jet lag in young children

[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.

[BigDevil]

Read somewhere that a way to overcome jet lag is to start adjusting to the time difference even before arrival. Meaning while you are on the plane, keep yourself awake during the destination’s daytime, and sleep when it is night time at the destination. Though it might be tough to get a child to do that since day and night is directly opposite for Singapore and US.


So you might want to bring some antihistamine along and give them to your son to make him sleepy when it is time to sleep. Once he’s energized, then it won’t be so hard to keep him awake.

[corneyAmber]

Just to share a friend's experience. She's Singaporean and married an American and has settled down in San Francisco since U days. Her kids are 16 and 14 this year.


Not sure about now, have lost touch with her over the years, but when the kids were younger, she used to fly back alone with her kids every year to spend time with her parents. Her husband could not join her on some trips, so she made those trips all by herself.

What she did was she calculated the number of flight time and prepared little, little presents for kids to entertain them on flight. One hour, one gift. Okay, granted that it's a kind of expensive way of entertaining the kids, but what was important to her was that it worked since she had to travel with not just one but two toddlers by herself on those long flights. When she shared her experience with me, I was like :shock: at the expense she went through to bring her two kids to/fro Singapore to make sure that they are familiar with their Chinese roots.

She also brought along her kids' favourite stuffed toys, smelly pillows/bosters and what nots to make the kids comfortable.

[pea]

Gosh, thanks for all the feedback!


Well, I had severe jet-lag a few years ago, when I travelled to Orlando, hence the apprehension. :shock: Also I threw up a few times on that turbulent flight. I am very prone to motion sickness.

Hope my kid can take to flights better than me! :oops:

P.S. My friend also recommended that I bring along a small laptop and some children's DVD's to play on the plane. Hope that helps!

:celebrate:

[ooptimizer]

I think there’s one medicine to prevent jet lag. Can’t remember the name now, will try to find out the name again.