On our first trip to Europe with our first son at 6 months old we had finally arrived. We survived 24 hours from door to door travel. Our friends (who did not have kids at the time) all thought we were nuts for travelling so far and with such a young child.
Dealing with time changes can either be a huge issue or really none at all. For us it has been the latter. Really can't explain why some people have huge issues with time changes for their children. We have found it all works as long as your timing is set in place. Where we travel to in Europe it is a 9 hour ahead time change for all of us. That first time with a 6 month old, likely a lot of people would think it can really mess with the sleep pattern. Here are some ideas we used to help us out.
1) When on the flight, as usually almost all flights to Europe are night flights, make sure you are watching the clock.... Keep your infant up longer than usual. Don't keep the schedule you were normally keeping from the place you are leaving. First,, you are on vacation and you (the parent) need to settle down and relax... Second,,, your child won't know they are up longer than they should be,,, and this is a good thing if you are on a long flight. You'll have to possibly wake your child earlier or outside of a normal sleep pattern to help them get adjusted for when you land.... even if you are tired,,,, don't miss this opportunity,,,,, if you do,,,, you pay for it later on your trip.
2) So you have landed and are tired, and maybe your infant is a little awake, asleep or slightly starting to be adjusted to the new time. What do you do now ??? Well, depending on what time of day it is where you arrived,,,, likely you should go straight to your hotel or place where you are staying. In our case, many times it is to friends homes or family member homes. It is best to go and get settled with the kids at where you will be staying. Wherever you end up, get settled and then eat, go to the pool (if one) or for a walk, to a local park ( ask a hotel clerk). Main thing here is to start the new routine and it starts are where you will be staying on your vacation.
3) Stay up as late as you can on that first night and keep the kids up too.... Seriously,,, the largest mistake you can make on your first night in a new time zone is falling asleep too early.... IF you do this, you will be waking up with the kids early, early , early in the morning ad be stuck with nothing to do as nothing likely will be open. Keeping yourself up and the kids can be relatively easy... You can use the games , pocket games or small toys that you have from the plane as a form of entertainment to keep them up that extra bit. With the kids up that late, they will likely crash and sleep a good solid 8 - 10 hours without many problems and you'll wake up at a better morning hour when more services are open.
4) Drink water !!!! No beers or wines for you parents after arriving . No matter how hard friends or family will push them on you to celebrate your arrival, don't do it..... You'll pay. You'll become tired faster and be in the situation where you may not keep the kids or infants up long enough on that first night to help in that crucial time adjusting period.
Hope things here help you. Get out there and travel with your young children and show them the world.
Comments , likes, suggestions are always welcomed.
Best,
No comments:
Post a Comment