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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

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Original poster

8 hour time difference and a 4 month old

7 replies

mrsbabookaloo · 27/10/2006 13:07

We are taking our dd to LA next week to see her grandparents. Has anyone done an 8 hour time difference with a baby before? I am so nervous: she will be tired all day and up all night, and I won't know when to feed her: I'm sure she'll be hungry in the night.

Any advice?

OP posts:

bev1e · 27/10/2006 14:55

We went to San Francisco with dd1 when she was 8 months old and have to say adjusting to the time out there seemed to happen naturally but coming home was much harder. Can remember many "early" (3am) mornings once we were back and probably took a good 10 days for us to get back into the swing of things.

teabags · 27/10/2006 23:57

we went to Oz when ds was 7 months (11 hour time difference), it was fine. He adjusted easily. I put him straight into his usual routine on arrival and it was no problem. He did have some weird sleep patterns for a few days but nothing horrendous. He needed a longer sleep at lunchtime (and I had to wake him otherwise he would have slept all day)and an extra nap in the afternoon to get through the day to begin with as he was tired. Enjoy it, your worries may never become reality!
(Are you breastfeeding? I found that was really useful)

jetsetmum · 28/10/2006 02:08

I took ds1 to Barbados (4 hours difference) at 4 months, Mexico (5 hours) at 6 months, Las Vegas at 11 months (8 hours) & St Lucia (4 hours) at 15 months

I would say the younger the baby the quicker they adjust. I don't think they have time so sorted in the head.

Start feeding her at normal day times as quickly as possible & establish a holiday routine & she will be fine.

mamamaaargh · 28/10/2006 02:27

I took ds from the States to the UK at 4 months. He continued his usual routine for several days (so would go to bed at 4am, UK time and sleep in until lunchtime ). It gradually got better. Fortunately I was jetlagged too, so his odd hours didn't bother me. The return to the US was a different story - it took months to adjust back BUT I think that was due to several reasons (being away from home for several week, not having a good routine while we were away, meeting lots of new people, sleeping in different places etc) rather than the time difference.

I'd agree with the others - try to start feeding etc at the new time asap. Good luck!

oneweemite · 28/10/2006 22:53

Hi, eager to hear how you get on. I'm taking dd to see her grandparents in January, she'll be 5 months then. please let us know how you do!

Original poster

mrsbabookaloo · 30/10/2006 09:32

Thanks for your advice everyone: it's a case of "feel the fear and do it anyway" now! I'll try to remember to post when I get back.

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Original poster

mrsbabookaloo · 17/11/2006 17:59

Hi, Just briefly while dd is quiet, the time difference thing wasn't as bad as I had feared. She was up in the night 2 or 3 times the first night, but after that she just woke up once for a couple of nights and then not at all. I had to feed her in the night a couple of times, and some silly times in the morning, but we worked it out. There was one day where she had a meltdown and screamed at wouldn't go down for a nap at all - she was probably v confused, bless her. But apart from that she napped in the day and was tired at bedtime. Now we are back she was up from 11pm-2am for a couple of nights but now a week later she is sleeping thru again. For a few days there she was sleeping til 7, which was very civilised but now we're back to waking before 6am! Boo Hoo.

Anyway, all in all, not too bad, though I was VERY tired and tense!

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