Jet Lag and Infant

My 4 yo and 2 yo pretty much stayed on the West Coast schedule when we went to DC this summer: not by my doing, just by letting them wake when they wanted, etc. I would follow the other mom's advice and just "go with it" unless there is a compelling reason to force a schedule on her or if you are staying for longer than a week or so... She WILL let you know when she is hungry or tired :) Safe travels!

N.,
I took my oldest daughter back east when she was about 7 months old and I kept her on west coast time as I was only there a week. If it is a short trip I would try to keep her on her regular schedule as it will be easier when you head back home.
I hope you have a good trip!
J.

When I traveled with my infant to the east coast, I kept her on the west coast schedule. She would eat dinner at 8:30pm while we were in FL, which was her normal 5:30pm routine, etc. I found that this made things much easier on her and therefore on my husband and me.
Good luck!

When we traveled to the east coast with an infant we tried to keep my son's feeding schedule as close to normal as possible. We were only there for 6 days and it was just easier to keep him to our home feeding and sleeping schedule than try to change it only to have to readjust when we got home. It actually worked out well for us since we could visit with family and friends until about 10 in the evening with baby (who everyone wanted to see and hold) before turning in for the evening. We just slept in a little later and got a later start, but it worked out well for us. We still ate at the normal times with our families, but since my son was not yet eating table foods it was easy to keep his feeding schedule on track. Good luck.

We took 3 trips with nursing babies over 3-hour time zone changes just like that. I think the answer has to do with how long you will be gone, and what kind of things you will be doing there. We were visiting family and didn't have a lot of control over where we were going and when, so it worked best to try to fit our feeding schedule around what was happening. Plus we were gone a week or less and knew that we'd be back in our own time zone and routine soon. So with all the changes of environment, activities, people, etc., it just became a matter of doing what was needed to keep our sanity. We found for us it was more important to keep the feeding intervals about the same (for example, every 3 1/2 hours) and focus less on the time on the clock at each feeding. Hope you enjoy the trip!

It will take a few days to adjust. If you are feeding her on the plane, count that as the feeding time and them count ahead to the number of hours between meals.

We tried to plan our travel so that we arrived just before bed. We'd feed her and put her down for the night. Then start the next day on there time. When we arrived with half a day or so to go, we just went along on her schedule until bedtime. Then it was Chicago time there after.

BTW, I only needed to change her clothes once on an airplane in nearly 30 flights, and that wasn't until she was older and kicked over my OJ...on her. You can stay dry/clean. Believe it and it will happen.

Stephanie

When my son was 5 months old, we flew to FL to visit family for a week. Once we were there, I fed him based on the EST time zone. He was mostly fine. I was flexible and figured he would be up at different times. Once we returned home, it took about a week to get back on our normal schedule.

Hi N.,
I just went to Missouri a few weeks ago with my 9mo old. We flew during the day and he did great on the way out, and on the way back. (I was worried b/c he doesn't fall asleep in our arms anymore; only in his crib... but he got tired enough to sleep on me for naps during the flights). I was going to keep him on a CA time schedule, but he woke up early out there, so I went with it. He did have a few bad nights, waking and a little 'off'; I think scared in a new environment and also off his normal time. But he adjusted within a couple days. Coming back he had NO problems. He just was back on his normal schedule from the first morning! I think being back at home was all it took. Good luck and I hope you have a great time! --Anne

Hi N.,
I travelled w/ my son earlier this year to the east coast when he was 3 mos and again at 4 mos. The trips were both unexpected, hence I didn't have time to "do anything" to prepare for the time difference in regards to his feeding and sleeping. He seemed to just go w/ the flow both trips. I thought for sure the 1st night he'd be up for hours in the evening, but lo and behold he went to sleep at a reasonable hour and ate normally. Oddly so, on both of these trips, he slept like a rock not waking in the middle of the night. When we got home both times, it was as if he hadn't travelled. Best of luck!

Hi,

We've often done a 9 hour difference jet lag with our kids (Europe to West Coast and back) and the easiest for us was to always adjust gradually to where we were. So my recommendation to you is to change your daughter's feeding schedule to the time zone you are in. Also on the plane, no limit on food. We travelled with our 6 month old son and each time he cried a lot, I just fed him. It was the easiest for me and for others around ;-)
Hope this helps and good luck with the trip.
M.

N.,
How long will you be there?
It may not be worthwile for a short trip to change anything. Are you breastfeeding on demand?
Whenever you travel, don't stress on staying on a strict schedule. travel days are about being in the moment and not stressing on what you would be doing if you were at home. Remember to be flexible, you know your daughter and can read her better than anyone else, so ust listen, watch and relax. She doesn't know any different. As long as you are there, meet her needs and not stress over the little things it will be an enjoyable trip.
A.

We traveled to the east coast when our daughter was 2.5 months old. We fed her every 3 hours or so (that's when she eats). We fed her on demand. She seemed to adjust alright. Try to put her down earlier the day you arrive to avoid meltdowns and get her on east coast time. I never had to feed her on take off and landing because she fell asleep immediately in her sling. Hope that helps. Good luck to you.

Hi N. - I have traveled with my kids internationally quite a bit. They are now 3 & 6. Keep in mind that your daughter's schedule will be off during your trip - at least at the beginning. Feed her when she seems hungry. Put her down to sleep when she seems tired. Let go of schedules and realize it's likely she'll feel a bit out of sorts for a while. Be sure she gets outside a lot. Exposure to daylight will help her adjust. And, depending how long your trip is, expect to have a loose, flexible schedule with her for a bit when you get home as well. Have a great time!

I have traveled quite a bit with our little one. Each time I think I will try to keep her on California time and stick to our "normal" schedule, yet I find that she naturally switches to the local time. I think it is the sun. I think babies are much more aware of time by lighting that we think, and she always very quickly adjusted to the local time. Except when we when to Hawaii and she wanted up at CA time (4 am local!) of course!
East coast she switched on her own.

Hi N.,

I think the best thing to do is pay attention to your baby's needs and adjust with her. Read her cues and she will let you know where she is on her schedule. A three-hour time difference doesn't seem so great a difference; if you were traveling to Japan then you'd both really probably feel it a lot more. So, just make sure you're calm and tuned into what she's doing and you'll both be fine.

M., mother of two and former traveler of great distance,

All the best and have a safe journey!

I traveled a lot with my daughter between the ages of 6 weeks and 18 months between CA and FL. The one thing that never failed me for feedings/sleeping schedules is I always travel at night, both ways, she wakes up in the morning there ready to go for the day - might take an extra nap and coming home it is night when we get home so she would just go to sleep. I would also suggest taking at least 3 changes of clothes and double the amount of diapers you think you will need, I always take 12. You just never know what can happen, on my last flight there was a mom with a young infant who got sick and went through 4 changes of clothes! Good luck!

When we go East I keep my kids on CA time. They go to bed early here about 7 and it is nice to have them stay up a bit later (10-ish there) to see family. Coming back there is no adjustment. Good luck.

I travel frequently with my infants and I just follow their lead. If they stick to CA time while on the east coast, I totally let them. It means they sleep in and just go to bed really late like at 11 PM. But it worked for me! When I went to Hawaii with my 3 year old AND five week old, they adjusted to Hawaii time. They will pretty much dictate when they want to wake and sleep. I just followed along. It was the least stressful that way. good luck!

Hi there,

I live in Rome and went home to California for the holidays when our daughter was 3 months old. She was so tired from the trip that she slept just fine in the new time zone. The problem was that my breasts were on Rome time, 9 hours ahead! So I was terribly engorged for a few days until they got used to the time difference. Hopefully with just three hours you won't have this problem. :)

When we made the same trip when my daughter was 10 months she had a harder time adjusting on the way back home (going east). But again, with three hours difference you should be okay. Like other mommies wrote, I'd suggest going with the flow instead of trying to make her adjust to the new time zone or stay up to be on California time.

Take care, and have a happy trip!

H.

I took our 10 month old to Central time zone, but it was only for one week. We kept her on Pacific time. She normally wakes at 7 am, so she was waking at 9 am which worked out perfect for me. And I fed her at 10 am, 2 pm and 6:30 pm which correlated to her normal feeding times. And she went to bed at 9 or 10 pm. It was nice because we were staying with friends. I guess it depends on how long you are going to be there, what you are going to be doing and where you are staying. Since we were at our friends house this was just perfect. And I didn't have to get her back to her schedule upon return. I DID NOT want her waking up at 5 am pacific time because she had gotten used to waking at 7 am Central time. Just my experience, hope it helps.

I have traveled to time zones 3 to 6 hours different with both of my kids numerous times starting at 2 months. Just feed when your baby is hungry/ or when it works for your traveling schedule- and she will change to the new time in 2 or so days. I always find that my kids switch to the new time (especially when going east) much faster than I do.

K.

When I travel with my son to NY., the first time at 5 mo. (He is 18mo now), I try to let him stay on his normal California schedule. This means he is up later but it is really helpful when visiting for him to be up later and easier when we go back home for him to readjust. If we were to travel somewhere where the time change was greater, I may try to adjust him to the destination time. Just not worth it for 3 hours.

Dear N.,
My daughter was a little older when I took her back east for a couple of weeks.
The first thing you need to realize is that the only thing that changes is what time your watch says...not your baby's body clock. If she is used to eating at 3pm your time, it's likely her little tummy will be telling her it's time to eat at that time. The trip in itself may be exhausting, so she may be more hungry or less depending on how she handles the trip, and unfortunately, there is no way of knowing any of that until you've actually done it.
My daughter had a more difficult time going back there than coming home. 10pm there is only 7pm here, so getting her used to that took some time. She was fine after a few days and the travelling and visiting and new environment made for a tired little one. Like I said, coming back home was the easy part because she konked out early and fortunately, in my case at least, she wasn't awake at 5 in the morning raring to go. Your baby will be fine. Just take your cues from her.
May I suggest taking your pillow case along? It will fold up to nothing and you can keep it with her. It will smell like you and home and most likely be a huge comfort.
Have a wonderful trip!

We live in CA and when we spent last Christmas in Wisconsin to visit my husband's family we kept our son (then 15 months) on PST (West Coast time). All of his meals and naptimes/bedtimes were the same as if we had not left (for the most part - travel did have an impact because of flight times). It's what his pediatrician recommended and I thought it worked out well. Good luck.

I always kept my now 17 month old on local time. We go back and forth to Hawaii and the adjustment took about a day or two.