I can hardly contain my excitement for this blog post about the SlumberPod. Today’s topic combines the pillar on which this blog originated, travel, and baby sleep–something that I also hold near and dear.
This product is my new favorite family travel tip, and I have already added it to my master list of tips for traveling with a baby.
I’m not the first person to discover the SlumberPod, and in fact, my best friend Regan is the one who recommended it to me.
I completely trust Regan’s recommendations because she, like myself, is very serious about her Baby Sleep Situation. As she should be!! I’m not here to mess around with bad naps and unnecessary night wake ups. I’m a monster on anything less than 8 hours of sleep, so I run a tight ship.
Tyler and I sleep trained both girls the very minute they turned four months. It is perhaps the only parenting decision I’d stamp my name on thus far.
The *only* downside of sleep training is that it has made both girls slightly less flexible sleepers when we are on the go.
For example, Charlotte hasn’t been able to nap in the car since she was a baby. Did I curse myself every second of our 13 hour drive from Sacramento to Utah this past summer? Yes.
(Would I trade the two hours of peace I get each afternoon after she happily puts herself to sleep for her nap? Absolutely not. Pry that nap from my cold, dead, well-rested hands.)
I’ll never forget our first (only) time camping with Charlotte when she was seven months old. She went down for bedtime in the tent totally fine but woke up at midnight, rolled over to see us sleeping in the tent next to her, and threw a PARTY–laughing, bouncing, SQUEALING with delight. At first it was kind of cute, but after a couple of hours of mayhem trying to get her back down, I swore to never set foot in a campground again.
When we went to Europe in September of 2019, Char was eleven months old. We purposefully booked two-bedroom places because we really didn’t want to share a room with her. Tyler and I wanted to enjoy our evenings alone just like we do at home and knew she would sleep best in her own (very dark, white noise-filled) room. This worked out perfectly and we had romantic wine and pizza nights the whole two weeks.
When Emmie joined the band last summer, I started getting a little nervous about our future travels. What, were we going to have to book an even bigger place on our next family trip?! Who has 3-bedroom-Airbnb cash laying around!?
Before the holidays, Tyler and I started talking through our plans to visit family and I began to panic about the bedroom situation. Emmie was freshly sleep trained, but we didn’t want her to regress at all over the two weeks we’d be staying in other peoples’ homes. My sanity depended on it, lol.
Regan reminded me about the SlumberPod, and I laughed. It was so ridiculous! A tent?? For a baby??
I ordered one on the spot.
(Literally rush shipped it to my mother-in-law’s house so it would be there in time).
By the time Emmie finished her first two and a half hour nap in it, I was already writing this blog post in my head.
What is a SlumberPod?
I couldn’t think of another word to describe the SlumberPod besides “tent,” but then I checked their website and they are calling it a “nook.” Much cuter.
It’s a tent/nook that goes over a playard/pack n play and creates a little pitch-black cocoon for babies to sleep in.
The SlumberPod has two ventilation flaps and a pocket to put a fan in to provide some additional airflow.
It also has a monitor pocket towards the top if you want to put a camera in to keep an eye on the baby.
We tucked Emmie’s sound machine on the ground inside next to her pack n play and this whole setup was perfection. She had her quiet, dark, cozy little world to herself right next to our bed, and Tyler and I could enjoy the guest room at my in-laws without having to tiptoe around in the dark starting at 6:30pm.
Emmie slept like a rock in the SlumberPod our whole trip–so much so that I’m often tempted to throw it over her crib here at home, too.
How easy is it to travel with?
One of our favorite things about the SlumberPod is how easy it was to put together and take down.
You’re looking at a pair of humans who almost let their marriage careen over a cliff once last summer due to a sunshade set up incident at the beach, so trust me when I say it’s easy for ANYONE.
The tent and poles pack up compactly into a bag. It’s lightweight, and the bag fit easily in my carryon-sized suitcase for our flights to Utah and back home.
How much does it cost?
The SlumberPod costs $179.00 ($199.99 with the fan included which I recommend). I was a little iffy on the price at first, but I realized it was a steal once I factored in the money we’d save by not having to book extra bedrooms for future travels.
Fortunately, the team at SlumberPod was kind enough to provide a discount for my readers, so use code ruthznuss for 5% off your purchase!
The SlumberPod was sold out the entire fall, so I would grab one as soon as possible if you think it’s something you’ll need this year!
I cannot understate the effectiveness of this product. It’s elevated our family travel game so high that I’m practically beaming thinking about our next trip.
