Combating Jetlag, The Enemy

One of the main reasons parents are hesitant to travel with their kids is jetlag. Nightmares of kids shrieking their little heads off at 2 am will scare off even the most intrepid and well-intentioned traveling parent. But it doesn’t have to be that bad. Here are some ways to help you and the baby cope:

Start Early: If you are extremely organized and if you are going to experience a time change of between 1 and 3 hours, you can start preparing your baby by shifting everything by 15-30 mins every couple of days so that eventually you are in the new time zone. So if you live in California and are going to New York you can start giving the baby his/her meals a little bit earlier ( say 4:30 instead of 6) for dinner so that when in NY you are dealing with 7:30 dinner instead of 9pm!
The key is that the change must be gradual so your baby has time to adjust. That’s why you need to start early annd work your way down to bridging the gap.

Stretch It Out: If you are doing a long trip resulting in a major time difference, try to start planning on the flight. If you are going to land in the afternoon, try to keep the baby from sleeping too much
on the plane. When you get to your destination distract and entertain the baby to keep him/her up a little longer so that thy are going to bed somewhat in the vicinity of a normal bedtime in the new country. I find that kids can be easily stimulated in a new environment so it’s not hard to find random
things for them to explore and play with.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT TORTURE YOUR CHILD IN THIS PROCESS.

Know your child and his/her tolerance levels. If they are too exhausted you may end up with a severe tantrum and a child who is too exhausted to sleep. Also be careful of taking them for a stroll in a car, pram or baby carrier.
As we know so well, nothing puts a child to sleep faster than motion. Activity and action are what you are looking for, so take them to a park and set them loose on the pigeons (sorry, animal rights activists)!

Make the Change Gradual: Babies are malleable but their systems need time to adjust so you have to expect the first few days to be a little whacky. You can also expect the baby to be cranky and unsettled. I mean, we are, so why shouldn’t they be?

If it’s the middle of the night where you are but noon in your baby’s head you may have to just let them play around till they tire themselves out. Their bodies will already be picking up cues from the
environment and as they begin to feel dawn upon them, they won’t go into a deep night sleep even if they fall asleep at five am. Which brings us to the very important next step.

Strategic Napping: When it comes to forcing your child’s body to adjust to a new time zone, naps can be a powerful tool. As in the previous scenario if the baby has been up all night and falls alseep at five am as per her home schedule, wake her up, not at seven, which would be normal waking time, but at nine or ten. The goal is to give them enough rest to cope with the next few hours but not to recover
completely from the sleepless night. The baby will probably need another short nap or two during the day, so it’s best to manage your activities so that she has the opportunity to fall asleep when tired. That means have a pram or bed handy. Similarly avoid activities that would make them irritable like long lunches in restaurants. When you want to encourage waking time, provide space to run about and/ or
plenty to stimulus to contemplate.

When in Rome: So this may amuse, frighten or completely appaul you, but on our recent European trip, my husband convinced me that time zones were somewhat “arbitrary” and that the body’s natural rhythm was linked up with nature. In Australia where it was winter, Karam was going to bed about 2 hours after sunset at 7:30. But in Europe the summer sun set at 10pm. So why couldn’t karam go to bed
after sunset here? I was very hesitant because I just couldn’t get my head around a baby going to bed at midnight, but I will confess that it worked like a charm.

Effectively, we had a 20-month old on our adult schedule. We would all wake at around 9 or 10, venture out post-brekkie at noon, have a late lunch and a late afternoon nap, and dinner by 8!
Home by 10 with bath, milk, and sometimes a little bit of play time to follow!

Were we being naughty parents? Perhaps. Will it scar his development in the future? Unlikely. Did we have a phenomenal time in Europe? You betcha!

Be Flexible: You cannot expect that your regular routine will be maintained in another time zone so you best abandon the rigidity and make “flexibility” your new mantra. Kids also sense when the
atmosphere has changed and vacation time can be an “all bets are off” kinda moment. I learned a lot about what Karam’s natural body clock wanted to do during these times, when I was not imposing a routine on him. I followed his pattern, and he went down for naps and sleep without a peep.

Flexibility is also critical for your own sanity. If the baby is having a hard time coping, make sure you and your partner share the responsibility so that each of you can get some rest.

Pick Your Battles: Frankly on my upcoming trip to NY, I am not going to bother adjusting Karam to Eastern time. He’ll wake a bit later and go to bed a bit later, and before you know it, he will be back home. It is just not worth the effort. As a parent traveling with a baby and having to deal with all the other logistical issues. you just have to pick your battles. I am letting him win this one.

Good luck!