The Toddler Travel Bed: Training your Baby or Toddler to Use One

Toddler travel beds are a lifesaver for the minimalist family traveler. They are also essential for any baby or toddler who has trouble sleeping in an unfamiliar place (so every kid ever).

What is a travel bed for a toddler? Essentially it is a safe sleep space for little ones that is lightweight and portable, to be used when you are traveling. There are different styles, but they all share the aim of creating a comfortable little space for your baby to sleep. It’s also one of my top travel essentials for toddlers.

Why do you need a baby travel bed?

If you’ve ever dealt with a jet-lagged 2-year-old who screams when you put her down in the crib, you know: a baby who doesn’t sleep ruins a vacation real quickly. I know from experience.

How much would you pay to all-but-ensure that you could actually sleep through the night and have normal naps during your trip? …I’m guessing a lot more than most of these travel cribs cost.

A travel toddler bed solves two major problems:

The baby or toddler who doesn’t sleep well in an unfamiliar place.

With a kids travel bed, you bring the familiar sleeping space with you, so that your baby always feels like she is at home. Throw a lovey and a favorite blanket in there (obviously the blanket depends on age), and you’re good.

Some toddler travel beds are enclosed, making them feel even more familiar regardless of what the surrounding hotel room looks like.

Here is my daughter taking a super peaceful nap in the middle of the day in Vietnam, shoved behind the hotel room door. To her, this looks no different from the place she has been sleeping for the past 3 weeks.

The need for a safe sleeping space on the go.

It’s hard to manage requesting a crib at every stop, especially if you’re moving from city to city every few days along your travels. Many small hotels and AirBnBs may not have cribs available, and those that do sometimes charge as much as $50 per night – or more!

And then there’s the ick factor – when was the last time this crib was cleaned, and what is this sticky stuff?? We’ve seen it too many times, unfortunately.

Bringing a travel baby bed is perfect for babies from as early as birth (depending on the particular portable toddler bed) up until they are mature enough to sleep in a bed by themselves.

Types of toddler travel beds

“Toddler travel bed” is a pretty broad term, as it turns out.

If your child is 24 months or older, there are lots of different styles that you could choose from. There are camp-like travel cots, like the Regalo My Cot. There are inflatable mattresses, like the Shrunks Toddler Bed. Neither of these options will give the enclosed feeling of security your child might need, and they won’t keep a curious baby safely contained in an un-babyproofed room. But for an older toddler, these are a great choice.

If you need a true baby travel bed, you’ll have to look at a tent like the KidCo PeaPod or the Joovy Gloo, or a travel crib like the Guava Lotus or the Phil&Teds Traveller Crib. Some of these, like the Joovy Gloo, can reasonably be used up until 5 years old, so they are not just for babies!

Choosing the right style of portable toddler bed is key, and it will largely depend on your child’s age and temperament, as well as what else (if anything) you’d like to use this piece of baby equipment for.

For example, a cot-style bed can really only be used as a bed. But a Guava Lotus is great if you also need a pack n play around the house. A KidCo PeaPod is perfect for a sun-protected place to play while you garden.

My personal favorite, that accomplishes all of those things plus is ideal for the beach and travels incredibly well? (We are carry-on only travelers with two toddlers, so portability matters to us!) The Joovy Gloo. See my full review here for all the reasons I think it is the best toddler travel bed for us.

Toddler Travel Bed Training

So how do you guarantee that your baby will be happy sleeping in the toddler travel bed? It is very different from that big, comfortable crib at home, after all.

Toddler Travel Bed Training. That’s how.

As with anything else in the world of babies, you can’t expect your little one to just figure it out on his own. You need to spend some time training him to sleep in the toddler travel bed, just like you trained him to sleep in his crib.

And please don’t leave this until the first day of your trip!

With a little preparation, you can plan for decent sleep throughout your travels with a toddler.

My primary experience doing this is with an 18-month-old, for reference.

Step 1: Pick out the right style of toddler travel bed and buy it at least a month before you travel.

As mentioned above, there are a ton of options for travel beds, with a range of prices and styles. Do your research and figure out the one that will work best for your family, and order it well ahead of your trip. You’re going to need a little time for training!

Step 2: Set the bed up for play time.

This step was key for us, especially because honestly, the Joovy Gloo does not look particularly inviting from the outside. Particularly in the oh-so-cheery blackish-gray color we chose.

Once we got the thing home and out of the box, we set it up in the middle of the living room and put some toys in there. A couple books, some legos – the types of things that my baby would sit and play with in one spot for a few minutes.

She was reluctant at first, but with a bit of encouraging (and me laying down beside the tent with her), she quickly warmed up to the thing.

For a few days, we left it in the living room and continually tossed different toys in there to encourage her to hang out inside.

Kind of like crate-training a puppy, honestly.

Step 3: Move the toddler travel bed to the bedroom for nap time.

When we made the switch to the bedroom, my daughter was already totally comfortable climbing right in. I had her sit in the tent, which I’d set up right next to her crib, while I read her books, and then left some books and a lovey in there with her when I said goodnight for nap time.

I zipped her in and walked out of the room, expecting a scream. But nothing! She played quietly for about ten minutes, then half-ass fussed for 5 minutes, then fell asleep.

Step 4: Gradually increase nap times.

She did wake up from that first nap after about 45 minutes and freak out. So I came and took her out, and successfully put her back down to sleep in her normal crib.

The next few naps went that way, but she was getting more and more comfortable with it, and stopped fussing before she fell asleep.

After a couple days, she took her naps like normal in the travel bed.

Step 5: Try an overnight in the toddler travel bed.

This is of course dependent on your child, but if you think that a happy nap in the tent does not necessarily mean a happy overnight, then choose a good night (you know – one where you don’t need the sleep quite as badly as every other night) and try for an overnight.

You might have a couple wake-ups, but see if you can get baby to go back to sleep in the travel bed. If it just isn’t working, don’t fight it. Get some sleep and try again another night.

Step 6: Try to recreate the home experience when you use the toddler travel bed during your trip.

Did you give your toddler their favorite blanket every time you used the travel bed at home? Did they have the flaps open or closed? Try to recreate that same feeling when you travel. Let’s get the best sleep possible!

Step 7: You might be set back a few steps when you’re traveling.

Okay, we thought we had this training thing totally down. We were ready to go! But the first night in the hotel in Vietnam, she was reluctant to go to sleep.

She was jet-lagged. It was a weird time of day. She had just been on a plane for 14 hours. Travel is difficult for a 1.5-year-old!

I was dismayed when she crawled into the travel bed and immediately started crying and trying to crawl back out.

So I laid down with her. Awkwardly, of course, with my head and torso in the travel bed and the rest of me on the apartment floor (one advantage of the tent style over the pack n play style). But we read a book and then snuggled until she fell asleep. Then I gently removed myself, zipped her in, and went to bed. If she woke in the middle of the night, she did not fuss about it. After all, she was used to waking up inside of this thing.

The next night was unfortunately the same routine, and I started to doubt that all of my training had actually worked! But then I mentally compared it to the hell that was traveling with my other daughter at this age in unfamiliar pack n plays.

Spending 15 minutes on the floor to help my little one fall asleep was a small price to pay to have her sleep through the night.

And then the third night came, and miraculously, she climbed right into the Joovy Gloo with her lovey in hand and sat down to look at her books. After a few minutes, we discovered she had put herself to sleep.

She slept better than any of us throughout the trip. She was in a setting that was comfortable and familiar, no matter where we were. If she woke up, she recognized her surroundings and was happy to look at books or play around until she either fell back asleep or we let her out.

Getting good sleep when you’re on vacation with a baby or toddler is always a challenge, but it is imperative to your enjoyment of the trip. The best way to ensure that everyone gets good sleep is to have the right product for your family, and prepare ahead of time so that everyone knows what to expect.

---

Have you tried using a toddler travel bed, and how did it go? Or maybe you have a recommendation for one you loved? Tell us about it in the comments!

Originally published May, 2020. Updated June, 2023.