And on the seventh day...
Travel is something that both JT and i enjoy and something we felt would be a marker for our parenting style. We weren't going to buy into the conventional wisdom that you couldn't travel with children and i was determined to disprove the notion that child as traveling companion necessitated mountains of luggage.
If it was just the logistics of travel that turned out to be difficult i wouldn't even be writing this. Unfortunately, as with most things parental, the difficulty lies in the areas i can't control.
I am a ruthless packer and an efficient travel planner. I can winnow Henry and i's belongings to a single roll-aboard and schedule flights so they coincide with nap times without a second thought. I can keep Henry on his general routine, bring Ralph and his other sleep accoutrements, and generally try to provide him the same environment he's accustomed to at home. I can not however figure out, let alone solve, the reason H can be super-baby all day (charming everyone with his continual smile) while his sleep quality begins to erode and then unravel.
At this point Henry is averaging slightly over one trip per month since he first traveled at 2 months old. I think our solution is cutting back on his travel schedule until he's a bit older. At this point we need to pick and choose his trips carefully so that the benefits of visiting family and friends are not out-weighed by the temporary damage to his sleeping. I think i might just start treating this as an experiment (albeit not a controlled one) to see if certain variables make things better or worse. Look for the results of my study in a Pediatric Sleep Journal in a few years...
If it was just the logistics of travel that turned out to be difficult i wouldn't even be writing this. Unfortunately, as with most things parental, the difficulty lies in the areas i can't control.
I am a ruthless packer and an efficient travel planner. I can winnow Henry and i's belongings to a single roll-aboard and schedule flights so they coincide with nap times without a second thought. I can keep Henry on his general routine, bring Ralph and his other sleep accoutrements, and generally try to provide him the same environment he's accustomed to at home. I can not however figure out, let alone solve, the reason H can be super-baby all day (charming everyone with his continual smile) while his sleep quality begins to erode and then unravel.
At this point Henry is averaging slightly over one trip per month since he first traveled at 2 months old. I think our solution is cutting back on his travel schedule until he's a bit older. At this point we need to pick and choose his trips carefully so that the benefits of visiting family and friends are not out-weighed by the temporary damage to his sleeping. I think i might just start treating this as an experiment (albeit not a controlled one) to see if certain variables make things better or worse. Look for the results of my study in a Pediatric Sleep Journal in a few years...
posted by Tallis Ford @ 8:33 PM
2 Comments:
At 1:06 PM,
Tammy said…
Heh. I'm the same way, Tamra. I've always been proud of my ability to take long trips with nothing but a carry-on bag. I took motherhood as a challenge to not become one of those women who need three different diaper bags just to go get coffee. I've been getting increasingly minimalistic... and increasingly cocky. These days, if I'm just going out in the neighbourhood, I just put Sam in his sling and a couple of small toys in my pocket. I'm aware that I'm begging for a humbling poo blowout, but I can't resist the allure of having both arms free.
We haven't taken any serious trips since Sam was three months old and slept all the time and hardly needed any gear. We're planning a cross-country trip in the new year, and it'll be interesting to see how we fare.
At 3:35 PM,
JulieJem said…
Tomorrow we're boarding a plane with our 7-month old for a three-hour flight. Hubby is certainly nervous about the flight, though I'm more nervous about whether or not he'll sleep in a hotel. He travelled beautifully when he was 2.5 months old. He's the most perfect baby, though he does like his independence. Being held on the plane for all that time might just make him unhappy.
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