Baby sleep while traveling: routines, time zones and travel crib safety

Before you go: pack the familiar

• Your baby's usual sleep sack or pajamas, which smell and feel like home.
• The sound you play at bedtime, already picked out on your phone.
• The bedtime book and the small blanket you cuddle with during the routine (for holding only, not for the crib).
• A dimmable night light. Hotel and guest room lights are often too bright.
• If you'll use a travel crib or play yard, try a few naps in it at home first.

Shorten the routine, keep the order

With a full itinerary, the complete bedtime routine may not happen. Trim it to a few steps but keep the same order and the same ending: pajamas, feed, the same goodnight, the same sound. That familiar ending is what tells your baby it's still bedtime, even in a strange room.

A rough first night or two is normal. Give your baby some time to adjust before changing anything.

Time zones and schedule shifts

• For a time difference of an hour or two, or a schedule thrown off by travel, many families just switch to local time and let things settle over a few days.
• For bigger time differences, some families shift the schedule gradually in the days before leaving. Others adjust bit by bit after they arrive.
• Once you're there, get outside in daylight during the day and keep evenings dim to help your baby reset day and night.
• Patchy sleep on long drives or flights is normal. Get back to your usual rhythm once you arrive.
• Expect a few days to readjust when you get home, too. The familiar routine helps here as well.

A quick safety check in unfamiliar places

Hotels, rentals and grandparents' homes weren't necessarily set up with a baby in mind. Take two or three minutes before your baby sleeps:

• Set up the travel crib or hotel crib fully, with every lock clicked in. Use only the mattress it came with, and don't add extra padding or blankets.
• Keep the crib bare and place your baby on their back.
• Position the crib away from windows, blind cords, electrical cords and heaters.
• Scan what your baby can reach: medications, small objects, outlets, pets.
• Don't let your baby sleep on an adult bed, a couch or next to a bed with no rail.

Staying with grandparents

Grandparents who help with bedtime are a gift. Advice has changed since they were raising babies, though. Before the visit, walk them through your routine: which sound you use, where the baby sleeps and how. Things like back sleeping, nothing in the crib and light layers instead of bundling may be new to them, so keep it friendly and simple.

Take your baby's sound with you

BabySleepTight works on iPhone, iPad and Android with no account needed, so grandparents can download it and play the same sound right away. Pick a sound, set the sleep timer, and it keeps playing with the screen off. In an unfamiliar room the rule doesn't change: quiet, far away, on a timer, and never put the phone inside the travel crib.

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