Baby jetlag advice?

[Missjojo]

Having just returned from NZ we're really struggling with Baby's (10 months) jetlag. Arriving in NZ he recovered pretty quickly, but here it's been tough and feels like its getting worse not better (though that maybe because I'm also suffering, by being wide awake when he's asleep)...

He's waking up at 3 or 4 wide awake ready to play, not napping well during the day - either really short or really long (usually in the afternoon when his body thinks its night time). Not sure if I should be waking him from long naps - if so when? Or how to respond when he wakes up in the night - little snack, full bottle? Today he had 45 mins sleep between 4am and 2pm and I had to drive around for him to go to sleep this afternoon.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Pickle]

I've been travelling to and from NZ with kids for 6 years now (I've done it 10 times, and these days it's with 3 children).

We always find the jet lag worse on the return trip, most recently it took our youngest (11 months at the time) a week to get back into her normal routine even with me being very strict about routine to try and help her.

Definitely wake him from long daytime naps after the normal time he would sleep for in the day. It feels mean, but it's the only way to get them back on track. Get outside during the day as much as you can, and at night (once again I'm going to sound mean!) ignore as much as you can, unless he's really upset.

Feel free to pm me if you want any more advice.

[Pickle]

Also, during the day do your best to keep him awake when he would usually be awake. My little girl naps at 9am for an hour and 12:30ish for a couple of hours, so I was careful to only let her sleep at those times. For a couple of days when we first got back I put her down for the night a bit earlier (6:30 instead of 7).

It gets easier as they get older - my big kids know that if they wake up and it's still nighttime they have to stay quietly in their room and not wake us up :)

They returned to school the day after we got home, and the routine of that really helped them to get over the jet lag quickly this time round.

[lenster]

Second Pickle's advice. The return trip from the Far East for us is always tougher and using playgroups that little one likes a lot makes staying awake during the day easier. Generally takes us a week to get back on track.

[Missjojo]

Thanks for your replies!

We're still struggling - argh! I'm trying to keep him busy and get him back into his routine. But hes waking at 4 or 5 with no chance of going back to sleep and he seems to have lost all his good sleeping habits - he's not able to go to sleep in his cot during the day, he cant self settle and I cant settle him with any of the normal tricks.

Any other tips? I'm guessing its just perseverance...

[Convex]

Yep, perseverance

You will get there

[Pickle]

Yep. How long have you been back for?

[Missjojo]

We've been back a week. Last night was slightly better thank god! Fingers crossed, we're on the up!

[Convex]

Ours took 10 days, and that's with a decent stopover on Singapore!

Almost there!