What to Do When Your Hotel Doesn’t Have a Crib for Your Baby
Hotels aren’t required to offer cribs, bassinets, or travel cribs that actually work. Here's what caregivers should know.
No parent wants to expose their baby to an unsafe sleep environment. But while traveling, parents and caregivers are often reliant upon their hosts—whether that’s a hotel, an Airbnb, or a friend or family member—to ensure that there’s somewhere safe and secure for their baby to sleep.
Hotels Are Subject to Few Rules Governing Safe Infant Sleep
According to a regulation passed in 2012 in the U.S., hotels and other “places of public accommodation that provide cribs for use of their customers or guests must provide cribs that comply with the new federal standards.” Pack and plays, however, aren’t subject to this rule, which means that it’s legal for a hotel to provide a pack and play or playard that doesn’t comply with federal regulations.
And hotels and vacation rentals don’t have to provide cribs at all. Nor do they have to provide sheets, meaning that if a hotel doesn’t provide crib bedding, and you don’t bring your own, you’re in a pickle. Unclean, unprotected crib mattresses can contain mildew, allergens, and dust and dust mites, all of which can cause health issues for babies, including respiratory distress and skin irritation. (Would you want to sleep on a hotel mattress without a sheet? No thanks!) Playards are safe without a sheet, according to Nancy Cowles, a consultant at Consumer Reports and the former executive director of the children’s safety organization Kids in Danger, but “just a little gross to think about in a hotel.”
Samantha Shain, a mom in Philadelphia, had this very experience on a recent trip to New York. “We gave them a piece of our mind” when employees at her hotel provided her baby with a pack and play without a sheet. “They told us to wrap a bed sheet around the pack and play mattress, which we did not consider to be safe. That was the time I basted [hand-sewed] the sheet with my embroidery kit.”
Nor do accommodations have to provide mattresses that are compliant with federal standards, according to Cowles. This can be quite dangerous: Mattresses and mattress pads that don’t fit snugly inside a crib or pack and play can be hazardous for babies. A baby can be trapped in the gap between the mattress and the mesh or crib bars—as Tina experienced when she stayed at a hotel that provided a crib with an ill-fitting mattress—putting them at risk of suffocation or injury. Using blankets, non-fitting sheets, or other soft padding, like a pillow, also increases an infant’s risk of suffocating.
After a long day of traveling, it’s understandable that when presented with less-than-ideal circumstances, exhausted, stressed-out caregivers will do whatever seems safest at the time. Prior to working on this story, I truly didn’t know what I would do if I showed up at a hotel that didn’t provide a crib for my baby (I’ve lucked out, apparently, and haven’t had to find out).
Better regulation of what hotels are required to provide for their infant guests would be a big step forward in ensuring that babies stay safe, whether they’re at home or on the road. In the meantime, though, there are a few things you can do to keep your little one safe if you’re traveling somewhere with unreliable sleep setups.
What You Can Do
Bring your own travel crib. The safest way to provide your baby with a safe sleep setup while traveling is possibly the most inconvenient one, and that’s bringing your own pack and play or travel crib. “Some of the newer designs that fold into a backpack or suitcase-like shape can be easier to travel with,” says Cowles. (Our two most highly rated playards, the Guava Lotus Travel Crib and BabyBjörn Travel Crib Light, both fold down into portable, easy-to-carry—or easy-ish, anyway—packages for travel.) Danielle Miller, a mom based in the California Bay Area, says that she usually brings her own pack and play after an experience at a hotel at a major family resort that made her uncomfortable. The crib the hotel provided “was old and creaky and kind of janky looking,” she says. “It worked for a few nights but I definitely felt like next time I’m bringing my own pack and play.”
Going Somewhere?
Take one of our top-rated play yards on your trip.
Bring your own bedding. Even if you know there will be a crib or pack and play where you’ll be staying, it’s worth bringing your own sheet. It takes up very little space in a suitcase, and can provide peace of mind in case the hotel doesn’t provide one, or it provides a sheet that’s not suitable. “My practical tip now is just to travel with a pack and play sheet,” says Amit Schwalb, the partner of Samantha, the parent who had to sew her own crib sheet during one particularly stressful hotel stay. “Every other hotel we’ve been to has also not provided one.” Crib sheets and pack and play sheets are different sizes and not interchangeable, so be sure to check with the hotel whether it provides a crib or pack and play.
Rent your baby gear. If carrying yet another piece of luggage on a plane while also transporting at least one (potentially cranky) baby sounds like too much for you, a baby gear rental service could make a great option for ensuring your cranky little traveler has a comfy, safe place to sleep. “Baby Quip is one option, but there are many,” says Cowles.
Renting can be pricey, though, and several moms told me they elect to purchase an inexpensive pack and play at their location, donating it when they’re done. Lindsey Sullivan, a mom based near Washington, D.C., recently opted not to rent for this reason. “Because my parents live in such a rural area, it was $700 for a last-minute rental with delivery. I just looked now and even for a few weekends in the future, it would be around $90 to rent a pack and play for three nights over the weekend,” she says. “The actual rental was $10 a day for the pack and play itself. Everything else was fees, mostly for the delivery.” She was able to borrow one from a family friend instead, but would have purchased one if that hadn’t been an option.
Improvise. It’s 2 a.m. and you’ve arrived at your hotel which, contrary to what you were promised, doesn’t have an extra crib or pack and play. What are you supposed to do?
Depends on the age, says Cowles. “A newborn or baby that doesn’t roll yet can be put in a dresser drawer pulled out onto the floor and lined with one layer, or on the floor,” she says, though placing a mobile child on the floor might not work for obvious reasons (like whether the room is baby-proofed—or, you know, your sanity). “The only sure solution is to bring your own—or borrow from a trusted local friend,” Cowles says.
It was sobering to learn while reporting this story that I’ve been pretty lucky whenever I’ve stayed at a hotel with my baby. But I’m not comfortable relying on luck. Next time my kiddo and I hit the road, I guess I’m just adding one more piece of luggage—a pack and play—to my towering stack.
Safe Sleep Guidelines for Infants
• Always place your baby down on their back in their own sleeping space, with no other people or pets.
• Always use a crib, bassinet, or portable play yard for sleep with a firm, flat mattress.
• Only use a fitted sheet in your baby’s sleeping space.
• Do not put loose blankets, pillows or nursing pillows, stuffed toys, bumpers, baby loungers, or sleep positioners in your baby’s sleeping space.
• Do not use weighted sleep sacks.
• If your baby falls asleep in a car seat, stroller, swing, or infant carrier, move them to a firm sleep surface on their back as soon as possible.
Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID), which includes Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), remains a leading cause of death in infancy. But following safe sleep practices for every nap and nighttime can help keep your infant safe and prevent the risk of SUID fatalities. For more safe sleep recommendations, reach out to your pediatrician.
