Getting Over Jetlag with Kids

It's definitely not an easy task trying to get over jetlag with kids. Even pre-kids, I remember it taking a few days for me to adjust to the time after long haul travel. Some say it's easier when you are going West versus flying East. But it seemed just as difficult for both times.

I've also heard that some parents give kids melatonin, we didn't try that this time, but may consider it for next time.

With a toddler and a preschooler, we do want them to sleep on the long flight. Especially if there are two flights! That would mean that when we arrive at our destination they are just waking up and won't go to sleep right away. That's fine if it's not already dinnertime...

I've heard that the number of days it will take to get over jetlag depends on the number of hours time difference. So for example, Sweden is 9h ahead of Canada, so it would take 9 days to get over.

On the 9th day, kids got up at 6am! So there really is some truth to that as that means it took them 9 days to get back to a somewhat decent wake up time.

We remembered to gift the neighbours some chocolate for being so understanding with the noise the kids had been making during the week they were suffering from jetlag.

Here are my own tips for getting over Jetlag with kids:

- Eat food for that time zone. So if they wake up at midnight, but that's their breakfast, feed them breakfast food.

- Keep the room dark until it is morning, this is so they learn it is still nighttime.

- Take a red-eye flight to your destination. This helps with some kids, but depends on how long your flight is. Our flight was 2h and then another 10h flight. We arrived in our destination around 7pm local time. Kids were up, napped and then were up at 1am that night hungry for food.

- No naps, it just means they will stay up later. We tried to set an alarm for naps but because we were so exhausted, we always slept through it. With babies younger than 1 year they get over jetlag faster because they are napping all the time (I don't remember having to deal with jetlag when we flew with our 7 mth old back to Canada)

 

- Get them out for some fresh air during the day. It really helps!

- Each parent should take turns being with the kids during a night/early morning shift! 

- Be patient, it can take time to get over jetlag.

Good luck getting over the jetlag!

Don't forget your snacks!