When it comes to parenting, I'm pretty sure that getting your child to sleep is one of the aspects that most parents don't relish. I used to laugh hysterically at the "Go the F*ck to sleep!" book, but now, it makes perfect sense. I could have written that book for myself.

Putting a child to sleep is tough, no matter where you are. That being said some children are awesome with sleep! Gypsy unfortunately isn't one of them..

I'll be fair, she's not too bad. We have been travelling with her since she was 7 months old so she is used to sleeping sandwiched between us, or against a wall, in a new bed every night. Well, atleast, she used to be. For some reason when she hit 2 and she realised that if she went to sleep she had to stop playing, she started to fight it, like all kids do. Add to that the whole sleeping in a different bed every night part and she started becoming a bit more difficult to put down.

Then, a friend sent us a bottle of her new "sleep tight" aromatherapy mist to try and wella! Our sleeping baby is back!

We started out by putting a spray on her pillow as part of her bed time routine. We even let her spray it. We talked about the smell (it's GORGEOUS by the way), and how calming it was. We didn't want to put too much emphasis on it, but after a couple of nights she woke up and declared "mummy i slept pretty, because the bed smells pretty!", or a version of that in her toddler mumbo jumbo talk. 

Since then, everytime we change beds we just have to spray the pillow and she knows exactly where she is sleeping. Even if we spray the pillow when she isn't in the room, when it is bed time she will find the "pretty pillow" and declare it to be hers. It has really helped us to help her understand bedtime a little bit more. 

And the added bonus is that even though it's not on my pillow, I still get a smell of it too. Yay!!

And the added added bonus is that she seems to be sleeping deeper and for longer. I'm not sure if that is because of the beautiful and calming mist itself, or just because she feels more in control of her sleeping area, but either way, i'm certainly not going to complain!!

Contact Liz at Stanthorpe Zensations and give it a try yourself!!
Oh and she has a whole other range of amazing products as well for mums and dads too!!

In response to some questions I have received, here is a list of what we travel with.

Previously we traveled with a backpack and day pack each.
This trip we have managed to compress everything into ONE big backpack and 2 small day packs. Pretty good seeing as we gained an extra person!

That being said there are several items we simply cannot live without (in no order of importance):

*  Silk sleep sheet - we simply could not live without these. They are amazing when you are sleeping in a dodgy guesthouse (silk is virtually impenetrable to bedbugs), perfect to throw over you if the fan is a bit too cool, great for those guesthouses that you need to provide your own sheets for etc etc.. the uses are limitless! As we have Gypsy with us now, we have upgraded to 1 double sheet, and 1 single sheet. So it can either be her vs us, or mum and bub vs dad. Either way, we are all safe and clean!

* Sleeping bag - Ours are Denali Pod 200 - a tiny tiny 800 gram sleeping bag and it has been amazing. I know, a sleeping bag in Asia?!?! But seriously, you NEED it!! Asia can be really hot, but it can also be really really cold. Not to mention those bus trips where the AC is turned up to arctic!!

* Camera - We used to have an Olympus waterproof camera but have now upgraded to a Canon G12. Having a good camera that suits your needs goes without explanation. We also travel with an underwater housing for it and a spare battery.

* Thongs - The ultimate travel foot wear. AKA Jandles, Sandles, slippers, flip-flops...

* A computer - Cliche as it is, we know "flash-packer" and all, having a computer has been AMAZING! We started out without one and bought a cheap little ASUS in Malaysia and have not looked back. For space, as well as weight, we have a Macbook Air. Most places in the world these days have wi-fi, including Asia. The computer has been amazing to: book flights, research next destinations, write emails, blog, keep track of your money, internet bank securely, make bookings, backup photos, watch movies, listen to music, skype family and friends for free, and a million other reasons. Even in places with no wi-fi it certainly has not been dead-weight. If you are only going for a short time, an ipad or tablet, and some spare sd cards for your camera could also work well. 

* Refillable water bottle - There are water refill "stations" all over Asia and having your own bottle is a great way to reduce costs (refills are practically free) as well as to reduce your plastic footprint. It has many other practical purposes such as to make instant soup in, drink tea, use as a hot water bottle, use as weights after a few months of excessive eating etc etc..

* A sarong - Another cliche but extremely practical. Throw it over you on a cold bus, hang it up on a dorm bed for privacy, use it as a towel, use it as a dress/skirt, bathe in it when bathing in public rivers etc with locals, use it as a scarf, wrap it around your head to protect you from the sun, use as a mosquito screen, use it as a baby change mat, use it to cover up when breastfeeding in public etc etc

* A notebook - Essential to keep track of your money, write notes, get new friends' contact details, let bub draw, take note of bub's new milestones etc etc..

* Medical kit - Obviously it's pretty important to have a medical kit but if you travel like we do, make sure it has atleast a basic anti-biotic, malarone(anti-malarial), bandaids, panadol and emergency supplies enough to suffice you for a couple days in case you are that far away from a hospital. There isn't much in our medical kit we haven't used at least once. 

* Laundry powder (in a 500 ml water bottle) and scrubbing brush - Washing machines are really hard to come by and getting people to do your laundry for you can cost you a small fortune. And sometimes things go missing or get damaged. Handwashing yourself is pretty easy and quick, not to mention cheap! We also have an elastic clothes line which has been pretty handy.

* Wash nets - Wash nets are the perfect way to keep your backpack organised. We have 1 each. 1 for Roh's clothes, 1 for Rob's clothes, 1 for Gypsy's clothes, and 1 for our underwear and misc objects. It makes packing SO much easier, makes finding things SO much easier, the nets can double up as pillows or cushions, can be used as a barrier to stop bubs from rolling off the bed during naps, and the net also allows the clothes to breathe so your bag doesn't end up stinking. 

* Toiletries - You can buy everything you need on the road. We only travel with the bare essentials - soap, tooth brushes etc, moisturiser, sunscreen, insect repellant, razor, nail clippers etc. 

Other miscellaneous items and baby specific items we have:

Helping your baby to make a routine is one of the hardest things for all parents, let alone when you are on the road and everything is constantly changing. 


A few things we have done to try to encourage a routine are:

Meals: setting meals and meal times- this might seem like a given, but when you are travelling for 8 hours on buses/tuktuk/plane some days, it can be quite tricky. We have found that having set times has been great for Gypsy, but also, having set meals. 
    For breakfast Gypsy has oatmeal with 1 tablespoon of honey and about 10 sultanas. We travel with quickoats so only need to quickly run out to the restaurant for hot water as soon as she wakes up, usually between 6:30 and 7:30am.
    For lunch she has bananas/papaya with yoghurt.
    For dinner she has either vegetable fried rice, fried noodles or Kotthu (like fried rice but with chopped up roti bread instead of rice)
    She also usually has 1 snack a day, either soya crackers (freshly available everywhere), or plain wheat biscuits, or more fruit. (or sometimes icecream....) 

Sleeping: As for sleeping, Gypsy alternates between having 2 x 1hr naps a day (once in the morning and once in the afternoon) and 1x 1.5-2hr nap (from around 1pm) a day.
On days we have a lot of travelling to do, we try to coordinate it with her naps. She usually goes down for her first nap around 10:30am, so we will aim to leave around 10 and drive until about 12. Stop for lunch and a play, then get back on the road at around 3pm in time for her next nap. If we try to work around her routine as much as possible, she doesn't seem to even notice the constantly changing rooms/people/landscape.

Breastfeeding: Gypsy is still breastfeeding, and breastfeeding is the one thing we have struggled to make a routine for. Somedays she won't feed at all. Other days it's every hour. We figure that as it is one of the few things we can keep constant for her, that we will let her choose when she has it. Breastfeeding is very accepted here in Sri Lanka and was in Malaysia as well so I haven't felt the need to cover up, but we do travel with a thin wrap to use as a cover if need be.
She also drinks alot of water (in her explora cup) and likes to share (aka steal) our milo poppers and fruit juice, although we try to not let her drink much. In places where fresh fruit juices are available though we will get her one for herself and she will devour it!!! 

It's one of the first questions people ask. Where does she sleep??

When she's not falling asleep in her car seat, she, for the most part, sleeps in bed with us. Either between us if the bed is in the centre of the room, or beside us, if the bed is against a wall. 
We have been co-sleeping or sleeping on a mattress on the floor with her beside us on her own mattress since she was born, so the idea of sleeping with her between us, isn't a biggy for us. 
We did buy a "my first easy bed" and used it for a bit, but decided that we couldn't justify the space in our backpack for it. She is a roller, and we didn't trust her to not roll under beds.. And we all know how often guesthouses clean right under the beds don't we...

We have also heard about super lightweight portacots, and other travel beds for babies, which, I guess if you really weren't comfortable sharing a bed with your baby, or if you were only travelling for a short time, or to only 1 or 2 places, would be great options. But for us, constantly on the go and trying to live out of ONE backpack for all three of us, it just wasn't going to work.

The wonderful thing about SriLanka is that a lot of guesthouses have 2, or sometimes even 3 double beds in a room. If you push them together, there is more than enough space for everyone!! Or even just pushing the 1 bed against the room and sleeping baby against the wall is a spacious and safe option. 

Another trick is to use wash nets. We have 4 wash nets for our clothes. One for mum, one for dad, one for Gypsy and one for our underwear and swimwear. Using wash nets not only keeps our clothes organised and compressed in our backpack, but they also double as protective pillows to stop baby from accidentally rolling off the bed!! Try it! They are super handy!