Mellow Mummy's Travel Sleep Tips for Kids

Lara and Holly are very lucky to have had plenty of opportunities in their short lives to travel with us both in the UK and abroad.  As a family, we very much enjoy spending weekends away from home to visit family, visit a special children's attraction or simply to explore the country.  I will admit though that, as fun as our travels are, sometimes it can be very hard work to get the girls to settle to sleep when we are staying in a hotel - the excitement of a night in a new place often means that the girls are unsettled or over-exhausted.

Premier Inn understands that getting your child into a regular sleep routine can be one of the biggest challenges as a parent and, if you’re staying in an unfamiliar environment such as a hotel, they may become unsettled. This autumn half-term, Premier Inn are working with the founder of The Children’s Sleep Charity to find solutions and advice for parents who may be travelling with kids.  As we are a family who travel quite a bit, they've asked me to share my Mellow Mummy tips for helping your children settle to sleep while travelling away from home.

When we stay in a hotel together as a family, we always try and book a family room which has enough space for all of us.  Even though the girls sleep in the same room us as, we like to try and make sure that they go to bed as close as possible to the same time as they normally do at home.  We have found that the best way for us to get the girls to sleep is to make sure that there is a total blackout at bedtime.  When the girls were younger we used to try and simply dim the lights so that Mr. B. and I could read, or we used to try and watch the TV very quietly but we found that the girls wouldn't settle, or if they did, they would wake up and desperately try and stay awake with Mummy and Daddy.

Unfortunately, enforcing bedtime at the normal time of night means that Mummy and Daddy end up having to settle down at the same time of night!  Switching the lights off is by far the most effective way of getting the girls to fall asleep...but it almost always sends us to sleep too.  Thankfully, when we are travelling, we've usually had a really exciting day out, or else we have a very early start the next morning so an early night does us good too so these days we tend to settle down to sleep at the same time as the girls.

Before blackout we calm the girls down with a bit of quiet time, either chilling in front of the TV or else we dim the lights and read them a bedtime story.  Teddy bears and story books come with us on EVERY trip.

We have found, over the years, that settling the girls to sleep in a hotel room is easier if we haven't spent very long in the room during the day.  We try and get out to explore (and wear them out) during the day.  On rainy days when you're tempted to spend more time in your room, it can often result in the kids feeling that the hotel room is a playground...which spells trouble at bedtime.

Unless we are travelling for a specific evening event, we always like to eat dinner either in the hotel, or within walking distance of the hotel.  This makes sure that the girls haven't got the opportunity to fall asleep in the car on the way back to the hotel.  The transition from car to hotel room can often result in everyone feeling wide awake again.

Finally, after the ULTIMATE stressful night in Cambridge last year, we have a strict rule of no sugary drinks before bedtime.  We learned that lesson the hard way.

Family Fun in Blackpool at The Cliffs Hotel

This weekend we spent a very fun (yet blustery) weekend in Blackpool - home of long sandy beaches, donkeys and more then their fair share of piers!  We were invited to try out the family-friendliness of The Cliffs Hotel which is part of the Choice Hotels selection.

The Cliffs Hotel is a large, family-friendly hotel to the north of the town centre and it is ideally located directly on the seafront on the Queens Promenade.  The hotel features an on-site leisure club with a pool, jacuzzi, sauna and fitness room as well as a kids club for children over 4 years old.  There are also beauty treatment rooms - I really wish we had been staying for longer so that I could have tried them out!

We found the location of The Cliffs Hotel to be absolutely ideal, it was far enough away from the bustle and noise of the very centre of town to offer a little peace but with a taxi rank, a tram stop and a bus stop directly outside the hotel lobby, it was incredibly easy to get to all of the major attractions.  We paid £4.50 each for an adult day pass for the trams and buses and were able to hop on and off the trams all the way along the seafront from the north shore, to the south shore.

The hotel was well above our expectations in terms of comfort, quality and welcome.  We loved our time in the swimming pool and my girls were keen to join in with the kids activities on offer which included pizza-making!  But we had lots to do and see during the day so we didn't spend much of our day inside!  We took the tram down to the Pleasure Beach for a look around, strolled along the seafront to see the donkies on the beach, took some rides on the south pier, browsed the amusements on the central pier, visited the tower, had lunch at Coral Beach and then an ice cream!  There is more than enough to keep you occupied for several days in Blackpool and if you are staying for a while it would make sense to buy combined tickets for the big attractions to save money.

Our favourite part of The Cliffs Hotel was the food which was, on the whole, excellent.  We were allocated our own table in the large dining room that we returned to each day.  Breakfast was a brilliant buffet with hot food, cereals and plenty of fresh fruit and yoghurt.  Dinner took the format of a self-service starter (the choices were mind-blowing) followed by a choice of around three main courses, followed by a buffet-style dessert.  The children could choose from a dedicated kids menu or a smaller portion of any of the main dinner dishes - this suited both of our girls.  I thought the quality of the desserts on offer was particularly impressive.  I don't think I've ever been to a hotel buffet in the UK that was as comprehensive while still maintaining the quality of food.

Before dinner we enjoyed a drink in one of the hotel bars which had a great view over the sea; we found the bar to be large, comfy and very welcoming to families.  In the evening there was a good choice of entertainment at The Cliffs Hotel - this is not really our cup of tea so we chilled out in front of the TV and watched Eurovision with two very tired little girls.

We had a wonderful time in Blackpool at The Cliffs Hotel and I'm so glad that I managed to take the girls to visit one of the UK's classic seaside resorts - here are some of our highlights!

Choice Hotels have a number of hotels in Blackpool and the Lake District.