The holidays are magical times. A time for families to get together, parties, good food, and late nights. But when you have young kids, holidays can be anything but magical.
As a sleep consultant, one of the biggest questions I get this time of year is, “how do we get through the holidays without messing up our little one’s sleep?” So today, I’m going to give you some of my top tips for keeping your littles on a good sleep schedule while still enjoying the holidays and all that it entails.
Be the host if you can.
The holidays are merry for sure, a time for creating traditions and memories. But they may not seem so cheerful if your hostess schedules dinner at 7 PM with an entire evening of festivities to follow and your little is having a meltdown because they have become overtired and need sleep.
One way to ensure your holiday festivities are merrier is to offer to host. While it may be more stressful planning the party, you can rest assured that your little one’s routine won’t be affected as much. This way, you can be sure that your child is getting down for naps and nighttime in the comfort of their own bed at their regular bedtime. And once you finish your bedtime routine, you can get back to your party without the need to excuse yourself from the party to take your little one home.
Be realistic + don’t be afraid to excuse yourself from the party.
If you can’t host, it’s absolutely okay to excuse yourself from the festivities if it’s getting too late for your little one. Do keep an open mind about going to the party, but also be realistic about your expectations. If the festivities are encroaching on naptime or running past your little one’s bedtime, be sure to keep an eye on your child.
Kids can be adaptable to a point. If they’re already overtired and in need of sleep, chances are they’re not going to handle missing that nap or going to bed late very well. A super overtired little one is sure to lead to a meltdown, which can be super stressful for everyone involved.
If the festivities are set to begin in the late afternoon or early evening, be sure to get your little one down for a nap and allow them to rest up before all the merry-making memories begin.
If the festivities are scheduled during your little’s naptime, assess whether it will really be worth skipping that nap for whatever the event may be. Check with the host to see if you can attend after naptime is over. Don’t stress over sending your regrets if the party happens to fall during naptime. Most people will understand.
Travel during naps and/or bedtime.
If your family is traveling for the holidays, make sure to take into consideration your little one’s routine schedule and use it to your advantage. I don’t typically advocate for motion sleep because it’s not super restorative. Sometimes, there are exceptions to that rule, and this is one of them. Try to plan your travel around your babe’s naps or overnight so they’ll be less fussy during your trip.
If you’re driving, be sure to stop every couple of hours throughout your trip to let everyone stretch their legs. Your little’s have a short attention span, and even best-laid plans can be spoiled if they get too antsy or fussy from sitting in their car seat for too long.
The same goes if you’re flying to your destination. If you schedule your flights too early in the morning or too late in the evening, chances are you’ll end up with a fussy, overtired baby. And that can be very stressful for parents and those sitting around you on the flight.
If you’re crossing through time zones, allow for flexibility on the day of travel.
Think about how the time change or traveling through different time zones makes you feel as an adult. Your little one goes through this same “jet lag effect,” but it will likely affect them and their sleep more significantly.
Anytime you cross through time zones, you need to plan to stay flexible with your little’s routine on the day of travel. If they typically go to bed at 7 PM, you’ll want to try to get them down as close to that as possible in the new time zone, but you can’t expect your 2-year-old to stay awake an extra 3 hours to hit that same bedtime in your new location.
A rule of thumb is that it takes approximately one day to adjust for every hour of time change. Of course, this is just an approximate. Every child is going to be different. You know your child best. If you know they struggle with daylight savings time change, chances are that a time change from traveling to a different time zone will be an even bigger struggle and may take longer to adjust.
If you know that you’ll be traveling ahead of time, you can begin to change their bedtime routine by 15-20 minutes each night going into your travel to get them a little closer to the time zone you’ll be traveling to. This will make that transition a little less chaotic and frustrating for everyone once you get to your destination.
And don’t forget to be mindful of this same thing when you travel back the other way. There will be an adjustment period going back home to your own time zone. Don’t expect that just because you’re back at home, your little one will fall right back into the routine schedule they had before the holiday.
Make an overnight stay easier by bringing comforts from home.
Traveling can be challenging for everyone. But one of the things that you can do to lessen your little one’s stress when they’re sleeping in a foreign place is to bring comfort items from home.
Of course, you’ll bring their favorite lovey and blanket, but don’t forget that the more their sleep space seems like home, the more likely they will sleep better. Pack their own bedding, their sound machine, blackout curtains…anything that helps mimic their very own sleep space at home.
It’s common for little’s to struggle with falling asleep in a new place for the first couple of nights, but the more like their own sleep space you can make this new sleep area for them, the more likely they’ll quickly feel comfortable.
Children thrive on consistency and predictability. While holidays and spending time with family are memories to be made, try to stick as close as possible to their usual routine. A well-rested child is much more adaptable to the occasional changes in their routine than an overtired one.
Above everything else, remember that they’re only little once. The memories that they make during these years will live on through the years. A small change in their routine isn’t going to ruin their sleep, but you don’t want it to happen too often, or it can cause ongoing sleep issues.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year’s, and Happy Holidays!
