Traveling to Different Time Zones

Hello!

We are thinking about taking our DS on an overseas trip in the Fall. He will be about 15-17 months old at the time. There is about a 6 hour time difference. Will this totally mess up his sleep schedule? If I try and adjust his hours for the 7-10 days we are there, do I go through the same thing when we get back home? Is it crazy? He's a really good sleeper now and I'm terrified of messing up his STTN.

If anyone has experience with how they handled this (and how it was adjusting), please let me know. Also, depending on how it went, was it worth it, lol?

TIA!

Re: Traveling to Different Time Zones

Not exactly your situation, since DD was 7.5 months when we went, but went to England (5 hour difference), and she did great. It took 2 days of adjusting both ways and she went back to her normal sleeping pattern.

They say that kids often adjust to time changes more easily than adults -- just take him out in the sun when you arrive and be aware that it might take a day or so for him to fully adjust.

Re: Traveling to Different Time Zones

We have taken DD to Ireland several times (time difference is +5 hours) and she never had any trouble adjusting. She is such a great sleeper and the time change never seems to bother her. When we get there, we usually jump right into her schedule based on the local time. For ex. for flights to Ireland, its always an overnight flight there..so she sleeps on the plane, we get there very early morning, she sleeps in the car on the way to MIL's house and then is up for the day until her naptime in the afternoon. Then put to bed normal time. This seems to set her right almost immediately. She is a bit tired but nothing dramatic. same thing coming back...switch to her schedule immediately based on local time. I think babies/toddlers are so reliant on their routines that it helps alot in this situation.

DDs main adjustment is more about sleeping in a new bed and seeing new people.

Re: Traveling to Different Time Zones

We took DD to Ireland when she was 12 months and honestly the first few days/nights there were AWFUL, but I blame myself. I think I tried to get her on their time schedule too soon rather than letting her gradually adapt. Coming home was a breeze though and she went back to STTN (at her regular bedtime) immediately.

Re: Traveling to Different Time Zones

We just got back from a trip to Florida (we are in the UK) the way over the Florida was fine, but coming back to England was horrible, so its the same as you going over there...

The jetlag is bad because the kids aren't ready for bed when its their normal bedtime hour, they want to go to sleep toooo late...but the good news is that it only takes a week to get back to normal, but thats a week out of your holiday!

Don't not go on holiday because of jetlag! Its not that bad!