Different people handle the time change with a toddler differently. Before we left for Milan, I checked my sleep books and then the internet looking for information jet lag. I was concerned how he would react, and the only site I found with any information I could agree remotely with was Delicious Baby. However, because we would only be in Milan for a few days (left the US Thursday, left Milan Tuesday), I decided that I was not going to force The Boy to adjust to Italian time. In the end, it did not seem worth it for such a short trip.
What did we do? After all, sleeping until two in the afternoon was not an option either…
Bottom line up front– we followed his sleep cues just as we do at home. When The Boy was tired, he slept. When he wasn’t, he didn’t. Several days, my husband and I got up earlier than The Boy, prepared for the day, and at the last minute, dressed The Boy and put him in the stroller or sling. This worked great. If we were out, and he was tired, we did the same thing. He slept some in the stroller and some in the Butterfly.
Nighttime sleep also turned out to not be much of a problem. The Italian lifestyle– late dinners especially– afforded us a late dinner, and The Boy was happy to oblige. After dark dining with a toddler brought a lot of attention, but the Italians were charmed by his smile, and he was well behaved. Once it was time to go to sleep for the night, our co-sleeping lifestyle kept things quite consistent for The Boy. We mostly followed our regular routine, and he nursed, rolled over, and went to sleep– just like at home.
When you travel across time zones, what do you do to “keep the sleep?”
Cross posted on Basketwives.com
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I love the picture of The Boy asleep on the bed! When we go back to the States, I try to keep him up a little later every night for the week before the trip, then when we get there, I make sure he’s out in the daylight as much as possible, and then just let him sleep when he’s tired. Nothing’s worse than a cranky, sleepy toddler! Coming back is pretty much the same but in reverse. If it was a short trip though, I would probably do the same thing you did.
We are currently on the West Coast – from Germany – and so far, the change has been fine. We didn’t try to manipulate her sleep schedule before the trip. Once we got here, we also just followed her sleep sues and let her sleep when she needed to sleep. She did incredibly well. She was really pumped up when she got here, but she pretty much slept when we did for the first few days, and I think she got over the jet lag even faster than her dad and me.
She is not sleeping as well as she did at home, but that only means that she wakes up in the night (she sleeps through soundly at home), but that may be because she is sharing a room with us. She sleeps in her own room at home because she is a light sleeper and our nighttime sounds wake her.
We’ll see what happens when we get home, but I am hopeful that she will bounce back faster than us.
I have heard that simply adopting the new time zone right away makes a difference but this could be tough on a toddler.
I like your articles, you have a great writing style!
Thanks for sharing
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