5 Tips For Surviving Jet Lag With a Baby

At first, our first international flight with our daughter seemed relatively painless. We traveled from Spain to New York (a 6-hour time difference) and my preflight anxiety about how we would fare was unwarranted. Our daughter, who was 6-months-old at the time, was an “easy” baby to travel with. The real trouble hit when we got back home -surviving jet lag with a baby.

Now there are far longer flights out there than Madrid to New York. So while our experience with jet lag is just that- our experience -I understand that what worked for us may have to be adjusted or simply might not work for those of you on longer flights.

As it turned out, we didn’t have as much trouble dealing with jet lag on the first leg of the trip (Madrid to New York). It took us a few nights of early morning wake ups, but the adjustment was reasonably quick and natural.

The issue was our New York to Madrid return journey. And trying to get back on our sleep schedule was agonizing. It took some research, a few sleepless nights, and some sought after patience, but we eventually got back on track.

Here are the tips for surviving jet lag with a baby that worked for us.

Tip 1: The first night is a lie.

That very first night? My daughter slept straight through. My husband and I thought we had lucked out. Clearly jet lag hadn’t affected her. She’s so young, we thought. She probably doesn’t even realize.

Um, no.

She knew.

But she was so exhausted from the flight that she slept like an angel.

So, please, don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Don’t let the first night trick you. The first night is a lie. See how the second or third night goes, and then judge whether you’ve hit the jackpot or not. The answer for us was a resounding “not”.

Tip 2: Pretend you’re still in your old time zone.

What we didn’t realize was that what we thought was “bedtime” actually coincided with our daughter’s last nap in New York. She would wake up after that “nap” thinking it was time to play. Then get upset once she realized it wasn’t playtime. And when I say upset I mean scream-crying.

Use the time zone you came from as a point of reference.

For us, it was Eastern Standard Time. We pretended we were still in New York and adhered to bedtime on night number three as if we were still there.

In New York, my daughter went to sleep around 7:30pm (1:30am Spanish time). Meaning we used the ungodly hour of 1:30am as her new bedtime.

From then on, things went much smoother.

Tip 3: Move bedtime up each night.

Each night move bedtime up by a set increment of time.

Reading online, people recommended anything from one hour to fifteen minutes. Both seemed too extreme, so we chose thirty-minutes. You do whatever you feel is best.

Tip 4: Be mindful of the last nap.

While we allowed our daughter to take whatever naps she needed during the day, we chose to be particularly strict with her last nap. We made a point to wake her up (and have her stay awake) for at least two and a half hours before bedtime. Anything else would cut it too close, and she’d run the risk of not falling asleep at night.

As her bedtime got pushed back thirty minutes each night, so did her last nap. We tried to be as consistent as possible with this.

Tip 5: Don’t forget to take care of yourself too.

You are bound to get cranky during the transition.

Make sure you’re getting in as much sleep as you can within the constraints of your work day, chores, etc.

Go about life a bit slower the week after your trip. Cancel plans if you need to. Hang out at home. Don’t overextend yourself. In fact, do whatever you need to make jet lag bearable.

In Conclusion

It goes without saying that I’m not a sleep expert, just a mom with a story. These five tips saved us from the hardest parts of jet lag and allowed us to resume our regularly scheduled life. We realized that forcing sleep on our baby, just led to tears and frustration all around. But the gradual approach? It worked wonders.

We all know jet lag is rough, but I promise, your baby will get past it -and so will you.

Want to learn more about international travel with a baby? Try The Beginner’s Guide to Flying Internationally with a Baby or How to Survive a (Solo) International Flight With a Baby based on our experiences flying with our daughter.