The holidays are coming up, and we're thinking of traveling to see family. It would be a 5 hour flight + 3 hour time difference. We'd only be able to go for about a week. LO is sleeping great at night, and I'm scared to mess it up. How do you deal with the time change when traveling? Should I keep the same bedtime/nap while we are there? Should I try to "adjust" her time to the new time? How difficult will it be when we get back home and into her regular schedule?
-
I go by the rule that it takes 1 day for every time zone for a child to adjust and that has been pretty true for us. Three hours isn't that bad (we had 9 this summer). I would try to put your child on the local time ASAP. That said, when we travel, we aren't as rigid about schedules as when we are home, so it helps to be flexible.
-
Depending on which way you're going I'd consider keeping her on local time or closer to it. My DS was 13 months when we traveled recently with a 5 hour time difference and we kept him closer to our local time for the trip. For us this meant sleeping 11pm-10am instead of 7pm-6am which was perfect for vacation, and he transitioned seamlessly when we got back home. But it only really works in the one direction
-
We just did a similar trip when LO was 13 months. The first night he went to bed an hour later than usual and woke up an hour earlier in the morning. He did adjust though to the time difference. We were crazy and took the redeye home. No one on that plan slept but we put LO to bed when we got home at 6am and he had 2 naps that day instead of 1 and was able to adjust back to his routine the next day.
-
Flexibility is key! I find that when traveling, LO is tired enough and puts herself to sleep. If she tired at get normal home time, have her sleep. If she doesnt, then let her sleep at adjusted time. Do what feels right bc there's honestly no right answer. Kids are better adjusters than adults.
Coming home might be difficult but as long as you stick to your regular schedule, they will pick it back up real quick.
-
We took my son to England at 14 months and, like @JennyPenny, just kept him more or less on Toronto time - so instead of sleeping 7-6 he slept 11-10. Actually it was great, we all went to bed together and we all got a good solid night's sleep. This won't work if you're going the other way, though. When we sleep trained him at 5 months we were also just about to go to England and the sleep doula said one of the most important things in getting them adjusted was getting them outside in the daylight, that would help their body clocks adjust.
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
5 comments