Recognizing the last thing you need after a long day of travelling is having your child go into meltdown mode, Moshi Twilight Sleep Stories have put together four simple tips, tricks and hacks for Digital Journal readers.
The tips are intended to help parents to get their children to drift off to sleep wherever the family aims to get some rest across the holiday season. This includes travelling on aircraft or long car rides, as well as trying to sleep in unfamiliar locations, such as hotels.
The first advice is to set a travel sleep routine. According to Moshi’s experts, children thrive with routine, so it can be challenging for their little bodies to adapt to a new routine when traveling. The advice is to try to plan departure and arrival times around sleep time as much as possible and try to arrive at your destination in time for the usual bedtime routine.
They also state that if people are travelling across time zones, it is useful try to shift schedules to the new time zone as soon as possible. Jet lag is more than just being tired at the wrong time, it is also about your body sending messages about eating and needing to use the bathroom at the wrong time as well.
The second advice is to turn off electronic devices at least two hours before bedtime. Over-stimulating children with devices like an iPad and games will keep their brain too active to calm down and drift off to sleep. Parents are advised to shut down the glowing, blue-light tablet or phone screens—ideally two hours before bedtime.
The third tip is to ‘make travel bedtime a dream’. By this, Moshi states: “Whether you’re travelling by plane, train or car, an audio app like Moshi Twilight can help children relax and give them something pleasant to focus on while carrying them away to sleep while in transit. Moshi Twilight is a free app with meditations, music, sounds and sleep stories to soothe your kids to sleep without glaring screens.”
The fourth and final tip is to consider the use of a ‘bedtime buddy’. Here, facing bedtime alone in a new unknown place can be daunting for children. Moshi recommend arming “them against the monsters under the bed with a teddy bear to help them feel comforted and allow them to drift off to sleep quicker.”
