Time zone change help

[sl60]

We are travelling 9 time zones east to west in a week leaving on an afternoon flightand arriving at 10.30 pm at the destination. We'll be there for a week then we go back 2 time zones west to east where we'll be for almost a month. Then its back West to east 7 time zones (on an overnight flight). Any ideas about how to do this semi-sanely with a 2 year old? Last year we didn't have much trouble with the east to west (only 7 hours that time) but returning west to east took about a month to sort out!

[mari]

Sorry this hasn't been seen.

What time are you leaving and what local time will it be when you get to your destination.  Also, what will the times be when you return?

When I travelled to San Diego I had no probs when I got there, but it took ages for me to get back into UK time when I returned.  I think I was waking for hours during the night and it took about a month before I returned to normal.

[J & J's Mum]

Hi,

We travelled from the UK to Singapore, then 4 hours later to Sydney.  Our DS who was 23 months at the time was fantastic, not what I expected at all!  On the way back we flew from Melbourne to Singapore and thento the UK.  I packed loads of books, small cars, crayons, travel aqua mat, picture cards and quite a few snacks and he loved it!!

Good luck

[Gigismom]

oh so sorry i didn't reply to this sooner!  have you left yet?

we just did 13 hour time difference flight with our 2 year old.  she was actually MUCH better than expected.  it took at least a week after each flight for her to fully adjust.  but the best advice i think is just get them on the local time as soon as possible.  expose their bodies to the morning sunlight as this helps reset the body clock.  feed him meals and give him naps at times that correspond to the new time zone.  expect night wakings, but try to keep him quiet, calm, etc at night.  i just laid next to my daughter's bed when she would wake during the night.  sometimes she'd be awake for hours talking, rolling around, etc.  but we just kept her in bed, kept things quiet, etc and her body eventually caught on that it was nighttime.  the days for us always went fine.

have a great time on your trip.