Dealing with Jet Lag/Time Change and 13 Mo Old

Hi N., I flew to LA with my son when he was 11 months old. I tried to get him on West Coast time right away; it took about 2 days. Not bad, however my trip lasted 10 days so we had more than a week of our usual schedule. That said, I think you'll want to get on West Coast time even though your trip is shorter. It'll make the second half of your trip really enjoyable. Expect your son to wake up very early on your first day or two. But if you can try to stretch out the time between naps to get him acclimated that should help. And, once you're home I bet you'll be surprised how quickly he snaps back to East Coast time. Safe travels and have fun!

The rule of thumb I read is that if you're going for less than a week, don't change their schedule to the new time zone. We took our daughter to CA when she was six months old and she did not change times even though we were there a week. It was a bit painful being up at 4 am every morning but very nice that she picked up with her regular schedule when we were home.

I just went to la in January with my 5 year old and 13 month old at the time. Between the busy days full of sightseeing and the excitement of the day, my kids were so tired from the day that the time change had very little affect on them. I think the baby's naptime was tweaked off alittle bit but it corrected itself quickly when we returned home. So don't worry too much about the time change thing. Keep day one really action packed and they should fall asleep Cali time with no problems! Have a wonderful trip!

I've traveled overseas with my son where the time difference was 5 hours. I found it was easier to keep to the east coast schedule, especially for a shorter trip. But I guess you have to decide how that will impact your trip--for us, it was easy, because we were in Ireland, where they are 5 hours ahead--so my son could just stay up later. It worked well, because we still felt like we could do things like go out to dinner. If you try to stick to his schedule, but he ends up adjusting a bit, don't worry. My son would stay on his schedule for the first day or so, then slowly start to shift to the new time by one hour a day. It wasn't a big deal since we weren't gone long, then we were back home and he quickly adjusted back. Good luck and have fun!

P.S. If your son is jet lagged, and happens to take a nap when you get there, or fall asleep at times, I would just let him. In my experience, it's better to let them nap than to deal with a cranky, jetlagged baby! But I would try to stick to the east coast bed time at least.

Hi N.,

We have traveled a lot over the years and found the very best thing to do was to stay on the time zone schedule of the country/state we were in. Meaning if it was 8 pm and time for bed in CA, we put them to bed at 8 pm, even thought it was 11 pm at home. The kids adapted quickly coming and going, plus it didn't mess our schedules so we could all enjoy the travel.
Hope it all works out beautifully. It probably won't be seemless no matter what, so hang in there it will work itself out.

I agree with Zoe's advice. Just got back after 2 weeks in Thailand and Japan with a 6 month old. She adjusted well going and took a week to adjust once home. A few years ago we did a week in the UK with my eldest and tried to adjust her sleep patterns which means we had a horrible 7 days in the UK with my in-laws and then another miserable several days once we returned home - so we essentially spent almost 2 weeks dealing with her jet lag - not something I would recommend.

Enjoy your trip!

My 8-month old son has been traveling with me to California since he was 5 months old (we've gone back and forth 3 times already). You can try to keep him on EST, but my experience has been that he will naturally change to PST on his own because of the traveling, the excitement of being in a new place, the fact that it remains bright outside well past his normal bedtime, etc.

For example, my son who is really likes to sleep at 7:00 pm EST was staying up until 9 or 10 the first night we were in California. Coming back to NY was a bit more difficult and took us about one week to adjust. All in all, I would just go with how he does when he gets there. Enjoy your trip!

We took our daughter to England for 10 days when she was 13 months old, and then to Seattle for 8 days when she was 21 months. Both times, we adjusted her normal schedule up / down an hour each day until she was sleeping and eating at her normal times. We had no problems beyond the normal jet lag with her. I have a friend who takes her son (currently 2 years old) to England twice a year, and that is how she does it every time.

Hi N.,

We traveled with our 13 months old last year to Seattle and were concerned about the same thing. Well we were amazed to see that he adjusted to the schedule right away. Going there we traveled at night and arrived at 11 pm their time. He slept on the plane and he slept there over night right away. So the next morning we were the ones trying to adjust to the new time rather than him. Good luck and enjoy your trip!