Traveling with a Sleep Sensitive Toddler

We just took our first, long family vacation with our almost 2 year old. There were 8 adults and 5 kids under 5 all staying in the same VRBO.

My son is very much a FOMO kid — he wants to be in the mix at all times and needs absolute blackout for sleep. 

He wasn’t always like this though. Once I got over my own issues with sleep perfection by working with Sarah at Swallow Tail Sleep and I learned how specifically temperament played a part in sleep, we were out and about all the time and I could get my dude to nap in my arms, the stroller, the car seat — he could just sleep!

But once we hit the 12-15 month mark, things started to change. I honestly think he would stay up all day if we didn’t actually make him take a nap. He started needing absolute blackout for naps. We already blacked his room out for sleep but that meant that we had to be home for naps because while he would sleep in the car seat still, I can really only get about an hour total. 

This also means that sleeping other places like at my in-laws or on vacation is a struggle so here is how we dealt with ensuring he had the sleep environment he needed to get good rest while on vacation.

You can read up on how we packed everything and what I used to stay organized here.

How We Set Up My Sleep-Sensitive Toddler

At home, his room is pitch black. If there’s even a sliver of light, his FOMO kicks in and he’s ready to party.

So, on this trip we:

• Blacked out his smaller window old-school style: trash bags + blue painter’s tape (effective, cheap, not cute—but who cares).
  • We did have these travel blackout curtains from Amazon that worked great for my husband and I but let in just enough light that our guy wouldn’t settle. I still think they are worth the purchase!
    
• Added a breathable Pack ’n Play blackout cover (spandex-like material, great airflow—I even climbed in and zipped it to test. FYI, Graco Pack ’n Plays hold up to 155 lbs 😅)
  
• Layered in a Hiccapop Pack ’n Play mattress pad (highly rated with 34.4k 5 star reviews, no chemical smell out of the box) to keep him comfortable on these silly cardboard “mattresses” that come with pack n plays.
  
• Dressed him in a 1.5 tog Yoofoss sleep sack (thick, breathable, cozy and has 7.3k 5 star reviews on Amazon) since we were staying up in the mountains and it’s much cooler there than it is at home — body temp regulation plays a part in sleep too!
  

It worked beautifully… until his room had a foundation leak and water started coming through the carpet. Yep. We had to move him into our room.

Cue: re-blackout with trash bags and the pack n play cover again. He slept fine, except for one night we left the cover unzipped and at 6:30am he popped up and said:

“Mama! Open it!”

So… lesson learned.

Managing My Own Expectations for Sleep

Let it go, let it goooooooo…

I had to release control of sleep expectations this trip. We had 8 adults and 5 kids in the same house, all with different bedtimes, wake times, and noise levels.

We did our best to stick to his normal schedule and recreate his room, but we also leaned into his temperament. Our guy is pretty flexible, so we went with the flow:

• One day he took a 25-minute car nap and partied until 9pm.
  
• Some mornings, we let him sleep in and just didn’t worry about what that would do to nap/bed time.
  
• Having extra hands to entertain him made it way less stressful.
  

The key: know your kid. His FOMO means he’s more adaptable, but not every toddler is.

How We Survived

Vacationing with a toddler in this stage feels like parenting in a new location without your usual “tools.” But here’s the truth:

Life is what you make it.

The memories we made on this trip were priceless. It was absolutely worth throwing the normal sleep schedule out the window for time with family.

Were we tired and ready to be home by the end? Absolutely.

Would we do it again? 1000% yes.

Because our little guy had the time of his life—and that’s what matters most.

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