https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 06 Apr 2026 11:46:10 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/travel-with-toddler-and-a-largish-time-difference#post-2488295 Wed, 09 Mar 2016 07:18:39 +0000 looch 2488295@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: I think as long as you're fluid in the timing, you'll be fine. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/travel-with-toddler-and-a-largish-time-difference#post-2487981 Tue, 08 Mar 2016 18:46:39 +0000 SweetiePie 2487981@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: We actually have no plans. We are solely going to visit my husbands grandma and that we'll probably only do once or twice in a week. The only reason we're staying a full week is because of how long the flight is. It's too long to go back and forth for less than a week.<br /> When we aren't visiting his grandma we will probably just be doing beach, dining and walking around.<br /> He's not a great stroller napper so we don't venture too far from the hotel. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/travel-with-toddler-and-a-largish-time-difference#post-2487485 Tue, 08 Mar 2016 12:46:43 +0000 looch 2487485@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What's your plan when you're there? That to me would dictate if I'd even try to adjust time zones with my child. We usually don't though. It takes my son a full day on each leg of a trip to adjust if we go to Europe (6 hours difference). Once there, we let him sleep in the afternoon of arrival (assuming you have an overnight flight) and then let him stay up later/wake up later for the remainder of the trip. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/travel-with-toddler-and-a-largish-time-difference#post-2487286 Tue, 08 Mar 2016 10:30:10 +0000 MrsKoala 2487286@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My advice: If there is a play area in the airport, hang out in there as long as you can and let him run around and climb and tire himself out as much as possible. It will help him fall asleep on the red eye. With luck, he should sleep pretty much the whole way. He'll have some issues the next day but plan it to be more low key so that he can take a nap in the hotel and get to sleep relatively early as close to his regular time as he can (in our case, he goes to bed at 8, we had him going to bed around 9:30 usually). We did this with LO when we went to Paris at the same age and he had a rough first day but otherwise he did really really well! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/travel-with-toddler-and-a-largish-time-difference#post-2487211 Tue, 08 Mar 2016 09:33:11 +0000 peachykeen 2487211@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Following since we're doing a 12 hr time difference in a couple months... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/travel-with-toddler-and-a-largish-time-difference#post-2487033 Tue, 08 Mar 2016 04:05:21 +0000 lamariniere 2487033@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Best advice: keep expectations low. A week is definitely not enough time to fully adjust, so I would just do what you can knowing your LO is going to be sleeping at odd hours. If you want to try to get him on local time, have him nap, but wake him up after a set amount of time (no more than 2 hours) and get outside as much as possible. We had our LOs napping 2 hours twice a day last summer when we had an 8 hour difference. It took them a solid 5 days to get on local time, but we also traveled for three weeks. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/travel-with-toddler-and-a-largish-time-difference#post-2487004 Tue, 08 Mar 2016 00:25:12 +0000 Beehive 2487004@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ChiCalGoBee: We've found that it's even better for a 6-7 hour time difference! DS tends to drift to local time a little bit on longer trips, though that has actually gotten better as he's gotten older (i.e. he drifts less). We're actually heading to Spain (6 hour time difference) later this week and will be using the time difference to our advantage for super-late Spanish dinners!</p> <p>We went to Ireland when DS was 10.5 months old. It was a great trip, everyone was very nice to him. How old is your LO? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/travel-with-toddler-and-a-largish-time-difference#post-2487002 Tue, 08 Mar 2016 00:10:51 +0000 ChiCalGoBee 2487002@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Beehive: I am glad to hear this has worked for sleep. I've done this before for a 2-hour time difference, but didn't know if I could make it work for a 6-7 hour difference. Did you find your LO was able to stay on "home" time for the whole trip, or did s/he drift to local time the longer you were there? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/travel-with-toddler-and-a-largish-time-difference#post-2487001 Tue, 08 Mar 2016 00:05:59 +0000 ChiCalGoBee 2487001@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Following. We're looking at doing Ireland this summer and my two biggest stressors are the flights and adjusting to the time change. Keep the tips coming! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/travel-with-toddler-and-a-largish-time-difference#post-2487000 Mon, 07 Mar 2016 23:55:46 +0000 Beehive 2487000@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: Our trick is not to adjust our toddler (now preschooler) to the time difference all the way (I assume you're flying East?). So he'll stay awake for late-ish dinners and go to bed when we go to bed (11 or 12ish), and sleep in a little bit. The first bonus is that we get to enjoy our evenings with him, the second bonus is that he'll sleep a little later than usual (though he always misses out on some sleep, he never gets the full number of hours, but he does fine and catches naps in the stroller), and the final bonus is that it's easier to adjust back! Have a great trip. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/travel-with-toddler-and-a-largish-time-difference#post-2486965 Mon, 07 Mar 2016 22:26:06 +0000 SweetiePie 2486965@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@78h2o: Oooooh interesting...did you also use it on the plane? Does it help them stay asleep or just fall asleep? I'll of course ask my ped about this before we go, but I'm curious about exactly how you used it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/travel-with-toddler-and-a-largish-time-difference#post-2486963 Mon, 07 Mar 2016 22:23:41 +0000 78h2o 2486963@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Melatonin, melatonin, melatonin. Some might disagree, but my daughter's pediatrician okay'd it and it really helps. We use a small piece of a ready-melt tablet about 15 min before new bedtime. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/travel-with-toddler-and-a-largish-time-difference#post-2486958 Mon, 07 Mar 2016 22:16:19 +0000 SweetiePie 2486958@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are taking a last minute trip to the Middle East, time difference is +7 hours. Flight is 11-ish hours. Nervous about how this will impact my 18 month old.<br /> We will be there for a week.<br /> He is normally a phenomenal napper/sleeper. 2-3 hours napping and 11-12 hours at night. So I'm not sure if that is good for international travel or bad?</p> <p>Any experiences or tips/tricks? Mostly wondering how to help him adjust there and once we're back.<br /> We are already looking to take an overnight flight and getting him his own seat with carseat, hoping he'll sleep (but I'm not counting on it). </p>