4 month old with jetlag....HELP!

[Myfairone]

Hi ladies,

Can anyone offer some advice please? I took LO to America last week to meet his grandparents (very cute!) but now we have returned I cannot get him back onto his old routine. He was sleeping from 10pm - 6am but now seems to want to wake every 3 hours through the night.

has anyone else experienced this before? and how do you suggest I get him back into his nightly routine?

Many thanks from a desperately tired Mum!

[RuthChan]

Hi Myfairone

I COMPLETELY understand the desperation you must be feeling right now.
I took my DD back to the UK at 4 months to meet her grandparents and she too got jetlag which disturbed her routine and stopped her sleeping.
I took her again at 10 months and it was even worse.

The bad news is that I never managed to find a solution to the problem.
After the second trip it took more than a week simply to get her to sleep in her own cot. And then it was more than a month before she started sleeping through the night again.

However, the good news is that your DS will regain his original sleeping pattern. It will just take a little time. At only 4 months though he will probably get back to it quite soon.
Try your best to inflict the correct routine on him. Wake him up at his normal time in the morning. Don't let him sleep in because he must be tired from the night before.
Try to make sure that he sees sunlight as early as possible in the morning. This will naturally tell his body that it's morning and should help to reset his body clock.
Naps in the daytime are fine, but his morning waking and evening sleeping should be standardised asap.
Also, if he is like my DD was, he probably felt quite disturbe by the journey, change of scene and routine etc. In that case, he probably needs lots of cuddles, attention and love to know that he's safe while he settles back in at home. My DD seemed to be waking every three hours due to being unsettled and needing to know I was there more than anything else.

I'm really sorry I can't give you any more concrete advice.
Maybe someone else will come along who can.
But please remember, that even if not, your DS will sleep again naturally. You just have to hold out for a little longer.

Good luck!

[lemonaid]

IME it takes about a day per hour of time difference for a baby to get over jetlag, and longer than that again to re-establish routines.

[Myfairone]

ruth & lemon, thank you so much for your advice. once again we just had another sleepless night. fed him almost non stop until 10 and then he woke at 1.30, 3.30, 4.30 & 6! im now sitting here like a zombie!

i guess i never realised how lucky i was because he's always been such a good sleeper.

thanks again for the advice.

[juliewoolie]

I had this problem a few months ago took my DS to NY and then on return - nightmare i was really tough and really stuck to our regular routine. I allowed him one dream feed and one middle of the night feed and then rocked shushed at other times. It did take a good couple of weeks to get back to normal 7 - 7 with one dream feed.

Good luck I know you feel like a zombie now but it will get better again.

[Myfairone]

Thanks Julie.
I feel really desperate right now. He seems unable to sleep and is just all over the place.
I feel sooooo tired I keep crying all the time! Just not used to being so god damned emotional!

[theSelfishMan]

hi there - another person chiming in who had the same problem - took dd back to NZ from the UK, and sleep was all over the place after coming back esp.

It will get better - just try and keep consistent - and see if you can recall some of your survival techniques from your lo's first few months. good luck, and lots of sympathy.

[juliewoolie]

myfairone how are you getting on?

[Garvo]

Hi,

I took my nearly 7 month old on a 4 week trip from New Zealand to the UK to visit his grandparents in May. We went straight through from Christchurch via Sydney and Bangkok to London then drove to Manchester. The flight both ways was brilliant he slept at night Sydney to Bangkok our night-time. Was worried about the next leg of the journey but the transit time in Bangkok meant he was stimulated and ready to sleep again. In the UK we were staying with friends and family and I did not want to wake them up so fed him everytime he woke (note: he was sleeping through the night at home so I was prepared for this) it took us 4 weeks to get him waking only once. He woke in the morning 7am and was put to bed 7pm, it was just the waking in the night we had to deal with. Well returning back to NZ has been a trying time! We put him the bed same routine as ever at 7pm, he just makes it cos he is so tired. We expected him to wake in the night but we have been back 3 weeks and he still wakes 2-3 times a night, hardly sleeps during the day and at weird times. I am trying not the b'feed him when he wakes but he is inconsolable. I am exhausted. He is sleeping until 7.45am but will set alarm for 6.45am so I can get him on the 7-7 routine and see how the day rolls out...he nevers shows tired signs and never has!!!

HELP