Anela Ange
We flew from the UK to the USA for two weeks and just got back 3 days ago. Now my 1 year old is awake all night and sleeping all through the day. How can I adjust her sleep schedule, and mine?!
Answer
I'm a former Flight Attendant and I fly with my children about twice a year between Europe and California, which is a 9 hour time difference.
Obviously, I had the jet-lag game down cold since I worked almost all international, long-haul flights, but it became a little more complicated when I flew with my children. As babies, I noticed they switched nights and naps. End of story. Easy. Once they hit toddler hood, it was a whole different deal. I had pleas of "Barney! Barney!" at 4am. Yikes!
First, remember that her stomach needs to adjust just like her sleep schedule. Be sure she's not headed to bed on an empty stomach, only to wake at 3am with hunger pangs expecting dinner. Get yourselves on the local eating schedule asap.
Adjust to your new time zone but be reasonable. My guidelines are bed between 8pm-midnight and up between 5am and 10am. Set your alarm if you have to. Once you are on something vaguely reassembling a normal wake/sleep pattern in your new location, you can then "tweak" forward or backwards to make it more sane. This will get rid of that "zombie" feeling and at least have you feeling normal when you're awake. Don't try to dive into exactly the same schedule you have at home or you may be paving the way to disaster.
Light is an important componant to melatonin. Look it up and read up on this important chemical your brain produces which aids sleep. Light supresses it while dark increases it. I used to take melatonin in pill form when I worked but I was hesitant to give it to my children. Don't give it to your daughter unless you discuss it with a medical professional first.
During the day, head outside and get in fresh air and sunlight. On a bad day, we would head to the mall. Being with other people, especially other children works well to keep awake in the day time.
I assume she naps but don't overdo it! Time it carefully and then wake her up after whatever is the length of a normal nap at home.
Before bed, turn off all screens, no games, computers or TV's. Even if the light doesn't seem bright, this kind of light going in the eye supresses melatonin. Keep lights low as you read a book or do whatever your bedtime routine is.
If she gets up at night
-Keep lights low, no computers, TV's or electronic games.
-Feed her a snack, if she's hungry of something not too sugary, salty or greasy. Something bready works well, like a bagel or roll.
-Skip the teeth for this special situation. Going in the bathroom, flipping on the light, etc. may wake her up more. Your dentist will forgive you this once!
-Head her back to bed as soon as you can manage it.
Keep well hydrated. Air travel is very drying and dehyration symptoms are very similar to those of jet lag. You end up with a double battle. I try to stay away from caffine, althought a little green tea during the day seems to help me. If your doctor has restricted bottles or milk, you may want to "liberalize" that a little while she's adjusting and then go back to any restrictions. Needless to say, this is not the time to get rid of bottles or pacifiers, if she uses either or both.
I used to call a friend who would say that the whole family got up at noon two weeks after getting back because they were "getting over jet lag". We were over ours' in 2-3 days tops, with two more hours of time change than they had (I'm from further away).
So just hang in there. A little bit of disapline will make things much more sane for both of you.
Good luck!
I'm a former Flight Attendant and I fly with my children about twice a year between Europe and California, which is a 9 hour time difference.
Obviously, I had the jet-lag game down cold since I worked almost all international, long-haul flights, but it became a little more complicated when I flew with my children. As babies, I noticed they switched nights and naps. End of story. Easy. Once they hit toddler hood, it was a whole different deal. I had pleas of "Barney! Barney!" at 4am. Yikes!
First, remember that her stomach needs to adjust just like her sleep schedule. Be sure she's not headed to bed on an empty stomach, only to wake at 3am with hunger pangs expecting dinner. Get yourselves on the local eating schedule asap.
Adjust to your new time zone but be reasonable. My guidelines are bed between 8pm-midnight and up between 5am and 10am. Set your alarm if you have to. Once you are on something vaguely reassembling a normal wake/sleep pattern in your new location, you can then "tweak" forward or backwards to make it more sane. This will get rid of that "zombie" feeling and at least have you feeling normal when you're awake. Don't try to dive into exactly the same schedule you have at home or you may be paving the way to disaster.
Light is an important componant to melatonin. Look it up and read up on this important chemical your brain produces which aids sleep. Light supresses it while dark increases it. I used to take melatonin in pill form when I worked but I was hesitant to give it to my children. Don't give it to your daughter unless you discuss it with a medical professional first.
During the day, head outside and get in fresh air and sunlight. On a bad day, we would head to the mall. Being with other people, especially other children works well to keep awake in the day time.
I assume she naps but don't overdo it! Time it carefully and then wake her up after whatever is the length of a normal nap at home.
Before bed, turn off all screens, no games, computers or TV's. Even if the light doesn't seem bright, this kind of light going in the eye supresses melatonin. Keep lights low as you read a book or do whatever your bedtime routine is.
If she gets up at night
-Keep lights low, no computers, TV's or electronic games.
-Feed her a snack, if she's hungry of something not too sugary, salty or greasy. Something bready works well, like a bagel or roll.
-Skip the teeth for this special situation. Going in the bathroom, flipping on the light, etc. may wake her up more. Your dentist will forgive you this once!
-Head her back to bed as soon as you can manage it.
Keep well hydrated. Air travel is very drying and dehyration symptoms are very similar to those of jet lag. You end up with a double battle. I try to stay away from caffine, althought a little green tea during the day seems to help me. If your doctor has restricted bottles or milk, you may want to "liberalize" that a little while she's adjusting and then go back to any restrictions. Needless to say, this is not the time to get rid of bottles or pacifiers, if she uses either or both.
I used to call a friend who would say that the whole family got up at noon two weeks after getting back because they were "getting over jet lag". We were over ours' in 2-3 days tops, with two more hours of time change than they had (I'm from further away).
So just hang in there. A little bit of disapline will make things much more sane for both of you.
Good luck!
How can I keep my toddler calm during during long car trips ?
evolve2bgr
We'll take our 2 year old on his first long car trip. We expect to be in the car for over 5 hours. Experience teaches us that he starts to get upset and annoyed within the hour. How can we keep him calm ?
Answer
we have an almost 4 year old now and we have gone on many car trips since my family lives all over the eastern u.s.
we have tried reading to him while we are in the car, a new toy to keep him occupied, stickers, magnets, coloring, music, and endless other things. we have not used a portable dvd player because we just do not like the idea of him being zoned out til we get to our destination.
the best choice for us has been for him to sleep the majority of the way, keeps mom and dad more sane. so we usually don't let him take a nap before we leave and then leave when it is dark so he will sleep. since you are only traveling 5 hours your best bet would prolly be to leave in the early, early morning. just take him as gently as possible from bed and put him in the car with his favorite blanket and let him sleep.
we have an almost 4 year old now and we have gone on many car trips since my family lives all over the eastern u.s.
we have tried reading to him while we are in the car, a new toy to keep him occupied, stickers, magnets, coloring, music, and endless other things. we have not used a portable dvd player because we just do not like the idea of him being zoned out til we get to our destination.
the best choice for us has been for him to sleep the majority of the way, keeps mom and dad more sane. so we usually don't let him take a nap before we leave and then leave when it is dark so he will sleep. since you are only traveling 5 hours your best bet would prolly be to leave in the early, early morning. just take him as gently as possible from bed and put him in the car with his favorite blanket and let him sleep.
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