UK - HK Jet lag: Any tips for baby?

K

KatBoo

Registered User
hi. although there seems to be loads of info 'out there' for how to cope with the flight, there doesn't seem to be any advice on how to alter the routine to new time zones. this is day no4 after arriving from the UK and I got my 7month old into his day routine at the new HK time pretty quickly. now he just seems to wake for a few hours in the late evening and I've been staying in his darkened room with him and trying to get him back to sleep, but he does tend to have a meltdown about it (poor rabbit obviously wide awake and wondering why we're sitting in the dark)

any tips from mums who're pros at the UK to HK time difference greatly appreciated.

Kat
 
I?ve found the best thing for jet lag ? for babies and adults alike ? is to get out into the natural light as much as possible. Try not to spend your days indoors; I know that isn?t always easy especially on a rainy day like today.
Best wishes,
Barb
 
I've not had good experiences with this myself, so just have faith that it will pass and it is normal for it to take a while. It is supposed to take a day for each hour of time difference (sometimes more for us).

Tried the outdoors in the daylight thing and it must help but we certainly got more daylight over here when we got back than we did in the UK at Xmas when it got dark at 3 o'clock... yet hardly any jetlag at all going to the UK whereas coming back here it has been terrible!

Our baby/now toddler has not been overly upset but it's hard on the parents who might not be able to get back to sleep after night disturbances. The last two times we have come back from the UK, our helper did night duty on about the fifth night because we were both shattered.

When he really does appear wide awake in the night, you might try playing with him for a while (keep lights soft and don't get him too excited) just to keep things calm, and reduce the duration of this playtime over the course of the next few days. And keep doing the things he associates with bedtime. He WILL eventually get the message! Good luck.
 
It's been my experience it takes my kids about 5 days to re-set their clocks (12 hour time difference). It was worst when they were babies.

What did I do with them? I think I just did all the usual "try and put them to bed stuff" as when they had their normal night waking. My son was such a terrible night sleeper, that in a way, jet lag made very little difference. I think the main thing I did was ponder the First Noble Truth: Life is Suffering.

By the time they were over two I practiced judicious nap deprivation and dosing with small glasses of coca-cola during the "danger times" of late afternoon to keep them awake until about 7pm.

Putting them in the sun (sun? in HK for the last week... what sun?!!!) does help them too.
 
Hi,

I'm living the same things as we are back from France since last sunday. Jet lag is far worse in that direction. In France, we didn't see much jet lag on her at all.

Like the others say, I'm trying to go out a lot during day time. She does tend to stay more awake than if we are home. And we wake her up for her bath at 7am like before.

Last night, she slept by midnight and didn't wake up till this morning. I think that tonight should be fine.

But I have to say that it hasn't been too difficult for me and my husband because we just simplified things by co-sleeping. I know that some are really against it, but I have to say that it is really practical. If she wake up at night, she may play a little in the dark, but being with us, she just play alone while we continue our (light) sleep. And then, seeing us sleep, she tend to fall back to sleep much faster than she would on other time.
Usually, we do not practice co-sleeping all the time, only when she has had a cold (at 4 months old) and when she wake up at night which she does less and less often.

By the way, she's 9 months old now.
 
got there in the end..

thanks for all the tips, we are now back to a normal 7 to 7 routine! yippee. In the end I did a 9pm bedtime for the first 3 nights, then brought back to 7pm and although we had some wakings (and playings) on the whole it wasn't too bad. Also, I think it was made worse by the strange room / smell etc (we are in a serviced apartment until find somewhere perm).

Hopefully future trips wont be so traumatic as he'll be in his familiar bedroom environment.

Thanks all.

Kat & Boo
 
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