The holidays are a wonderful time to gather and celebrate with our loved ones. Yet, as a new parent, you may be wondering how you can best manage your infant and/or toddler's sleep schedule and routines when you may be out at a family or friends's home for holiday festivities, or, you may be expecting a gathering of family at your home.
It is important for our children and ourselves that we take the time to connect with our friends and family. This social time can help our mental and emotional health and can be invigorating for ourselves and our kiddos. There are a number of ways that you can best manage sleep for your little one while you're either out and about with friends/family, or, if you have guests coming to your home.
When you're away from home and visiting family and friends:
Sleep Environment - do your best to re-create the same sleep conditions and environment that your little one is used to. Preferably, they will sleep in a separate space, that is pitch black with their sound machine is running. You may even want to increase the noise machine volume a notch or two to drown out any added noise from the festivities.
Travel Crib - bring a travel crib if you don't have access to a full-size crib at the residence where you are going, which can be their own safe space to sleep.
Sheets - use sheets for the travel crib that smell like your baby or toddler. It will create a familiarity for them, which will be soothing and a reminder of their sleep space.
Sleep Schedule - do your very best to continue to nap them and put them to sleep according to their age-appropriate wake windows. Bedtime may need to take place away from home, and you can always pack them up and bring them home in the car as quietly as you can and transfer them into their own crib once you arrive back home. If they wake, just do a very short bed-time routine and put them right back to sleep, keeping the room dark.
Keeping things on track can often be easier if you're gathering at your own home. Regardless of whether you have guests at your home, or, you are away, it can be helpful to begin the bedtime routine earlier than usual and to set aside an extra 20-30 additional minutes before bedtime to have quiet, alone time with your little one before transitioning into the bedtime routine. This extra time will give them some time and space to unwind from all the excitement of the special event and added sensory stimulation they have experienced.
If this doesn't go as planned and things get off-track, do you best but don't worry too much! Everything is fixable and you can always get back into rhythm the next day.
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