Travelling with a one year old - 9 hours time difference

[andrewde]

Hello all,

We live in Vancouver, Canada. We will be traveling back to Europe (Belgium) end of September.

Our little boy, Matti, is 11 months. He has been cured following GNS 4 months ago.

I have read a few posts discussing this matter. Our case is slightly different as the time difference is not 1 hour or even 6 hours, but 9 hours.

We already flew back when Matti was 3 months old. We didn't know about the GNS at the time. People kept telling us that he would adapt himself automagically. It didn't happen. We ended up living in Belgium following the PST timezone for 3 weeks. Awful.

This time is different as we have the tools from the GNS (and this forum ).

According to the advice given on p. 233-234 in the GNS book, we should make use of the 15 minutes margin.

A few ways we can think of:

• - We could start the day 15 mins earlier every day. But that would take 36 days to fully adjust him.

• - We could partially adjust him, up to 3-4 hours.

• - Or we don't adjust him at all and we progressively adjust him once in Belgium. We keep him on the PST timezone for the first 2-3 days so that he recovers from the journey (15 hours, 1 stop in Germany).

• - Or we stick to the new schedule. No matter what.
  
  Excerpt from this post:
  .

  ..
  If yes, then you hit the restart button and start on night 2 (mini-cure) in the cheat sheet.
  ...
  You stick with the schedule down to the minute. No extra naps, no food, no compensation for loose of sleep. It should take you 3 days to introduce and 7 days to manifest.
  ...

Thanks a lot,
Andrew

[TorsMamma]

Hi,

Are you moving back or just going on a LONG trip?

So just like you say, 9 hours we don't do the 15min/day adjustment. It is just not worth it.

My suggestion is that you fly when time is, and don't offer food to Matti on the "old" time but on the "New" times. You see it is the meals that adjusts the jetlag and serotonin and melatonin. So as soon as possible start the food times when you land correct.
Let Matti sleep when he sleeps or don't sleep on the flight, just try keeping mealtime, if it is breakfast try serving a breakfast like meal on Belgian time and so on. When you land, just JUMP on the schedule times just like you quoted above! It is the very best. Don't compensate or anything. Just get the new times and go, keep the mealtimes is the most important key. And just go as day 2 if necessary on the cheatsheet.

Enjoy the trip!

[andrewde]

@TorsMamma, thank you very much for your answer (again, as you already replied to my first post ).

We will be staying in Belgium for 3 weeks to visit our families.

I understand from your message that meal times are key to adjust anyone to a new time zone.

Let Matti sleep when he sleeps or don't sleep on the flight, just try keeping mealtime.

Our plane is a Saturday at 13:25 Vancouver time, landing in Brussels the day after, Sunday, at 12:20 PM Belgian time.

We will respect his daily schedule, that is: wake up at 7:00 AM, breastfeeding at 7:00 AM, breakfast at 7.30 AM, snack at 9.45 AM, nap until 12:00 PM, lunch, nap from 3 PM to 4 PM, snack at 4 PM, dinner at 6.15 PM, bath, feeding bottle at 7:15 PM, bed at 7.30 PM.

So on the plane, we follow the schedule of Vancouver until dinner.
Then, when they serve breakfast, it's time to switch to the new schedule, we also give him breakfast and then follow the "normal" schedule.

My question is the following:
What if he is asleep at 12:00 PM Belgian time when he is supposed to have his launch? Or his snack or his dinner?
Chances are he will have barely slept on the plane... so he will do his night during Day 1 in Belgium. If I understand this properly, we have to wake him up otherwise he will not get used to the new timezone.

Thanks,
Andrew

[Tin]

Hi,
or chances are that he sleeps heaps. You never know, mine always have when traveling New Zeeland - Sweden on many occasions.
And if he dont sleep much, no sweat. Calm parents will give you a higher chanse of him sleeping.
Try keeping the meal time as much as possible, but just keep a sense of common sense, if he does not sleep on the plane and then finally falls asleep on a mealtime, so be it. Let him sleep. And then get back into the meal schedule as fast as possible in the new country.

What I find with time zones, is that they go through what you go through. Last time we traveled to Vietnam we all woke up in our hotel room at 4 in the morning, non of us could sleep anymore. Oh well, we watched a inte until breakfast was served at 7, and then we tried to keep meal times for the rest of the day as much as possible.

So absolutely, aim for a meal schedule on normal times in the new country, but use common sense depending on how much sleep the little one has had. And maybe it wont even be a problem because the little one will sleep heaps on the plane.....

hugs Tin

[TorsMamma]

Hi,

I'm sorry, I have som difficulties with your schedule and find it a bit difficult to sort out. Could you try listing the times a bit for me?

A 9-11 month old need 2 naps and about 14 hours of sleep. This is preferable like this 12+45 (or 20)+1,5. The natural sleeping is 5 min, 20 min, 45 min, 1,5 hour, 2 hours. I see you have 1 hour naps which usually is not preferred.

Also meals is good to have 4 meals and a last top up. We sometimes add like you have a second breakfast but it needs to go at least 3 hours to the next meal.

So perhaps you should take this time to review the schedule all together?

[andrewde]

Thank you, Tin. You made it sound so easy

TorsMamma, you make a good point there. We were actually thinking about altering Matti's nap schedule after Belgium. I forgot about these natural sleeping lengths, thanks for the reminder.

Currently, his schedule is: 12 + 2 + 1

But it's becoming more and more like this: 11.30 + 1.5 + 1.5

We are leaning towards 11.30 + 2.30 in the afternoon

[TorsMamma]

Hi, I wouldn't be too quick to go to 1 nap/day to soon. My son was 15 months when he was ready for 1 nap. So they need to be minimum 12 months. Just saying. So you can have a schedule with 11.30+ 20 (45) and 2 if you wish.

[andrewde]

HI all,

Quick update

Matti slept for 1 hour on the planes and 2 hours in the car afterward. He then slept another hour and followed the new timezone meal schedule.

We put him to bed at 7 PM Belgian time (like we would have done in Vancouver) and he slept like a log until midnight.

He is still adjusting and keeps waking up from midnight to 2 AM. He goes really ballistic. We jingle and try to answer his questions with as little time inside the room as possible.

[TorsMamma]

Hi,

So how long have you know been in Belgium?

[andrewde]

Hi TorsMamma,

I sincerely apologie for not getting back to you last October.

We stayed in Belgium for three weeks. Following the method, Matti made it through the night as of the second day!

Thank you for your advice. The main takeaway for us was to have meal times following the new time zone's schedule.

Andrew

[TorsMamma]

I'm so glad things worked out for you! Thanks for the feedback!