Navigating Jet Lag with Infants and Toddlers
Writer Amanda Kellner Klein shares her thoughtful process for how she best traverses time zones, all while honoring her child’s routine.
Sleep can be one of the most challenging hurdles to navigate when traveling with infants and toddlers.
In these first few years, sleep schedules tend to be inconsistent and sleep regressions are common. It’s daunting to depart from our usual routines at home while trying to establish good sleep habits for our kids. But for parents determined to travel with kids this age, there are effective strategies for approaching time zone changes and jet lag that lead to a smoother trip for the whole family.
Having traveled across many time zones with my daughter starting from the age of six months, I’ve learned that preparation, both mental and tactical, are essential in confronting long distance travel.
Tactically, it can be helpful first to understand the sleep schedule you will want for your child in the new time zone. It’s possible that you would prefer them to be awake a bit later or earlier than they are at home to accommodate the activities at your destination.
The positive thing about a time zone change is that it gives us an opportunity to experiment with a new schedule - so play around with the possibilities!
For example, if you’re flying from the West Coast to the East Coast of the US, you may use the three hour time difference to your advantage by keeping your child on Pacific Time, which would afford you a quieter morning and the ability to go out later at night.
Once you know the schedule you are aiming for, it may make sense to shift your child’s bedtime in 15 minute increments for the week leading up to the trip, therefore slowly easing them into the upcoming time change. Tools like the app Timeshifter or ChatGPT can be prompted to provide sample schedules to work towards.
If possible, choose flight times that align best with your child’s expected sleep patterns. If your infant or toddler sleeps well on the go, an overnight flight may work well for your family. If not, I recommend flying during the day. Personally, I feel less pressure getting my daughter down for a nap on a plane than I do trying to get her to sleep overnight on a plane. Regardless of flight time, bringing familiar items from home, such as their sleep sack, lovey and bedtime books, go a long way in helping little ones fall asleep on a plane.
Amanda’s Jet Lag Tips
Choose aligned flight times for your child’s expected sleep patterns.
Get exposure to natural light + aim for a normal bedtime in the new time zone.
Keep it calm: signal sleep with dimmed lights and a relaxed vibe.
Play around with new schedule possibilities!
Mentally, on travel days I remind myself that any sleep is good sleep. While we maintain a standard sleep routine at home, the best gift a traveling parent can give themselves is to alleviate some of the stress of expectations. Instead of expecting the usual long naps or uninterrupted overnight sleep that may be the norm at home, I anticipate that sleep will be disrupted and try to be content with whatever sleep we get on travel days, knowing we’ll have time to adjust to the jet lag upon arrival.
Even with all of this preparation, travel brings unavoidable shake ups! On the plane, in the moment when everything seems to be going wrong, your baby is crying and overtired and not falling asleep, my best advice is don’t force it.
The most challenging of the 20+ flights I’ve taken my daughter have been those in which she could not fall asleep. When I look back, I wish I could tell myself to take a break from trying to get her to sleep. It feels so important to achieve that sleep in the moment but oftentimes, forcing sleep causes a small child to fight the sleep harder.
In situations where sleep isn’t happening when it “should”, I suggest changing it up. Take a walk down the aisle, change the diaper, have a snack, read a book - do something different that allows everyone to reset and attempt sleep again later.
Upon arrival at the destination, my favorite way to immediately kickstart everyone’s adjustment to the new time zone is by getting exposure to natural light. Taking a quick walk outside works wonders for synchronizing our bodies, and our childrens’ bodies, with the current time.
Another beneficial way to combat jet lag upon arrival is to aim for a normal bedtime in the new time zone. Even if it requires an extra nap, aligning bedtime to the new time zone on the first night will help set the stage for sleep for the rest of the trip.
While traveling, it’s also important to accept that naps may look significantly different than they do at home. On our recent trip, my sixteen-month-old daughter went from taking one nap every day at home in California to taking three naps per day in Spain. She still slept through the night, as each nap was shorter and she was exhausted from the stimulation of being in a new place.
When dealing with late night wake ups or refusal to go to bed while traveling, keep things as calm as possible. Infants and toddlers may need more reassurance to fall and stay asleep in a different environment. Providing comfort while keeping the lights dim and the vibes relaxed will signal to them that it is a time for rest.
Once you’ve adjusted to the new time zone, it can then be intimidating to think about going home and having to do it all in reverse! Remember that sleep disruptions are temporary and habits can be reinstated. Back at home, your baby may have wake ups that align with the time zone they just transitioned from. Employ the same strategy that builds good sleep habits in general: consistency. It may take days or a week but after the repetition of their routine at home is back in play, kids tend to adjust back to their schedules.
