Talk

We went when DS was 2. We actually did try to keep him on UK time so that we could all go out for dinner in the evenings. The hotel had fab black out curtains so he was not woken up by the sun.

It's only a 3 hour time change isn't it? Just try to put him down a bit earlier than usual and let him sleep as long as possible.

I would not worry about the nanny either, if your DD spends a bit of time with her before I'm sure she will be fine with going to bed without Mummy.

Thanks for the reply Rick, much appreciated. We are staying with SIL so I think I'll take the Gro blind with us as I know her kids are up with the sun every morning at 5am (yuk)
Good idea to not encourage her into Dubai time (think they're 4 hours ahead at the mo) as it will be a nightmare when we get home won't it.
I'd love to take her out in the evenings but have a feeling SIL and BIL enjoy their child free evenings so don't think it'll be an option...

Shameless bump

<whistles>

I'd worry less about the sleeping and more about the heat! It's incredible.

The time difference isn't too bad, start adjusting her sleeping times a few days before you leave and all should be well. Or just let the au pair deal with her and enjoy yourselves

We went when DD was 2. We just took her with us in the evenings as no child-care was available to us.

Beware of the chicken sausages - spectacular proctile vomiting ensued from these...

*projectile

Thanks Peri, the heat does worry me but as we're staying with relatives we've been assured there's plenty to do out of the heat.
Chicken sausages sound interesting!!
Was the 7 hour flight painful?

There are a lot of air-conditioned shopping malls and soft play places (I think - I may be getting countries muddled up, it was a long time ago!) but you will be outside from time to time. The beach, desert, markets and so on.

The flight was fine. I think I was more anxious than her tbh. Conscious of other passengers, I knocked myself out to prevent her being noisy; she'd never had so much mummy-attention! It worked fine. She didn't sleep though

Chicken sausages because, of course, there is no pork there. They went down well, but came back up equally "well"...

We also found DD got heaps of attention there as she was a blondie at the time. Lots of prods and pats on the head from the men. Took a bit of getting used to.

Enjoy your holiday!

Ah yes of course, no pork! I'll be steering clear then as I am 15weeks pregnant

Just stocked up on activity books, sticker books, colouring books and down loaded Peppa etc on iPad.

I'm as ready as I'll ever be!!

To be honest we have never noticed the time difference it was too little to bother. Flick the seat back TV on to a suitable movie and you should be away. The only time we ever had jet lag trouble was going to the US. Now at 7 DD still switches straight to local time.

Dubai is a really child friendly place, but still quite hot at this time of year, so I guess you'll be resort based and mall based as well, but mornings and eves are fine to be outside, and do try restaurants other than the hotel, here is a link to a great Ayrvedic cafe in a small mall on Sheikh Zayed Road, fabulous food at very reasonable prices, Monica. doindubai.com/2011/07/18/great-new-ayurvedic-cafe-in-dubai-b-a-l-a-n-c-e/
The red rice dosas are fab, very child friendly place as well.

I wouldn't worry, DD(2.5) was only a problem the first night we spent on the East coast of the USA and that's a much bigger jump. She woke up at 3am and just watched cartoons until dawn, when we went to the Macdonalds opposite that had a soft play and drank lots of cofee
After that she slipped pretty much into local time.
Coming back doesn't bother kids because they simply sleep on the plane. Hell for tall DH who doesn't and then has to drive home.