Do not stress out if your child is off schedule while traveling, he or she will go back to normal once you return to your regular environment. My family recently returned from a 6 day vacation and I fought with my toddler to eat the entire trip. I found this to be rather bizarre considering his usual appetite! He loves food and wouldn’t miss an opportunity for a snack. He slept perfectly fine at nights and was very well behaved, but for some reason just didn’t want to eat.
I know he has two teeth pushing through and perhaps that was impacting his behavior, but there were a ton of other factors that could have been throwing him off as well. First of all, we were staying with family so he constantly had people around. While he enjoyed playing with his grandparents, I think it put some added stress on him (he was more interested in playing than eating). Also, our family is spread out and we were constantly driving for several hours at a time to our destinations. Prior to this trip, the longest amount of time he had ever been in a car was no longer than an hour. He appeared to get a little car sick from the mountains we were driving over (in Florida, we obviously do not have mountains).
In addition, the only naps he had was while riding in a car. I honestly think this is what threw him off the most, my son loves his nap time and needs his 2 – 3 hours of constant sleep during the day. For six days straight, he did not have this necessity.
No, I am not making excuses for my son not eating well…I am looking at the factors that impacted his normal routine. While he is not on a strict schedule, he does have a usual routine that works very well for him.
Once we returned to Orlando, my son quickly resorted back into regular eating and napping habits. My husband and I also notice that he is much more snugly and lovable than he was prior to the trip. He will literally stop what he is doing and come right over to hug us. It is the sweetest thing ever and very out of character. The only thing we can think of is perhaps he had a little anxiety from being passed around to family members (his usual world consists of my husband, me and our golden retriever).
Has your child been thrown off schedule while traveling? What types of tactics did you try to gain control of the situation?
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