (for simplicity, I’ll use the word “baby” so that I don’t have to say “baby-or-toddler” 90 times). These trips and things to prepare should help with sleeping on vacation a good bit.

Note: This list breaks down how to get your baby to sleep during travel into “what you need,” and “what you need to do.” If you think you already have everything you “need,” skip to part 2.

Part 1: things you need to get your baby to sleep on vacation

Typically I don’t preach that you need things to get your baby to sleep during travel, but, you kind of do have to have your bag of tricks ready. Here’s what to get.

Travel blackout curtains (Sleepout)

I’m dead serious: you need travel blackout curtains. You need them from Sleepout. I say that because we famously tried the Amazon Basics travel blackout curtains and they were absolutely terrible. So, take this advice and get the originals, the Sleepout Portable Blackout Curtains.

Why do you need travel blackout curtains? You might be traveling to Europe during the height of summer (we did - the sun rose at 4am in Estonia and didn’t set until 10:30pm). Your child’s room might not have blinds or curtains that darken the room. There may be a streetlight that pours through the side of the window onto their travel crib.

There are so many reasons to bring your own travel blackout curtains (BYOTBC). They’re kind of like a free “peace of mind” purchase that will guarantee your child gets a dark room that will at least simulate a dark nighttime, whether you travel in summer or whether there’s some type of strong light nearby (even a bright full moon, or bright city lights, can be light sources that get through regular curtains!).

I recommend the Sleepout ones, because trust me: the Amazon Basics ones fell off our toddler’s windows during night sleep and the quality is bad. The Sleepout travel blackout curtains can be set up in 30 seconds with 2 strong suction cups, and the whole curtain comes in a travel bag that even fits in a suitcase.

Get your Sleepout Portable Blackout Curtain here.

A SlumberPod blackout tent

Well, what’s a SlumberPod? If you guessed that it’s a pop-up blackout tent that you can use during traveling with your baby or toddler to create blackout conditions for your child, you’re right.

I talk about it in how to stay in a hotel with a baby and I note that it’s one of the proven ways to get your baby to sleep. Basically, bring along your SlumberPod tent (bonus if you buy the one that has a fan, as we’re a fan-loving family) and put it over your travel crib, or crib. Create blackout conditions, as well as your baby’s own “space,” even within a hotel room or shared room with parents.

It’s the simplest way to survive sleeping in a hotel with a baby. So many parents recommend getting a SlumerPod for trips when your child is in a crib, and my tip is to look for their sales.

Travel sound machines

We’re obviously serious about these because we wrote a list of the best travel sound machines that make white noise.

Travel sound machines have helped us re-create what bedtime “sounds like” at home, and, travel sound machines have helped drown out street noise (our Airbnb in Mexico City…) and even roosters (in El Retiro, Colombia) for our baby/toddler during night sleep.

We recommend a few, namely the Yogasleep Travel Sound Machine, the HatchGo and the DreamEgg D11 Max.

Here’s a short video about the HatchGo as an example of how simple these are, and small! (You can also watch my Instagram reel about it)

A travel crib that your child is used to

Simple: get your child used to the feel of the travel crib before you go. That is, if you plan to bring your own travel crib.

Of course, this is not a foolproof recommendation. We brought along our favorite crib, the Guava Lotus Travel Crib for our 5-month-old and he refused to sleep anyway, even after getting to “know” it at home. We hope you fare better.

Regardless, most babies and toddlers won’t be as picky. 😊 Despite how clunky the original Graco Pack’n’play is, it’s actually a very sturdy travel crib that’s good for bigger babies and toddlers. It’s been the one our Airbnbs around the world have been able to procure and include for us. Our toddler slept satisfactorily in this one in Mexico.

Extra sleep sacks or swaddles

You packed a sleep sack or swaddle, but why bring an extra? Because of diaper leaks, my friend. If your child gets a diaper leak at 1am and you don’t have an extra sleep sack to put them in, they may have trouble sleeping through the rest of the night.

Trust us on this: pack an extra, of the same TOG rating (TOG refers to how thick and heavy the sleep sack is).

Another tip is to pack another sleep sack of varying TOG. You might not be sure if your accommodation will run cold; we slept at a cabin in the woods in Upstate New York with our 1-year-old and we could’ve never guessed that a cold draft would run along the floors of the entire house. It was a good thing we had packed a warmer sleep sack, because a light sleep sack wouldn’t have sufficed.

I recommend packing a 1.5 and a 1.0 TOG sleep sack, unless you know you’ll be staying somewhere much colder, like 62-68 degrees (which requires a 2.5 TOG sleep sack!). Gunamuna offers a helpful TOG guide for parents. If you’re road tripping with a baby, it’s even easier to stomach packing an extra sleep bag.

I recommend the Quince sleep bags for babies and toddlers (be sure to reference their TOG guide before buying).

An extra crib sheet or travel crib sheet

“But what if I don’t have an extra travel crib sheet?” is a question I imagine asking, when seeing this. Well, bring an extra crib sheet, and if needed, put it on your travel crib if there’s a pee accident overnight or during nap time. Chances are that your regular-size crib sheets are bigger than the bottom of a travel crib, so they will fit.

Why bring an extra crib sheet to ensure your baby will sleep? Well, I wouldn’t want to sleep on a wet crib sheet if my diaper leaked, so, this is a simple one. Bring an extra sheet to put on your child’s crib if indeed there are leaks (or worse, vomit, but it happens) so that they can sleep the rest of the night during vacation.

Believe it or not, Pack’n’play extra crib sheets are readily available on Amazon.

A travel fold-up baby carrier

While of course your child won’t sleep in a baby carrier during night sleep, a trusted, travel-sized and travel-friendly baby carrier will make napping on the go so much easier if your child is already used to it.

And both mine are! The travel baby carrier proved to be the BEST thing we brought on trips to Connecticut, Canada, Mexico and Colombia (yes, near and far!) to ensure that naps could happen when they needed to, if we were not at our hotel or Airbnb. And if you’re having a good jam-packed trip with what mom and dad want to do, chances are that you WILL be out and about having fun.

The Baby Tula Carrier Lite is the #1 product that I recommend as one of the best helpful baby products to take traveling. You’ve really got to see it to believe it. Head to my Baby Tula Carrier Lite travel review.

Get it: Baby Tula Carrier Lite Fold-Up Travel Carrier.

A baby thermometer and fever reducers

Note: I am, in this case, NOT making any references to recommending WHEN to give pain relievers or fever reducers to your baby, as this is not a medical or pediatric health blog. The below is my experience only.

In our experience, our infant was refusing to sleep in the hotel crib during our family trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and we finally figured out why.

It was because she had a fever. And as new parents, as first-time parents, it was actually hard for us to figure this out because our baby had been sick so infrequently—we didn’t even know how to check. As it turned out, I had packed Tylenol, but I had forgotten a thermometer. Instead of being able to quickly take a temperature, Dan had to be driven by the Muir Hotel staff out to a supermarket at 9pm to buy a baby thermometer.

The easiest thing to note here is to just pack your own baby thermometer in your international packing list for your baby or toddler! That way, if your child is repeatedly waking up, upset or fussing, you can figure out if they’re sick and get to the bottom of how to treat them.

Don’t leave home without it: baby thermometer on Amazon.

Your child’s favorite stuffy or lovey, and a backup version of it

Note: under 12 months, it is not recommended for infants to sleep with anything in their crib.

If your child is older than 1, they may have started sleeping with a comfort item. You need to MAKE SURE that this item comes on your trip.

In our experience, we have our toddler’s favorite comfort item (a Jellycat, of course) required for sleep, and a backup version of it. The backup version is not identical, but it is the same shape and has the same feeling. For ages, we kept the backup version a secret so it was not obvious that we had two. (Parent hack)

Part 2: things to do, to get your baby to sleep on vacation

Here are the things you, as a parent, can do to get your baby to sleep better while on vacation. This list is a set of actionable recommendations rather than things to bring along for the trip.

Replicate your bedtime routine

This one sounds simple in theory and can be simple in practice. Bring your baby’s toothbrush, bottle, favorite books, lovey or stuffy and familiar pajamas. Try to remove all the variables of new things so that bedtime feels familiar, just in a new place on vacation.

For us, I think what mattered most was actually being sleepy enough to go to sleep in a new place, and having dark surroundings in the hotel or apartment rental.

Get your baby or toddler familiar with their travel crib

If you will be bringing your own crib, get your child familiar with it at home. For young babies, this can mean using your travel crib as a playpen some days before the start of your trip. We did this with our Baby Bjorn Travel Crib for a while, leading up to traveling with it.

Prepare for jet lag

I think preparing for jet lag is more helpful if you go a few time zones away for your travels, rather than half the world away, like a 12-hour difference. To set up our toddler for going to Mexico (-2 hours from home on the East Coast), we actually started setting bedtime later by 15 minutes each day, to prepare for a possibility of sleeping later rather than waking up at 4:30 am during our vacation.

It actually worked. I was baffled, and really impressed. Somehow, our toddler slept past 6, rather than waking up at 5 or 5:30 (which was 7 or 7:30am in “home time”). This is just one of many ways to combat jet lag, but it is where we had some success.

Make sure you find time for baby to nap on vacation

I’m no sleep consultant and I’m not a pediatrician, but it’s helpful to work on finding time to nap if your child is used to it. And this is more important if you have found that daytime naps affect your baby’s night sleep.

When our five-month-old would skip the last nap, we’d famously say, “That was a nap,” if he woke up only an hour into night sleep.

Try to replicate your baby’s tendencies from home, rather than creating new routines, even if naps are shorter than usual. (Of course, you know your baby best, so it’s your job as a parent to decide on their sleep needs while traveling!)

Get your baby their own room

I know this is easier said than done. For us, it comes as a priority, though. I feel like we literally will not travel nowadays if we know that our kids each cannot have their own room. Sleeping and room-sharing is just too difficult and painful when there are wake-ups, early wake-ups, night disturbances and early bedtimes.

That being said, it may pay to ‘get creative’ in your accommodation type. If you are typically a hotel person, but you don’t want to room-share with your baby and keep the hotel room quiet after 6:30pm, opt for an apartment rental. Even still, opt for an apartment rental outside the city center, as prices tend to go down, and rent a car to take day trips.

It all comes with some creativity if you feel that bad night sleep will destroy your trip.

Frequently-asked questions about getting your baby to sleep on vacation

Getting your baby to sleep on vacation is essentially what’ll make you a well-rested parent. Here are the questions I myself have asked.

What if my baby just won’t sleep on vacation?

I’ll tell you first-hand that it is a possibility. Our 5-month-old, when we went to the beach for a weekend, completely refused to sleep in a travel crib and for an entire weekend we averaged 4-5 hours of sleep per night. We even juggled the idea of leaving early to go home (but are glad we didn’t).

If your baby just won’t sleep, I have a few kind of dry things to tell you:

• Your baby will sleep … “eventually.”
• It might be really tough and unenjoyable.
• You can hopefully sleep when you get home (go to bed early!)
• Make sure you take photos of the fun moments so that in a year you can look back on how the trip was worth it, despite how tired you are.

What about jet lag?

Jet lag is tough. It’s why Dan built this cool jet lag optimizer tool to help with figuring out planning a sleep schedule to minimize your baby’s or your family’s jet lag.

Honestly, coming back from a vacation in another time zone is harder than the going. Everyone pretty much adjusts to the new time, going on the way in, but it’s the week you come back that’s harder.

So if you’d like to lessen your stress, consider that your trip may be more fun than the week you come back home. 😊 (Haha)

How will we get our child to nap on vacation?

Everyone may be really excited on vacation, especially the first few days. As a parent, if you work on a rigid nap schedule, this is the time to chill out a little bit. If naps run later, or shorter, you can adjust bedtime earlier, or later.

Babies typically will sleep enough to suit their needs, and will show signs of being tired. If you’ve had a tough day coming in via flying, or if you’re in a completely new time zone, let your baby show you the signs. Shorter naps may be normal, because they won’t be at home or at daycare.

Remember that babies will sleep when tired, so if something is outrageously stimulating (vacation itself), babies can nap in the car, in the stroller, on the flight or in a baby carrier.

Will my vacation ruin my baby’s sleep?

Well, my baby’s sleep actually ruined my vacations. (I’m kidding…) So there’s that. Put things in perspective: will you be more upset if your vacation ruins your baby’s sleep, or if your baby’s sleep ruins your vacation?

Take a step back from the worry and first work on how to get your child to sleep, and then try to enjoy the vacation and travel as a family.

Things that will actually ruin your baby’s sleep are bright light, disruptions, discomfort, cold or hot temperatures, diaper leaks and loud noises.

Should I medicate my baby in order to sleep during travel?

I’m not a doctor, so I can’t truly comment on this, but giving sleep medications to your baby to get them to sleep is likely not responsible. If you have extreme concerns about your baby’s sleep during travel, PLEASE reach out to your child’s pediatrician about that.

My baby still won’t sleep on vacation. What do we do?

Cry.

I’m just kidding. Umm… if your baby won’t sleep at night during vacation, scroll back up and check if you’ve created a strong sleep environment for your baby in your hotel/Airbnb/cruise/cabin/home rental. If your baby is protesting sleep, might I suggest ear plugs for both parents and some apologies to hotel guests the next day? (Yikes)

I’m not a pediatric sleep consultant, as I mentioned (I’m a mom!)