Babys First Year Blog
Traveling Baby Karma
Steve and I were anticipating a nightmare day of travels to start off our Christmas vacation. We had a host of obstacles to overcome including, a two hour drive, and two flights with a three hour layover. To put it simply, I was terrified.
I really didn’t think we could possibly make it through the day without at least one major melt down (I was convinced it would arrive at proximately 40,000 feet in the air surrounded by unforgiving and judgmental fellow travelers). It was the gauntlet we had to pass through to make it home.
And I am here to tell you that we got lucky, SO LUCKY. First, Tate slept through the drive to the airport, and even managed to stay calm as we were bustling through the baggage check ins and security lines.
I had heard that nursing at take off and landing was the best defense against a baby with aching ears. While nursing Tate on take off, he dropped off to sleep. Each flight went like this: Nursing, nap, quiet play time, and then back to nursing. It was a dream.
But you see, the universe doesn’t let parents have babies that aren’t affected by travel. (If your baby handles every aspect of travel without a second thought, then let me offer my sincere congratulations.) Tate may have handled the travel phase of the journey like a rock star, but his sleep schedule turned into a nightmare. It’s down near impossible to get him down for a nap, and each night of sleep is more fitful than the last.
It’s no secret Tate does not sleep through the night very well, and I am not expecting that to change any time soon. But waking every hour with the expectation of being picked up, walked around, and then nursed to sleep is just about more than I can take.
How does your little one handle traveling? Any tips on making sure they are getting enough sleep? If we don’t get more sleep on this vacation, I am going to need a month to recover when we get back to Texas.
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1 Comment
Meagan commented on Dec 26 11 at 3:53 pmThe best (and least obvious) advice I’ve read is get him lots of sunlight. In the winter that just means making sure the window shades are always open during the day, and if the weather allows, getting outside as much as possible.
Otherwise just stick as close to your normal schedule as you can and hope he adjusts soon. I’ve got a cross country trip coming up and am dreading it.
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