Travelling accross the world with an 11month old, any advice????

[rachsenior]

Hello,

We are travelling to New Zealand from the UK next week for a holiday (and a job interview for my DH). It seemed like a great idea at the time, but now a 26 hour plane journey and an upside down time zone seems like a crazy plan!!!

I just wondered if anyone had any experience or any advice on the best way to manage the flight firstly?? Any good tips on things to take? When's best to encourage sleep, better to go with old time zone so that you don't have an overtired baby on your hands? Or to try and get them to sleep nearer to the new time zone? Or just hope they sleep at all? Or just to go with the flow, hope for the best and if it's a nightmare just give the baby to DH whos idea it was to go in the first place!!!!!!!!!

The second thing is adjusting to the new time zone, has anyone travelled in this direction and have a success story?? or even a nightmare one ( I need to be prepared!!!!). What I can't work out, and i'm not sure if this is going to make sense but is whether to go forwards or backwards, do I try and keep him up later before bed or put to bed earlier? I can't work this out at all!!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

BTW, generally DS is an angel/textbook baby that has been on EASY since 8 weeks, however since an illness a couple of weeks ago he has decided on a 5 am wake up time. I have tried a few things but to no avail at the mo, but I have decided to go with flow at the moment as we are about to turn his world upside down anyway! Can't work out if I can use this to my advantage though???

Routine is roughly,

Wakes at 5am, bit grumpy really, tries to go back to sleep but can't
E. 6am bf
    7am solids
A.
S. 9am - 10 am (ish)
E. 10 am Snack if hungry

E. 12 pm Solids
A
E.1.30pm Bottle 3 oz (all he will take)
S. 2-3pm (ish) (sometimes won't go down at all but is happy to play)

E. 4.30 Solids
A. bath, playtime
E. 6.15pm Bottle 9oz
S. 6.45 Sleep

Any comments on the routine would be greatly appreciated to as I feel i've lost the way a little bit and worry that things may go very wrong, am I right to leave working on early wake ups until after the holiday?

Many thanks  for reading the post this far!!!

Rachel

[* Paula *]

Hi Rachel,

I am sorry I am not going to be able to give you any advice on the international travel, as when we travelled with DS on an 11 hour flight, the time difference was only 2 hours so it was not too bad.

I have however found this link that may be of some help to you.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63643.0

At the moment I would just go with the flow, and not worry too much about trying to get his routine fixed, cause as you say, things are going to be turned upside down in a little while's time.  Could your DS be waking up early cause of the clocks chaninging?  My DS has seemed to do the same thing at the moment, and is still up earlier than normal.

Hopefully you will be able to get some advice from other mums / dads that have travelled with a big time difference.

Paula x

[s_olano00]

Or just hope they sleep at all? Or just to go with the flow, hope for the best and if it's a nightmare just give the baby to DH whos idea it was to go in the first place!!!!!!!!!

HA! I love that one, and I strongly suggest you to choose it 

After making 3 trips of about 23 hours each, the best thing I could suggest you is to choose the seats that are next to the windows but instead of a row of 3 seats, there is a row of 2 seats. They are kind of at the end of the plane, but you and your family will have way more space and more privacy too.

In my trips the biggest problems that I had was that I found out that there are some airports where you cannot have your stroller when you exit the plane (Charles de Gaulle, Paris for example) and the airline people apparently don't know about it, so although they promised I was going to have the stroller, it was sent directly to our destination and I had to run after a 15 month old for 5 hours. Another time, the airline people also told me that I shouldn't worry about our seats, as they knew I was travelling with an infant and refused to reserve a seat in advance. Of course we didn't get the seats I wanted.

So my advice would be to call the airline several times in order to double check and triple check the information they give you.

Also, maybe it could be a good idea to wait a little bit to board the plane. If you board first, your LO might be very bored by the time the flight is completely boarded. Sometimes we had to wait about 45 mins to be ready to take off!!

If there is something that you might not be happy about, tell the flight attendant!! In my case, i happend to find an angel that was able to switch me to the 2 seat row that I told you about before (even when DD was supposed to travel on my lap) which made a huuuge difference. She also gave us little airplane treats (we didn't get those on our previous flights) that kept DD pretty much entertained.

Also, if you happen to have nap time during the flight, try to put your LO to sleep. If he falls asleep, good... if not, then keep on playing and think that the lack of sleep will be good when you arrive to your destination and try to catch up with the local time of your destination. Don't get nervous if your LO doesn't fall asleep - he might feel that you are nervous and might get cranky or nervous too. Fortunately, DD didn't have too much trouble with jetlag... she did have trouble with early wakings and maybe falling asleep at nap time and sometimes i had to wake her up from naps or in the mornings, but nothing that wasn't solved in days. Just keep your routine and be very consistent with waking up/going to sleep times and you'll see that your LO will be back on track sooner or later.

Take Care and Good Luck!

[deenz]

Hi there,

DH and I travelled from NZ to South Africa (via Singapore) with dd1 when she was 14mo (and I was 16wks pregnant).  We travelled with Singapore Airlines.  In our case, dd1 did not really sleep!  We had ordered the bulkhead seats (to get the bassinet) but it quickly became apparent that this was not going to get used for sleeping!!  We also had bought a seat for dd1, so had a car seat in that too (and thereby also had those three seats by the window to ourselves).  It was still worthwhile having the bassinet for storing our many many toys and bits and pieces that we took along!  We took an umbrella stroller which we kept up until boarding, and then got back straight away.  This was great especially at our stop-over in Singapore, as we could actually get dd1 to sleep in it (by tipping it up and rocking it, then perching it on some chairs so it stayed semi-flat!).  On the way over we actually had a day in Singapore too, which was good so we could actually get a bit of sleep in the hotel.  On the way back we only had a few hours in the airport.  The only way I could get dd1 to sleep was by bf'ing her (and she certainly didn't do that at home) and I then had a heavy lump on my lap for a short while (while she stayed asleep!).

We tried to get in to the local time-zone as soon as we got to our destination, but this really didn't work too well (tried to put her to bed at '7pm' as usual etc).  I think the time difference between SA and UK is one hour, so the time difference you'll have to here is virtually the same as what we had.  On the way back we landed in NZ late at night (around 11pm I think) so we felt like we *should* go to bed, but it was very difficult convincing dd1 to sleep!  I think we had a week of very difficult nights (she would 'nap' a few times at night, and then be wide awake).  We ended up just doing very quiet non-stimulating things with her when she was awake.  Don't know if that was right or not.  So it will depend a lot on what time you land here... if it's day time, try and keep him awake as much as possible, but still expect broken nights.

On the flight, just go with the flow.  Take snack foods that you know he'll like, you never know when he'll be hungry with the time difference/travel etc.  Take plenty of nappies!  You never know what might happen, delays etc.  Take lots of cheap little toys to play with.  Something new is always good.  Lots of books if he's into that.  I took some clothes pegs in a clear container with a hole cut into it, which was quite a lot of entertainment, and it didn't matter if we lost it.  Take turns with DH on sleeping/looking after your LO.

That's all I can think of at the moment.  Feel free to ask any more questions, it will prompt my memory!!
Good luck (for the travel and job interview!).  Whereabouts in NZ are you going to? 

[andrea21]

Rachel,

I flew from Spain to Australia 4 weeks ago,with Ds who was 9.5months and DD who is 4.

Normally when I have flow-en with DD the last 4 years not a problem,I just let her eat when she wanted and slept when she wanted.Been the flight is so long,and when you arrive you have to change the clock,I have found it easier,to just let it happen naturally.

But this last flight was all prepared to have Ds on a routine on the flight,but Ds and DD were both sick with vomiting and diarrhoea on the flight,so sleep and feeding didn't exist.It took Ds 9 days to start eating.

The best thing I could offer,is don't stress if things don't go to plan...

good luck with the flight

Andrea..

[rachsenior]

Thank you all so much for your time and suggestions I will certainly take them all on board (pardon the pun!!).

Paula, thanks for the great link, I'll have to get the toddler book at some point!! the clocks going back have definitely exacerbated the problem but it was there before that. (ie. waking at 5.30/6 now it's 4.30/5). Will keep going with the flow until we come back!!

Silvia, Many thanks for the advice

Denise, thanks for your handy tips. We are staying in Auckland for a few nights then heading north for a week or so. I'm really looking forward to it, I've been before and LOVED it. A little less baggage last time tho!

Andrea, thanks for the support, sorry to hear your LO's were poorly,

Thanks again and if anyone thinks of any other helpful ideas.....................