Time differences for babies

[katytrott]

Anyone here have any tips or experiences of how to deal with a baby's routine, with the time change to the US and from the US?

Do you very slowly change them or switch them into the new time imediately mid flight?

 

[joolz1910]

I wouldn't do it mid-flight, as having a cranky baby on an aircraft for several hours would be hell. It depends on the age of the infant. My instinct would be to let very young babies adjust in their own time. Older ones might benefit from being kept awake with a bit of stimulation. It might also depend on the temperament of your child. I'd do whatever makes life easy for you and your family.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Our 9 mth old pretty much did his own thing!! As they take naps when they like (eg in the car or in the pushchair) its hard to stop them napping and also totally enjoying the trip!!

All the difference it made to us was that both our children (inc our then 4 year old) were really tired by 6pm and up around 5.30am!! for the first week and then with all the activity they eventually got into a better routine (probably tired by 7pm and waking around 6.30am - which is pretty much what they do at home!!)

As long as you don't want to do loads in the evening (we were happy to crash!!) then it wasn't too much of a problem - oh and we planned more character breakfasts than dinners - after all we were up!! hope that helps a little.

 

[kevin harrison]

On the whole, it's not a problem after a day or two, the biggest issue for us was when we returned, our children were not falling asleep until 1am, as their body clocks were telling them it was 8pm.

 

[bibbidibobbidiboo07]

Like an earlier poster said it depends on the age.

We took our daughter at 8 months, she was great on the plane we had a sky cot for her so she could sleep in there if needed - she slept all the way home.

When we got there she did go to sleep early and woke early. But I think she took longer naps with the sun and so stayed awake longer some nights. she probably was worse coming home, slept 3 hour drive from aiport which wasn't best idea. So was late to bed for about a week after we got home. We got there eventually!

 

[katytrott]

Thanks guys,

My DS will be 5 months when we fly out. Sorry, should have mentioned.

The thing that worries me is both our sons are great sleepers. Both go to bed 7/8pm and both wake up sometime after 8am (both did this from 4/5 weeks old). Have to admit, DH and I did not cope at all well with night/early wakings in the first few weeks, which is why we worked really hard in getting them into a routine during the day, which left them capable of sleeping longer at night. I am anxious that a too drastic a change will mean this routine goes right out the window, and we start getting night wakings.

For the outbound journey, I am anxious letting the baby take his own pattern would mean he would fall asleep 7pm GB time, and then wake up 12 hours later 7am our time. Obviously that would be 2am ish US time.

Our thoughts were to go US time when we land and keep him awake, but with a few cat naps thrown in. Then put him down once we get to the villa with his normal bed time routine, but in the new US time. Granted that would be midnightish GB time, but at least he might make it through to 6-7ish.

 

[disneyholic family]

when the kids were babies, there didn't seem to be any problem at all with the time difference...i didn't 'do' anything special...

on our night flights, they slept a lot of the flight..
on our day flights, they were awake more than they slept...

once they got to orlando, they pretty much followed the sun - when it went to sleep, so did they...

but as another poster said, they napped a lot more....due to the heat and activity....but all the napping was in a stroller, not in bed...

 

[katytrott]

when the kids were babies, there didn't seem to be any problem at all with the time difference...i didn't 'do' anything special...

on our night flights, they slept a lot of the flight..
on our day flights, they were awake more than they slept...

once they got to orlando, they pretty much followed the sun - when it went to sleep, so did they...

but as another poster said, they napped a lot more....due to the heat and activity....but all the napping was in a stroller, not in bed...

I know we have got to be a lot more flexible then we were with my first son. Because of post natal depression and a bad experience overnight when first out of hospital, I was terrified of night wakings, and so I was so strict with his naps and bedtime for fear of anything disrupting his nights. It wasn't until he was just 2 that we let him sleep anywhere other then his cot for naps as well as night time. Completely different this son round, but I still feel I am taking a risk doing this big a thing with a 5 month old. Yes, I am anxious about it, but it is a vast improvement from my older son.

It least he can sleep in a car seat or pushchair

 

[Jets fan]

This will make you laugh. When my nephew was 2 we went to Disney and on the 2nd night my sister and I woke up at 2pm as the TV was on. Jacob had turned it on as his body was telling him it was morning and was sitting in bed watching Pollyanna.

The next day we totally wore him out and he slept like a baby until 7am.

Tina

 

[wdw_adict]

DW and I recently took our nine month old daughter on her first trip to WDW.

She is an easy-going baby but we just fed her and put her to bed at her normal times (US Time) from the get go.

We always take the same flight from the UK so we arrive in the afternoon and once we get to the resort and check in etc. we unpack a little and then go out for food.

DD woke up a little early on the first morning, 6 am, but from there on in she was fine waking at about 7:30am and looking for her food at the right times.

The other thing that helped a lot was that we stayed in the new rooms at CSR which meant that we could put the pack and play in the sink room and close the heavy doors making it nice and dark for her and meant that we could still watch TV once she had gone to bed.

 

[Steve and Sarah]

Hi

We've taken our son when he was 12 weeks old, 6 months old and we're off again in 2 weeks time when he wil be 10 months old and have to say we haven't had any major problems.

Josh is a good sleeper at home and we found that the time difference in the US didn't alter the fact that he liked his 12 hours a night!

We would let him nap throughout the day on the flight over and as other above have posted, get to the villa, unpack, do a little shopping at Walmart and then put Josh to bed at around 7pm US time. Fisrt morning he always wakes around 4.30/5am but i just give him a bottle and he usually goes back to sleep for another hour or two so that by night two he is straight back into his normal routine. During the holiday we would normally go out for the morning, back to the villa for Josh to have a good sleep in his cot around lunch and then out again for a couple of hours, ensuring we were back by 5pm so he could have his tea, bath and bed routine.

Have a great trip.

Sarah

 

[T16GEM]

We honestly didn't keep to any schedule when we were away as the kids napped when they were in their buggy, they went to bed when they were tired and we did everything that we wanted to do and that they wanted to do. We didn't tend to get back to our hotel till 9 at night and sometimes later, the kids are both pretty relaxed anyway and were fine with this.

When we came home for the first week or so they were up late as their body clocks were a bit messed up, they got back to their routine of 7pm bed and 7-8am getting up pretty quickly though. I wouldn't worry about it too much as your kids will end up doing what's right for them anyway.

 

[disneyholic family]

I know we have got to be a lot more flexible then we were with my first son. Because of post natal depression and a bad experience overnight when first out of hospital, I was terrified of night wakings, and so I was so strict with his naps and bedtime for fear of anything disrupting his nights. It wasn't until he was just 2 that we let him sleep anywhere other then his cot for naps as well as night time. Completely different this son round, but I still feel I am taking a risk doing this big a thing with a 5 month old. Yes, I am anxious about it, but it is a vast improvement from my older son.

It least he can sleep in a car seat or pushchair

kids tend to get so very tired from all the excitement and from the heat and humidity, that they fall asleep pretty quickly...
the heat really knocks kids out (and adults for that matter)...

i found i had a much bigger problem on our return home....the jet lag after the trip seemed to take about 2 weeks to work itself out...

 

[maznorm]

We took a 3 month old and a 14 month old. They were both fine. The 14 month old stayed awake until 3 am the night before we flew (we left our house at 4 am) and the 3 month old slept the whole flight (not bad for a child that has to this day (she is now 20 months) never slept through the night!!

They seem to find there own way of handling it all. It is definitely worse when you get back but it's just late nights and long sleep in's in the morning for a couple of weeks.

Have a great time.