jet lag in young children

[pea]

Hi. We may have to travel to San Francisco next month to attend a relative's engagement party.


My concern is whether my 3.5 year old son will have problems adjusting to the time zone difference there. When it is 12MN here, it's about 8am there. Pretty hard to adjust quickly, right?

We will only be spending about 1 to 2 weeks there. And when we come back, he has to adjust back again.

Anyone has experience on what this is like? Will there be a lot of crankiness, difficult behaviour? How long does it usually take to get over the jet lag? Any useful tips?

If it's going to be a hassle, we probably will not go.

Please advise. Thanks.

[mathsparks]

Had a very negative experience with my 1.5 yr old daughter on her first flight to Manchester. Original plan was drastically cut short to 3 days after a visit to a hospital there, and back home she was warded again. Terrible experience.


Share these with you:
- At 1.5 yrs, she’s way too young to travel long distance. Not sure abt 3.5 yrs.
- Board early so your kid can get used to the surroundings before the crowd descends on him
- Pack some medication to let him sleep in case he gets cranky
- Pack his favorite soft toy/bolster etc
- If possible, take a short flight to the region, to see how he copes with the noise/ear pressure on take-off/landing
- Upon arrival at your destination, take it real slow with him. Let him recover before all the touring/visiting.

Good luck.

[auntieM]

My son loves the plane?! We would let him play and exhaust himself out.

He would eat, play a little inflight games, then look for his small stuff toy, at this time would get attendent to make bed while bring him to toilet.....Afterwards he would :snooze: for a long time.
Upon arrival we practice: sleep when tired, eat when hungry for about a day.
Then he would be ok from there. We have been lucky I guess

[tankee]

It’s going to be a L-O-N-G flight. Be prepared.

[pea]

Thanks all!


This will be our kid's 1st flight some more!

Originally planned to travel to Japan in April to try out the SIA experience with him . But this thing cropped up and my hubby feels that since he has to go (his close cousin's engagement), why not we tag along too, and we skip the Japan trip. (can only afford 1 overseas trip per year mah... :oops: ). Some more he is using so much leave for this trip, got little left for other trips. So if me and kid don't join him, means no more trips for us this year!

But I don't want to spend half the trip struggling with jet lag myself and a jet-lagged kid too! My hubby has to help out with the organising, and join his mates for \"farewell to bachelor days\" party etc... events where me and kid excluded, so I may be alone for the first few days...

Also, the long flight sounds... l-o-n-g. But at least my hubby can help out here.

Would really like to go, but considering whether my kid can take it, long flight, change in weather, unfamiliar food, new surroundings.

My hubby, however, very positive. Said it would be a very stimulating experience for the kid. But then, he's the one going to :siam: during the first few days, ha ha.

[pea]

auntieM:

My son loves the plane?! We would let him play and exhaust himself out.

He would eat, play a little inflight games, then look for his small stuff toy, at this time would get attendent to make bed while bring him to toilet.....Afterwards he would :snooze: for a long time.
Upon arrival we practice: sleep when tired, eat when hungry for about a day.
Then he would be ok from there. We have been lucky I guess

AuntieM, attendant got make bed ah? You travel business class/1st class? Or which airline is this?

So, your kid just took 1 day to adjust to the time zone difference? Wow! How old is he?

[CJS]

Same here. My ds aged 3.5 to 4 at tat time when we went to LA also took one day to adjust to the time difference. You will be amazed how quickly children can adapt to changes. Much faster than us adults.

[auntieM]

Hi pea,

So far so good, he started at around 3 year old. We normally go on SIA. Its easier with his favourite food/snacks during the trip.

[autumnbronze]

Hi pea,


My 2 cents ...

Most important - Just go with an open and positive mind.

Bring his fav toy, books, clothes so that there is some familiarity among the unfamiliarity.

Talk to him abt the trip to prepare him mentally that its going to be a long trip.

He's 3.5 yrs? So shd be no problem in keeping him occupied in the plane ie activities like puzzles, tv etc ...

SIA usu takes care of their passengers well, so rest assured

Kids get tired quickly when overseas cuz of sight-seeing, visiting etc ...so they tend to sleep well too.

Have a wonderful trip

[minnie2004]

We are also planning a trip to the the west coast (Vancouver, LA) this summer with our 3.5 yr old DS and 6 yr old DD. My DD has been on these kind of long trips before - LA and Hawaii when she was as young as 10 months old and had no jet lag problems as she could sleep in the baby bassinet. Now that she’s older, I’m afraid there could be more problems. We go on frequent trips to HK and other south-east asian countries and she has hard time sleeping on the plane. She’s very smart, playing the whole time on the plane so we can’t sleep and only falls asleep after landing so we have to carry her :x . Also, I’m also worried it’s easy to catch virus on such long flights. That’s why I’ve been postponing any long trips as much as possible but DH has some college reunion this year and I can’t postpone it any more.