Tricks to time change adjustment

One of the questions I receive a lot from people is “But HOW do I get my child adjusted to the time zones faster?”

Especially if you’re traveling with more than one kid, it can be an unthrilling prospect to imagine a large time change. Your vision might include kids being up at all hours of the night and you not getting to sleep at all…ugh. But there are definitely tips/tricks you can try that at least give you a shot at a decent adjustment… or at enjoying the transition process.

Here are my tips/recommendations:

• Timing of the flight. Some flight times might fit better with your child’s nap schedules or sleep preferences than others…and if you have the opportunity to take that into consideration, you should. Let’s say there are two similarly priced flight options from the west coast to Europe: 1. Leaving at 1pm, arriving at 6am, or, 2. leaving at 7pm, arriving at noon. If your child needs a nap, but doesn’t nap well on planes, you might choose to leave on the later flight so they can nap regularly during the day. If you have a good napper/good sleeper, you could probably be fine on either! Also, regardless of your child’s ability to sleep on a flight, think about the arrival time. If you get in at 6am, you have a REALLY long day ahead of you (and you’re probably already somewhat sleep deprived). This usually leads to more napping during the day (for you AND the kid(s)) and might make adjusting more challenging.  If you get in at noon, you probably only need to keep them awake for another 6-8 hours… much more doable than a full, exhausting 12 hour day. All else equal, I’d pick the 7pm takeoff.
• Being outside / staying awake and active as best you can. On arrival day, we have found that the more you can keep the kids going… active, at parks, running around small streets, exploring something new, etc,… the better off you’ll be. Take your stroller and be prepared for some whining & tantruming, but try to keep naps to a minimum ( for non-napping-age little humans). If the older kiddos do pass out, which they inevitably might, then just don’t let it be forever and find some kind and fun/special way to wake them up, like ice cream, or a game on their ipad, etc. Make sure they know it’s not just them; everyone’s going through a time transition and it IS hard. It’s important to share that message so they feel like you’re all struggling together. 
• If you can, be a little flexible… You might choose to allow your kids to go to bed a little earlier than you normally would – or a little bit later – depending on whether they’re totally exhausted or super duper awake. And then you can adjust in stages, if that works better for your child: a little earlier each night if their bodies are keeping them up, or a little later each night if their bodies are making them super sleepy too early. If you think this strategy will work best for your family, then just plan the first few days to be shifting hours, which means, you should NOT plan early morning activities if you think your child is apt to be going to bed later and getting up later, or, DO NOT plan some special evening dinners if you think your child is going to faceplant in them at 6:30pm and be waking up at 5am. If you plan your trip for the first few days to include some adjustment time, everyone will likely be less stressed and you’ll enjoy things a LOT more.
• Melatonin. Plenty of people have plenty of thoughts on melatonin. It has worked very well for us. We first consulted our doctor and asked if it was alright to try a small amount with our kids, for a few nights after a transatlantic flight to help transition them. I included the brand and a link to it on Amazon so the doctor knew for sure the dosage and kind I was looking at.  I would recommend you do the same unless you already know what you’re doing :). We were given a thumbs up for our 4, 5 and 7 year olds– and we first tried it on our trip from Seattle to Portugal. We kept them busy/active during the daytimes, and our nighttime routine was to get ready for bed, get the room as dark as possible, give the melatonin to them when we started reading books, and then, like magic, they all conked out… and (even more magical) slept through the night. We only used the melatonin for three nights, by which time their natural sleep patterns were kicking in. The major whining was not about going to sleep, it was about not getting their “sleep gummies”.  We have that found sleep adjustment help is needed more when traveling “East” (ie from the US to Europe) and less necessary when we follow the sun “west” (Europe to US). Whenever we fly back home from Europe (or even the east coast), they have usually had a longer day and just “power through” to bedtime more easily. So we have not used it on returns back home. I anticipate this may be different if flying from Asia back to the US though. The brand we used was Natrol Kids Melatonin; in retrospect, I’d look for a smaller number or just take a few in some kid-proof smaller container so you don’t have to schlep the larger container around. 
• Do they have to adjust? One fun question to ask yourself is, does my kid actually need to fully adjust? In some cases, the answer is definitely YES –  If you’re flying from the US to India, you wouldn’t want your kid awake all night and asleep all day. But, if you’re going to Barcelona for a week from the US, and so much of the action happens late at night, you might be perfectly happy for your child not to adjust to their normal 8pm bedtime  (…just think, you could have dinner at 9pm with the locals!). Perhaps your kids adjust SOME hours, getting up at 10am instead of 7 and going to bed at 11pm or midnight instead of 8pm… Anyways, it’s worth figuring out if it’s “worth” the fight to really adjust. 
• Make lemons out of lemonade: If you have a child that awakens in the wee hours of the morning, depending on where you are and if you can tag-team with another grownup who can watch any other kids (and by “watch”, I mean “continue to sleep”), it’s sometimes an amazing opportunity to see a town/city/village before the buzz of action begins. Some of my husband’s most salient memories from our Thailand trip were walking around with our 2 year old at 5am as Cheng Mai awoke…seeing lights pop off, tuk tuks coming to life, people exercising super early in the park before it got warm, etc. You experience a place in a whole new light pre-dawn…so if you’re up already, you might as well go explore and take advantage of the “opportunity”. Don’t fight it. And on top of it, the other grownup and other sleeping kid(s) will thank you.