Flying with 19 mo across three hours time zone diff - any suggestions?

[MarciaMSPT]

Hello... we've got an 18 month old and we are considering flying from Indiana (midwest) to California for about a week.  He will be 19 or 20 months old when we are thinking about going.  We will be crossing a three hour time zone change

I'm looking for words of advice and some brutal honesty!  Is this not a good idea, night flight vs. day flights etc. . .   He sleeps very well now - BT about 8pm, sleeps till about 7am.  nap from 1:30 to 3:00 (often capped). 

Open to any all all suggestions, advice etc.  First time flying.  We don't go far from home.  3-4x on a 3.5 hour trip to Ohio and once so far up to Michigan - 8 hour trip in car.  Other than that only 1 hour trips.

Thanks in advance!
 

[katie80]

Hi Marcia, I'm going to move this over to Sleeping for Toddlers as your LO is over 1yr.

We've done a trip from ND to CA for the past 4yrs in the spring... ours is a 2hr time difference. I always think it's worth it, but that's partly due to the fact that winter is so long for us and I'm definitely ready for a break. We also go with my parents, so have plenty of help!

As far as flight times, I think morning/mid-morning works best, depending on how early you have to be at the airport. This way, you make it to CA by lunchtime/early afternoon and can get a nap in (maybe in the car) and have time to settle in before BT. Early afternoon works pretty good as well, esp if you think there's a chance he may sleep on the plane.

In terms of once you get there, it kind of depends on how flexible he is. You mention that you often cap his nap. I think that'll work to your advantage in that hopefully the first day or two he'll be able to take a nice, long nap so you can push BT a bit. My DD was not a very flexible toddler, so we never expected her to move her routine much more than an hr... her normal wake-up at home was 6:30, so we were often up at 5:30 in CA (but that's 7:30 ND time, so really pretty good for her). My DS1 is very flexible, so he would nap long and we would push BT and he could probably make it back to close to his normal wake-up (which means almost 2hr change) within a couple days. As they've gotten older, it has become much easier.

So, I guess I would try to set your expectations not too high. Know that there will be some OT and it might not be the most restful of vacations. But, IMO it's totally worth it to get away, enjoy some family time, and hopefully lots of sun!

[lauradj]

I agree ^^, it's going to be the luck of the draw in terms of the effect it'll have on your LO.  When we flew from BC to CA (no time change), DS napped and slept like a champ!  It was downright weird.  He'd nap for 2.5-3 hrs and then sleep for 12-13 at night!!  I don't know if it was the heat or the quiet (it was a gated-community that lives to golf.  Nothing happens after 8pm) but it was bliss! 
At any rate, I'd say take the risk because you'll all enjoy yourselves and the sun, regardless of the possible sleep issues.

[MarciaMSPT]

Thank you - will see how things go - that's about all I can do!  Right now we are in the start of possible 18 mo SR - and am tweaking his schedule a bit so will just have go one day at a time...  Thanks again!

[katie80]

Good luck!