Moving to Ft. Benning

C.,

Hi, my name is O. and I am currently living in Baumholder Germany. My family and I came her 3 and a half months ago. I have a four year old and a 5 year old. For the flight over I decided to keep them up the night before travel and they slept on the plane. Surprisingly, they adjusted to the time difference quicker than my husband and I did.

Welcome any hints or advice on living in Germany.

Hi C., we actaully just made the opposite move from Ft Benning to Germany. We were in Ft Benning for 5 years, so please let me know if there is anything I can help you with. It is a pretty nice community with a lot to do within a few hours drive. I made the trip over here by myself with my two children 3 and 3 months. The plane ride wasn't bad since we traveled at night and then arrived in the morning. By the time we got here I was able to keep my 3 year old on a somewhat regular schedule starting that day. I would suggest bringing your baby's car seat on the plane so she has somewhere familiar and comfortable to sit and sleep during the ride. Good luck and enjoy Ft Benning. From what I have seen so far, it is a far cry from Germany.

R. P

We have moved overseas two times with childen under the age of four. They have all adjusted to the time zones on their own. Don't worry about it - the plane ride will help to jump start the sleep changes. Just don't expect your child to be adjusted for about a week.

I'm moving to Ft. Benning from Germany as well. When we moved here my daughter was 11 months old, and I was concerned about adjusting her time, but kids adjust so much quicker than we do. When we've gone back to the States for vacation my daughter who is now 8, adjusted pretty well as long as we kept pretty busy during the first day there and then had her go to bed at the normal time, and we had no problems. It's actually easier to go back that 6 hours than it is to fly over here, we always have more difficulty coming back. You may have already seen these, but here are a couple of links to Ft. Benning, I've never been there before, in fact I've only been in Germany since I became an Army spouse, so this will be a new experience for me. Good luck, maybe we'll run into each other, we are supposed to leave in June!
http://www.benningfamilyhousing.com/incoming/application....
https://www.infantry.army.mil/fbhome/sites/local/

C.,
I have lived in Germany (currently in England) and moved to Georgia when my daughter was 6 mos old. It was hard to keep her contained on the plane for that trip but take lots of sippy cups for take off and landing. Also, the time change will be harder on you than them. Trust me! She was up running around and I could hardly lift my head. Immediately upon arrival start with a routine you will stick with. Her bedtime was 7-8 pm so I did what I could to get her to stay awake atleast close to that time and eventually it phased into a normal routine. You'll love GA. We miss it.

I have traveled a lot with my kids. For what it is worth, here are my opinions. First, about the time transition. To make your long flight as peaceful as possible, I would not transition your child until you arrive in the States. Plus, you will be able to get all those last-minute things done easier with your kids still sleeping in Germany time! My experience is that flight travel is hard on the kids and they will be very sleepy, even if they do sleep on the plane, once you arrive i.e. your child will have jet lag. I have been surprised to find that my kids have settled into the new time zones days before my husband and I have been able to!

As far as the airplane travel (I am also doing this with my 13-month old this summer, but to the West coast), expect the worst and hope for the best. Honestly, you need to set your mind like that. I flew with my oldest from the West coast to the East coast and he screamed for almost five hours--it was terrible...we tried it all and nothing helped. In the end, we figured his ears were hurting, but there was absolutely nothing we could do to settle him down. He didn't settle until we started to descend.

Hopefully your experience (and my experience with my baby) will be much better than that. Bring lots of toys, books, and anything else that might seem interesting. Oh, snacks--lots of snacks! Try to get as much rest yourself as possible the days leading up to your flight. You will need the stamina! Good luck!

Travelling east takes longer to agjust than travelling west. Expect about a day to adjust for each hour difference in the time zone (so 6 days to adjust for your 6-hour difference).

We moved from CA to England 3 years ago with a 6 mo old. Then we took the 2 & 1 yr old from Eng to CA this fall for a trip to visit/meet the family.

We try to adopt the rituals of the new time zone as soon as we arrive (eat lunch when everyone else is and get up when everyone else does). Also when travelling east, we don't go to sleep despite how much our body wants us to until the appropriate night-time arrives. Although this strategy does not work for the youngins, it gets us (the adults) into the new time zone ASAP.

I'm no proponent of sleeping aids or cold medicine for the kids to knock them out on the airflight. My only exception is caffine, which I clearly must use to stay awake during those first few days. Airflights are a challenge with little ones, but people travel with babies everyday and it isn't as bad as we dread.

We are doing this cross-continent PCS this summer to TX with a 3 & 2 year old. So we will be going through these same strategies yet again.

Hello. We are only 5 hours ahead of Georgia and when we flew back home to visit we kept our kids up until at least 7 or 8 pm there time. It actually is easier to adjust to the time going back than it is coming from the states. Ft Benning is about 2 hours away from the Atlanta airport so your daughter may fall asleep in the car ride there. When we flew from the states to England we got some of those children air tablets. They help for like motion sickness and also helps them sleep. Good luck with the move.

Hiya,
We currently live in England and have traveled home to the Seattle area several times. My first suggestion is try to pick a flight that will have you arriving in the late afternoon or early evening. When you arrive the child will be antsy and play time will be a must - then hopefully they'll be tired enough to get at least 4-5hrs sleep the first night and keep the usual bed-time routine! (Arriving early in the day can make them want to use a nap as a regular sleep night) Take a NEW toy on the plane with you. It doesn't have to be anything expensive, just something the child has never seen before. This seems to keep their interest longer than one of their old toys. We also take a travel aqua-doodle so there's no losing crayons or markers and no mess; also light-weight books. If you ask for a bulk head seat most airlines have a cot that attaches to the wall in front of you so when your child falls asleep you can plop them in there. (yes sleep does happen and they are buckled in and very safe) This also will free you up to get some relaxation yourself. Most of the time a computer will automatically place you in bulk head, but always call the airline after you've booked your ticket to make sure you are seated there. If you're unable to obtain the bulk head when purchasing your ticket ask at the check in desk when you get to the gate. Most of the time someone will trade with you and the airline personell can help with that. If you arrive at the airport and your seat has been changed insist on the bulk head already assigned. One more thing - the ears. I'm not sure if your child takes a pacifier or not, but sucking on something helps keep the ears from popping/plugging up.

Hope I haven't overwhelmed you!! Remember, it's only a short part of your day and a story for the baby book. Also if your child makes a fuss you're not the only one that it's happened to. Most people are understanding, "most". Hee hee LOL

I'm jealous!!! We aren't going back to the states until we leave in Sept of 09. Happy travels!!!!

I'll be interested to see how things went!

J.

We are getting ready to move to the states in 3 months and are going to go through the same with our daughter. She is 6 months as of right now. The best idea I've gotten so far is about 1 1/2 to 2 months before you leave start keeping your daughter up about an hour then she would normally go to sleep. Then the following we keep her up another hour later, and so on. It's going to suck for you since you will have to stay up to but at least when you get to Benning you will be right on schedule!