When you travel with your baby you need to know all hotel Dangers that Put Baby’s Safety at Risk.
Vacations should be about fun, not about trips to the emergency room.
Here are some tips for keeping your baby safe in and around your hotel room.
- Choose Hotel Accommodations Wisely Whenever choosing a hotel or place to stay with a baby it is important to consider a safe location, room size, amenities, noise level, safety features, cleaning protocols and reviews! Some hotels even offer baby-friendly services like babysitting or kid’s club and will even provide high chairs, strollers, car seats and cribs.Carefully choosing where you will stay on your trip can make or break your experience in a lot of ways. Your budget and the available hotels in the area play a huge role in your decisions. If possible, we strongly suggest looking for apartment-style or extended stay hotels. These were designed for business travelers staying for an extended period of time, but they are actually pretty perfect for families traveling with babies (even if just for the weekend)! Extended stay hotels are typically more spread out and come equipped with amenities like a small kitchen or sometimes even a washer and dryer that make traveling with an infant a lot easier! Another bonus to these types of hotels is that they are not as crowded, so you don’t typically have to deal with any light-night parties or loud neighbors.
- Another option to consider for accommodations is AirBnB Renting out a fully furnished apartment, condo, home, or cabin can make traveling with a baby so much easier! You’re not trying to condense your life into a tiny hotel room, but you’re just swapping one home for another. When searching for an AirBnB, be sure to narrow your search to “kid-friendly” locations.
- Don’t relax safe sleep habits. Resist the temptation to put your baby in bed with you, use a portable crib or packable playard instead. Many hotels and vacation rentals have them available upon request; ask when you are booking. Just make sure they meet current safety standars and are in good repair, with no broken or missing parts, loose hardware, or padding other than the manufacturer’s original mattress. Bedding should fit the mattress snugly. You may want to bring a familiar crib sheet or blanket, depending on your child’s age, as a reminder of home―especially if your little one isn’t used to falling asleep in new places. Position the crib away from cords, lamps and TVs or from any objects that could fall on the baby.
- Pack carefully. Pack medications, sharp things (like razors), small items that could be a choking hazard and anything else that might cause trouble into a couple of smaller bags. As soon as you open your suitcase, grab those bags and get them up high.
4. Keep Your Routine Even though you might be on vacation, vacationing with kids means sticking to certain routines as much as possible, especially when it comes to naps and nighttime sleep. When you can, organize your plans around your little one’s sleep schedule. A well-rested baby is a happy baby, and a happy baby means a more fun vacation!
Believe us that keeping your bedtime routine, even when you aren’t at home, is going to be essential in ensuring your little one (and you!) get a restful night of sleep.
Sticking to that routine means packing your routine essentials: swaddles or sleepsacks, bedtime books, sound machines, etc. If your routine includes bathtime, be sure to pack the necessities for that as well! If your hotel room only has a shower, you can always bring along a portable infant tub.
These familiar items and actions are all things your little one associates with bedtime and sleep.
5.Do the safety crawl when you arrive. Yes, hotel rooms are cleaned between guests. Still, it’s a good idea to get down on the floor and check for pills, pens or other choking or poisoning hazards that may have dropped and rolled under beds or dressers. Anything that is new and exciting and at your child’s level―hotel phone cords, TV cords, the cords from the big reading lamp, low dresser drawers. Pack masking tape and move as much of it as possible to a high table or inside a closet.
6. Put Your Baby in the Bathroom
You read that right. If you’re sticking to the routine, many babies are used to sleeping in darkness. Maybe you even have blackout curtains at home in their nursery. Staying in a hotel with a baby means you have limited “rooms” to blackout. The bathroom is just the place!
You’re able to keep it dark, cool, and plug in a sound machine. This way you don’t have to worry about bringing blackout shades! Plus, this means not everyone in the hotel room has to go to bed at your baby’s bedtime. Stay up, order room service, watch some TV, and enjoy your evening!
If you need to have a little more ease of mind when if choosing to have your baby sleep in the bathroom, pack a baby monitor that allows you to check in on the baby through video rather than having the continuously open the door to check on your little.
7. Never leave a child alone in your hotel room.
You wouldn’t leave your baby home alone to grab a bite to eat. Don’t let the vacation cause you to lose your common sense. Monitor or no Monitor, resist the temptation, even if your hotel room is within sight. Children are unpredictable, electronic devices are not 100% reliable, or something could happen that makes it hard for you to get back to your room quickly…it’s not worth the risk.
Did you know most hotels will provide a list of local babysitting agencies? Why not give one a call? Babysitters through the hotel are typically required to stay in the room with your children.
8. Take the Time-Zone into Account
When your baby goes to bed is a major part of their routine (yes, back to the importance of keeping a routine!). Their body starts to recognize when it’s time to sleep. If your baby’s bedtime is usually 7:00 pm, but you’re in a time zone one hour ahead, you may not start the routine till closer to 8:00 pm.
It is also recommended to gradually adjust the baby’s schedule by small increments a few days before the trip. This can be done by shifting the baby’s feeding, napping, and sleeping times by 15-30 minutes every day until the new time zone is reached.
Depending on the length of your stay, you can try to “force” the time zone change on them, however, for longer trips, there’s no harm in letting them sleep when they want and having their bodies adjust naturally.
Another way to help babies adjust to time-zone differences when on vacation is expose the baby to sunlight during the day and reduce exposure to bright screens during the evening to help reset their circadian rhythm.
Don’t forget to be patience and flexible as it may take a few days for your little to be adjusted to the new time. Providing familiar comfort items like a favourite blanket or toy can also help them feel more at ease.
9.Know where the hotel pools are and watch out for water dangers in your room. At any age, children can slip away from the watchful eyes of adults in seconds. It happens every day. The AAP recommends parents create layers of protection to help keep children safe around bathtubs or toilets swimming pools, and hot tubs―all year long―including when on vacation and during non swim times. Drowning is quick and silent. Keep the bathroom door closed, and consider bringing a toilet lock with you. Use the deadbolt to keep your child from leaving the hotel room without you. If you go to the pool, remember to use touch supervision in the water at all times.
10. Strategize Your Packing
A lot of times the mentality for packing, especially with new parents, is “let’s take everything we could even possibly need.” This can be overwhelming and stressful to organize. Instead, get strategic with your packing by looking at where you’re going and your plans to determine what you will definitely need.
Planning ahead and making a list is very important when trying to pack light or pack strategically when traveling with a baby. This will help you avoid packing unnecessary items and ensure that you don’t forget anything essential. Think about what your baby needs on a daily basis and prioritize those items.
Here are some best practices to follow:
• Avoid bulky items like high chairs or swings if possible
• Bring one extra (not 5) of things like bibs especially if your hotel has a washing machine
• Avoid overpacking items that you can buy at your destination (diapers, wipes, etc.)
• Consider renting items through platforms like Baby Quips or checking in local Facebook groups
• Don’t go overboard on the toys – there will be plenty of new and exciting things to keep your little one entertained!
• Pack versatile items like a lightweight blanket that can be used as a nursing cover.
11.Have a Fire plan. Know where the exits and stairs are, just in case—and decide on a meeting place outside the hotel so that parents and family members can find each other easily in case of fire.
12. Create a Plan B for Food
Depending on your baby’s age, hotel food may not even be something they are able to eat. There’s also the chance that you’ll be paying $10 dollars for mac and cheese that your child may eat or may just throw on the floor. For this reason, be sure to have a backup plan for food.
We recommend doing some research to see what is in the area of your location that would have food your baby or child would like. If there is nothing in the area, think about bringing enough food from home to last the duration of your trip.
Using airtight containers will help prevent spoilage and maintain freshness. This can include plastic containers, resealable bags, or a vacuum sealer.
13.Baby Proof as Much as Possible
However long you are staying, you’ll want to treat your hotel room as a temporary home. That means making sure it is safe for your little one to be in and explore! Here are a few tips to baby proof your hotel room!
• Bring your own baby proofing supplies: Consider bringing some baby proofing supplies with you, such as outlet covers, cabinet locks, and corner guards. These can be easily packed in a small bag and used to make the hotel room safer for your baby.
• Do a sweep of the room: Walk through the room and identify any potential hazards, such as sharp edges, loose cords, or open outlets. Move any dangerous items out of reach or ask the hotel staff to remove them if possible.
• Make use of furniture: Use furniture in the room to create barriers or block off certain areas that may be hazardous, such as blocking access to the balcony or moving furniture in front of an open fireplace. Additionally, consider using pillows or extra blankets to cushion sharp edges or corners.
Remember to always supervise your baby and keep an eye on them to ensure they are safe, even after you have baby proofed the hotel room.
If your baby’s food needs to be kept cold, pack it in a cooler with ice packs. This is especially important for perishable items like dairy products or prepared baby food that has been opened.
If your hotel has a refrigerator in it, don’t forget to remove food from the cooler and place there!
14.Lock balcony doors. The best thing to do with curious or climbing kids is to avoid rooms with balconies. Many hotels have childproof locks on sliding glass and swinging doors that lead to balconies.
15.Prevent furniture and TV tip-overs. Push televisions away from the edge of their stands to make them harder to reach and tip over or pull off. Consider taping lower drawers of dressers closed so they can’t be opened and climbed on.
16.Ask for the mini bar to be cleared out so you can use it as a fridge. If you are storing breast milk or formula, this will be a huge help!
- Prepared formula that has not been given to an infant may be stored in the refrigerator for 24 hours to prevent bacterial contamination.
- An open container of ready-to-feed formula, concentrated formula, or formula prepared from concentrated formula should be covered, refrigerated, and discarded after 48 hours if not used.
17.Be prepared for wandering. It’s perfectly normal for children to want to explore―especially in a new and interesting place like a hotel. Dress children in bright colors that make them easy to pick out in a crowd. Do some exploring of your own, so that you know the layout of the hotel and can identify places children might go if they wander.
It’s just a matter of some advanced planning and establishing rules and routines like you do at home—and it can help ensure that your family vacation brings nothing but good memories.
