Jet lag 25 month old

[aMei]

We have been out of the country for a month. The first 3 nights after returning were great. Ds slept from 10pm-10:30am, 9:30-10:30, and 9-10:30. He had to be woken up every morning. Long naps of 2pm-5pm. He had to be woken up 2/3 naps. Tonight is the fourth night. Everything was the same. He went down right around 9pm. We noticed that he was awake around 2am. He played quietly for about an hour before beginning to cry for "up up time." My husband and I disagreed about what to do. He wanted to commence with the strategies that we've been using forever. I thought that jet lag is different, because I know firsthand how hard it is to try to sleep when I don't feel sleepy, so that we should offer milk, a book, an abbreviated version of his sleep routine. We ended up trying husband's method for an hour then offered ds my method. He is now quietly in bed but still awake. I'm wondering what we should be doing to help him get over jet lag. I expect the next few days to be a challenge.

[aMei]

Help! Last night was worse. Ds woke up crying around 1:30am and stayed up crying off and on for 3 hrs. Again we tried just walk in, blanket, kiss, goodnight for about 2 hrs. He would try to climb out of his crib. Then he asked for milk, which we gave him. He also asked to be out, for books, toys, anything to not sleep. When we walk out, sometimes he would cry immediately other times he would cry 5-10min after. We are so tired and battering our own jet lag. We've also started to wake him up earlier each morning, which has been difficult knowing that he's not sleeping through the night. Now 9:30am. We have also been shortening his nap from 3+hrs to 2:30. We also try to get him out in yhe sun. What else can we be doing?

[nona]

I can't remember how we handled this when we took our DS overseas (10 months). We are planning on a trip and my dd will be around 20 months! Eek!!

I'd prob wake him up normal time and put down for nap as late as can (close to old schedule). Can you give him melatonin at night?  I think it's just going to be rough for the next week getting back on track.

Which direction did you fly home?

[aMei]

We flew east home. He has now been crying for the past 2 hrs. My husband has been really sweet in taking the lead in going to ds, so ds keeps crying out for me. Heart wrenching. :*(

[nona]

i'm not looking forward to this at all
i'm surprised not many people have responded to this thread...there are lots of international flyers on the board...

[Emami]

We flew the other way a couple of months ago, so east away and west home with a 5hr time difference.  When we flew east we had the same thing where she was up at night but it seemed like it was her stomach rather than sleep that was out of synch.  We kept the lights dim and the room quiet but gave her a banana and a yoghurt (would never do that normally!).  She didnt go straight back to sleep but it settled her.  It took about a week of NWs and strange WU times before she adjusted.  We didn't feed her every night, but might be something to bear in mind?  Is he eating at normal mealtimes? We did let her have long naps to make up for the rough nights and it kind of evened out over the week.

Hope it improves soon, and Heather good luck when you travel! 

[aMei]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences Heather and Emma! We have given him milk a couple nights. We didn't last night because he had just gone to bed 2 hrs before..it's so hard to know what to do. It's been a week now. It's weird that the first 3 nights he actually had no problems and started NWs on the fourth night, 3 nights in a row now.

Anyone else willing to share what they did?

[roimata9]

We flew from NZ to the US recently with our 2yr old. we had a week of long NWs. Part of the problem was that his US BT was his NZnap time so he was used to having shorter sleeps then. We tried to get him in the sunshine as early in the morning as possible and to stay in the light for as long as possible. When he woke I would bf him in our bed then lie with him quietly singing until he fell asleep again. We kept the lights off the whole time since light affects your melatonin.
I would try waking him earlier and giving him an earlier nap so he is tireder at BT and also get him running around in the light as much as you can. Give him a high protein snack before bed to stave off hunger, but I'd continue to offer food when he wakes. Have you ruled out other causes for waking eg teeth?  It turned out DS had his 2yr molars coming through at the same time which I think contributed to the NW.

[aMei]

I'm afriad this jet lag thing has changed to something else. DS now starts crying as soon as we even begin to leave the room. I don't remember what to do anymore. Can anyone help?