Parents frequently ask "is it worth changing the routine now, when we are planning a holiday soon?" I simply answer YES of course! Your baby/toddler's routine doesn't go out the window due to any change in your routine or holiday season. In fact it won't be a holiday if the routine isn't stuck to as best as possible.
It is reasonable to expect that your baby/toddler may not sleep as well while traveling or in a strange portacot, or their own portacot (not in their own bed in their room) or in the stroller. I actively encourage parents to get the new sleeping routine down pat at home and then go out and practise putting your little one down to sleep in other places, so they don't become reliant on sleeping only at home. The best places to start the 'away from home' practise is somewhere supportive (such as a friend's place or the park), where there won't be any pressure to keep the baby quiet if they protest loudly. Please don't pick a shopping centre or your mum's place if you will feel embarrassed and give up or your mum will 'loose it' because of your baby's protests at going to sleep somewhere new!!
In sticking with a plan for your uptimes and downtimes or your baby's routine over 6 months, it's not about 'where' you are but 'when' the sleep is due. It helps to think forward to where you may be for the next sleep and anticipate as much as possible whether this is a suitable place for a sleep (or whether another closer place would ensure a more sound sleep). If you have been out and the sleeps haven't been sound ones maybe plan a settled sleep for the next one. Also try having a 'going out day' one day and a few 'stay at home days' following (I still love and crave 'stay at home days'!!). Remember that your baby/toddler will make you pay if they are overtired or have had too much partying and late nights (even I feel like that sometimes!). When we have a baby we need to fit into their routine (sleeping/feeding/playing needs), to have a life, not make them fit into our life. An overtired baby won't let you have a life!
Another popular question is "when is the best time to travel?" The simple answer is 'when it suits your baby/toddler's sleep' (and whether they like the car travel at all). If your baby is a good sleeper in the car, travel when they are due for a sleep. If they are fussy or unsettled in the car, first see if their nappy is on too tight and they feel uncomfortable. Most parents feed their baby and then go out in the car. If you think about how tight some nappies are put on, while the baby is lying down, over a full tummy and then the car seat crunches their tummy in half. That would feel like wearing a pair of jeans on Christmas day and someone asking you to bed over and tie up your shoe laces after lunch!! Ouch!
Try as best as you can to occupy baby when they are unsettled, have someone sit in the back to entertain them and stop for breaks when necessary to give everyone's 'numb bums' a rest. Try and create a sleeping environment at sleep times by reducing glare or sunlight and excessive noise. If your baby is used to sleeping with the radio on at home they will cope better in the car with your music. If you play classical music for all sleeps at home, you would have to listen to that for all sleeps on holidays. Feeling sick of the music already?
Tip: Use a capsule for babies up to 5-6 months for ease of transferring a sleeping baby in and out of the car. Travel when your baby is most settled and comfortable. Loosen the nappy before you put in the car seat/capsule. Make sure baby can have some settled sleeps each day and doesn't become overtired so you can have a holiday too.
RN, Child and Family Health Nurse. Mother of three.
I want to give you your life back! Would you appreciate being empowered with an understanding of your baby's needs and a gentle strategy that you apply to your baby/toddler's personality? Do you feel like you've read everything and nothing is working?
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There are many reasons for your baby 9 months or older waking early in the morning around 5-6am and not wanting to go back to sleep. If the early waking is not working for your family and you would like to try and extend the morning wake time, we need to identify the possible causes of the early waking and deal with each issue.
Common issues to address are:
- Too much light coming in the bedroom in the morning
- Household/environmental noises
- Baby not dressed warmly enough for the early morning temperatures
- The reward of an early breakfast
- Waking for a milk feed
- Habits and routine already established as a younger baby, of an early start to the day
- The timing of the first day sleep
- Your baby's bedtime in the evening
- Genetics! Your baby is made up of two parents
So once you decide what the possible causes are you can begin to play with some solutions.
Always give each try at least a week to have an effect on your baby's body clock and be patient.
It is easy to adjust the amount of light coming into the bedroom with appropriate window coverings of any sought. Whatever is handy will work, it doesn't have to be professional or expensive to be effective, just block out the light. Think an old quilt cover, dark sheet, large towels, a picnic blanket, coated block out fabric.
Sometimes we can train the family to be quiet around the house early in the morning, but sometimes outside factors affect your baby's waking. Try playing soft sleep time music such as 'Music for Dreaming' on repeat all night to cover some of the noises and wean baby off the music in a few months
Over 9 months Babies are very mobile in the cot and should be dressed for the night assuming they are rolling around in the cot and will not be under the warm covers all night. Think how you would feel, sleeping in what you have dressed your baby in, if you were sleeping on top of your blankets without a partner. Excess blankets become a SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) risk if your baby is mobile and crawling or rolling around the cot.
If your baby over 9 months of age is currently enjoying early morning milk feeds or gets breakfast as soon as they wake, this is a nice reward for waking. If you are happy to offer these feeds, early mornings are a consequence unless you resettle back to sleep after the feed. If you don't think baby needs these feeds for nutrition and they are simply waking for them as a habit, you can drop them if baby is over 9 months and eating solids well during the day. This is a personal decision.
Sometimes mum and dad need baby to get up early for the working schedule during the week but want to encourage a sleep in on the weekends. Unfortunately baby doesn't understand the difference between a workday and a weekend, so I recommend that you treat every day like a Sunday and encourage a sleep in until the last minute and arrange breakfast for baby at the place of babysitting or childcare.
If you reward your baby waking early in the morning with a sleep shortly after breakfast, you are encouraging early waking.
If you put your baby to bed too early in the evening, they will meet their sleep quota earlier in the night and not be able to sleep in to your reasonable wake time in the morning.
The last and obvious reason is that if you or your partner is an early riser, it is possible that the baby takes after the early riser and will always grace you with their presence when they wake! After all the baby is genetically related!
Tip: If your baby's routine is working for your baby and your family, don't change anything! If the routine needs fine tuning, first look for the possible contributing factors, then put a consistent plan in place confidently and monitor your results to see what works.
