The fourth Survivor Story is by adventurer and mum-of-two Bronwyn Joy who not only survived a ‘sleep thief’ but managed to travel the world at the same time!
BRONWYN’S STORY:
I completed a Master’s Degree by coursework in Bioethics when my eldest was fifteen-months-old. The reason I’m starting an article about travel with kids like this (bear with me) is that I feel it was a great achievement in the face of extreme sleep-deprivation, only nobody ever seems to care.
For example, when I put it forward as a potential topic to Emily-Jane, she said, yes, yes, certainly, or… travel. You could talk about travel also. And I thought well just one paragraph then. But then my husband said, “Gah!” so I said fine! and then I hid the paragraph at the bottom instead.
So here I am, now, staying completely on the topic of travelling with young kids
We’ve travelled with both our children, one of whom sleeps, and the other of whom sort of doesn’t. We’ve learned a lot of things from both types of experience, not least of which is that it’s very, very possible to keep adventuring with young children. When your child’s a sleep thief, however, you’ll want to do things a bit differently.
Planning
Packing
Getting There
On Vacation
Coming Home
Key Takeaways
I’ve heard people say that taking a baby on holiday is a bit like taking a baby on any kind of outing, except the outing is really long and really far away. This is true. It must be said, however, that holidaying with a typical child requires a bit of extra work. In contrast, Sleep Thieves are just as restless wherever they are, so you might as well be on a beach in Thailand.
One reallyreallyquick (if entirely irrelevant) paragraph about studying bioethics with a wakeful baby
If people were to ask me to rate how hard it is to study alongside a sleep thief on a scale of one to ten, I’d probably say well, on the one hand there was the screaming and the all-night waking and the screaming and waking and so forth, but on the other hand at least I had Kant and Mencius to help me decide whether it would be okay to strangle the wee one or not. (Tip! Mill isn’t as helpful on that front*.)
So don’t be afraid. Anyway, it’s not like you slept properly as a teenaged undergrad.
*Because Mencius and Kant champion things like principles and the inherent goodness of human beings, whereas Mill will ask you to think about what will produce the most happiness for the most people.
For more brilliant tips on travelling with children or to read about Bronwyn’s adventures visit Journeys Of The Fabulist. More Survivor stories can be found here…or for some ‘hot’ tips on how to survive a sleep thief check out my Survival Guide. Feel free to share your travel stories below or join me for a chat on Facebook or Twitter.
Haha I liked your tips. My sleep thief is really more of a bed thief because he will sleep so long as he can be splayed across my body with his feet in my husband’s face. One might think by eight kids in we could control the sleep thievery, but alas that is not the case.
Eight kids!! How the hell are you still awake!!!
Makes me feel better about not having figured out my sleep thief.
Set out for us in true academic format. lol. Been there, done that under the most appalling travel conditions. To feel the disapproving stares of people without children on a plane while the sleep thief entertains with loud piercing wails, or those train, bus and taxi trips in exotic places in furnace like conditions and an angry child during the wee hours of the night. Nice description. I’ve filed that one in my mind.
Extreme temperatures can add a nice touch. Makes sure all the onlookers are feeling nice and grumpy to start with, too, just for good measure.
Loved this post and can empathise. I am nearly finished medical school – I had both my little girls during school. They are now nearly 3 years old and 7 months old. Crazy times! Safe to say we have not attempted travel with them – the 2 hour car trip was horrific enough – will be saving your tips for when we go overseas next!
That sounds crazy til you consider the alternative of having them shortly after graduation. Then it still sounds sort of crazy but maybe the lesser of two crazies?? I can understand you focussing on school rather than overseas jaunts! That’s probably enough for anyone (and too much for some).
I can certainly empathise! I am medic student soon to be a doctor and both my girls – nearly 3 and a 7 month old during school. Safe to say we haven’t attempted traveling more than 2 hours with them yet hehe thanks for the tips x
I have a sleep thief too!! She is also a mealtime thief, shower thief and ME time thief…blah 🙂
Ha sleep thievery is rife!!
Ha! Multi-talented 🙂
LOL. Sleep thief. I like that. These are great travel tips! Thank you!
Sleep Thief is Emily-Jane’s (I *stole* it 🙂 ).
haha! This was too funny! My son was most certainly a sleep thief!! I liked the one positive note: they won’t sleep any worse on holidays (because they already sleep so terribly). We just got back from a trip and despite everyone telling me “he will sleep on the plane; all babies sleep on the plane,” he did not!
I don’t know why people say that sometimes. I see in theory how it’s soothing (white noise/gentle movement/etc) but in practice, not so much. Hopefully you’re caught up now.
The tip charts are very funny! We find that we are far more sleep deprived when we travel with our kids… New settings are like a fresh playground. Who wants to sleep in a fun new space?
Yes, the “caffeine effect” can hit kids as well as adults…. that’s the downside… On the other hand, hopefully they’re happier to be awake, even when tired?
Ha ha, hilarious as always! I was that baby – there are photos of my dad pushing me around various places at all hours of the day and night. I was cute though 😉
And I LOVE that P went to school in his sister’s uniform! How is that even possible?!
Right?? They’re pretty stretchy and unisex (culottes vs shorts) so I can sort of see it. But also I sort of can’t. It looked pretty obvious later in the day…
Being cute saved you as well! Hurrah for cuteness in babies. My wonder is that anyone was awake to take the pictures…
Random Yugoslavians (at the time) 😉 We travelled quite a lot – I sang and stayed awake most of the time 😉
Love your tips Bronwyn! And these are the reasons why I never travel with kids LMAO. We might have one coming up next year so I better prepare, right?
No, don’t *prepare* – what, and deprive us of a good story? 🙂
Ha ha…preparation only makes fools out of us!!!
Another good point.
You are so right. A restless child is restless anywhere you are, so you might as well be on vacation. At least you’ll get to stare at the walls of a new room. Exciting! First time took our first born (the one who didn’t sleep until he was THREE) he was 9 months old, and for severely sleep deprived parents I think we did pretty great! There were some embarrassing moments on the ridiculously long train ride from Frankfurt to Augsburg (in retrospect it may not have been that long but it felt like it took years for us to get there with a screaming child), but overall, we handled things pretty well. Our sleep thief was starting his day at 5 am SHARP every morning, except for the morning we were actually supposed to wake up that early to catch our train back. That morning he slept till 7. It’s like they know…
Great post, as usual!
(I don’t know how you managed to study AND pass on no sleep. Then again I always had my most brilliant ideas when I was up at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5am. Either they really were brilliant or my miserable drunken state led me to believe they were. Who knows.)
How do they know? Mine have done that, too. The one morning you need to be out early is the one time they sleep in…
With the study, I did have some help from my husband and parents at certain key points – I’ll admit that.
Still… RESPECT!
Well check out Danielle who actually got a prize!
Wow! I wouldn’t be able to do my ABC right now let alone study for a qualification!!
You’re getting a sound schooling in Winging It, though, aren’t you?
RESPECT to her too!
And you are quite right Bronwyn! I would have been too tired to notice. Forgot to put the little ones trousers on the other day as I was in such a sleep deprived rush!!
Not just me then! I felt quite bad for him at pick up, but a few weeks on it’s more funny than anything. He seems to have survived and I suppose it was character building and so on.
So funny and thanks for the intro to a really great site. Oh those “typical” children, I wish I had some of those! Whilst I can say the worst is behind me, I did have to attend “sleep school” with kid number 2 because it go SO bad. I travel with thieves, but wouldn’t be silly enough to study with some too, I’m not sure if that is brave or crazy, either way, nicely done. xo
PS: The sisters school uniform to school highlight! Poor lil guy. Hope he has recovered.
Ha oh sleep school?! I think I need to go there!!
Yes! In Australia there is such a thing as sleep school. I’ve heard tales of it… They don’t have it in the UK?
I don’t think so but I am going to google it up!!
They might find one of their most passionate customers? Then again, I think with some of these techniques it’s tough to know whether you’re better off just muddling through til they grow out of it. Definitely a valid way to go…
Yep. there is a lot to be said for muddling.. These techniques all seem like far too much effort when you haven’t slept for three years…
Oh, and to the sister’s uniform – yes, he’s recovered. He’s generally more careful to check his clothes before he puts them on since then… but otherwise back to normal.
Bronwyn as always I am left laughing hysterically by your writing and thanking my lucky stars I am old with old kids. I can barely remember these days which may be one of the greatest benefits of aging.
My mother, who was just visiting, said she especially enjoyed the bits of her visit when the kids acted horribly. Something about karma?
Karma can be a beautiful thing, from this vantage point anyway. 🙂
HILARIOUS and very accurate. I studied for one exam with a sleep thief (Six Sigma Green Belt) and scraped a pass – to this day I don’t know how, although I assume the examiners were kind (i know one had had a sleep thief of her own so was empathetic). We “travelled” from NZ to Fiji with our sleep thief and it was great – we were thrilled if he managed any 30 min naps ever (including flights) and expected the frequent night wakings – so had a blast – no cooking, no cleaning – and blackout curtains. I enjoyed my 30 min power naps twice a day!
Honing the art of the power nap in key. I heard from a very reputable source (local FM radio) that if you drink a cup of coffee immediately before a power nap you get the caffeine and the nap benefits kicking in at once to keep you going through the next few hours. (No responsibility is taken for this advice.)
Studying with a child that didn’t give you that much sleep was WELL DONE, Bronwyn!!!! I was doing some further studies during the first six months of my first born’s life. Then there was the BAM + I was pregnant and morning, day and night sick for the next 7 months (well, the pregnancy lasted 5 days past what normally is expected), and I can tell you, there was no more studying happening at this end. So I am in awe!
But also, I agree, even with two small ones with a history of pretty long poor sleeping “stages” our holidays away have always been great (the thing you call PAY. BACK. is great as well as the thing were you don’t need to cook nor clean. Easy). The biggest problem for us was for somebody to remember to book the holiday…;)
Love your attitude!
Definitely the booking part gets tricky. So hard to find time to do research. But as long as you’re not going to fret about having a perfectly-optimised holiday I think that’s ok – I imagine you guys roll with the punches pretty well and just enjoy wherever you are.
Here! Here. Before I comment about travel a little sleep thief anecdote. I sat my specialty exams when my own sleep thief was 16 months old. I had to travel to Sydney for them, and as usual was accompanied by said sleep thief. Pulling out all stops in an attempt to pass the night before the exam I left my sleep thief in a hotel with my mother and checked into the hotel across the road. The Bahrain soccer club had taken over my entire floor however and were up all night partying. Consequently no sleep for me. When people ask me how I managed to pass my exams (and even get a special prize) after no sleep at all I just tell them I had been trained very well by my son. As for travel with a sleep thief the mantra when profoundly sleep deprived “Just keep moving” works best. I would always rather be out exploring, particularly if it is somewhere like Thailand in a sleep deprived haze than home trying to bring order to our home.
I’m intimidated. You can definitely write the post on study with a sleep thief! You’ll have to include the tip “if checking into a hotel to get a good night’s sleep, check that no football clubs will be partying in it”.
Brilliant, just brilliant. The ‘tips sheets’ made me laugh out loud!
The first couple of times we went away, our baby slept amazingly (but wasn’t a bad sleeper at home at these points.) We were all ‘Oohh, he’s so flexible, oh isn’t this great?’ Oh we were so STUPID to think this might last. The last two times (when he’s coincidentally been a total sleep thief) have been awful – really awful and have put me off going away anytime soon.
However, this post has really struck a chord with me… It doesn’t matter, does it? If we’re getting no sleep, we might as well be doing it somewhere nice! And when I look back on our last holiday, where husband and I were literally up half the night along with our unfortunate neighbours who were banging on the ceiling, I don’t remember much of that part – more that it was actually one of the nicest weeks of my life.
The neighbour part was pretty crap though!
I love how babies do that. They make out like they’re going to go one way then BAM! they bring something out of nowhere just to shock you. They want to keep you on your toes. They refuse to be typecast. Etc.
So yes – you might as well be wherever, but maybe bring more earplugs next time I guess. (Detached/countryside accommodation is another favourite of ours.) Being tired is so much more bearable on holiday.
You are right Bronwyn! Sleep deprived on a sunny beach somewhere would actually be not too bad!
Not too bad at all. Wonder if we should put it forward as an official treatment for post-natal difficulties?
I know, they’re outrageous. It’s almost as if they want to be seen as individuals… weird.
Ear plugs will definitely be on the list next time, and in hindsight, I can see that booking a thin-walled chalet was probably pretty optimistic / stupid of us!
We did the thin-walled hotel room thing once and really lucked out, because the hotel was hosting a Taiwanese beautician’s conference and all our next-door neighbours were young single women who adored babies. About half a dozen of them offered to care for our son in the middle of the night so we could get some rest because he was so cuuuuuuuute.
Ha ha!! Cuteness. A sleep thief’s most useful weapon!!
Yes Bronwyn is hilarious.. We too have been burnt by the sleep thief holiday but looking back maybe I was stressing so much about us all having this perfect family trip! This story has definitely inspired me to try again but see it as a chance to be tired in lovely surroundings rather than trying to ‘do’ stuff!!
That’s a great way of putting it. Reset your holiday goals. Compare the trip to your day to day life rather than your “ideal holiday”.
Yes, being tired in lovely surroundings would so not have been a holiday goal two years ago, but now, it is pretty appealing compared to being tired and surrounded by mountains of washing!
Thanks for having me over! Enjoyed being here 🙂
Yeah, this is a great blog!
Thanks for reading!