Can anyone share jet lag experiences in Caribbean with toddler?

[minimini358]

Just as the title says really. We are getting married in February so want to do a familymoon of some sort in March/April during the Easter holidays (I'm a teacher).

We want guaranteed sun after lacklustre weather in April this year in Turkey, but the price of a holiday in dubai just for half board is more expensive than what I've seen for AI in the Caribbean.

The only thing that worries me is the jet lag being behind the time rather than ahead of if. Can anyone share any experiences with their toddler either way? The idea of a 2am morning wake up is NOT what I want 😂

Thinking of the Dominican rather than Mexico due to the hour less flight time.

I took mine long haul from birth regularly (expats, 8 hour time difference) and they coped fine, maybe a day or two of sticking kids shows on at 4am but we just put them on the correct schedule straightaway and muddled through, worked pretty well. I do the same thing and really don't get jet lag

We took our 14 month old to the Carribbean. We just kept him awake through the flight as much as we could and then like the anive poster, went kind of straight onto the local timing/hours. We had no real issue at all.a few early mornings, but he was content watching el bobbio builder. Lol

It’s usually a day flight there, night flight back. My toddler was basically awake 20 hours travelling went straight to sleep and was on Mexico time straight away.

Personally I would recommend Mexico over Dominican Republic, Mexicans are so lovely and welcoming, lots to see and do. Personally I think DR is cheaper for a reason, we went with the hotel chain we used in Mexico but it was like night and day in terms of service. I personally found the staff in the DR did the bare minimum.

You’ll just all wake up really early for the first few days, but you’ll all get over it. Just stuck to normal bedtimes as much as you can. We took 3yo and had a great time.

Agree with PP; Mexico over DR, every time.

Every time we do this, DC wake up at approx 3-4am for a few days and then start setting into the time zone.

If your holiday is longer that 1 week you'll be ok. But if it's only 1 week you will spend the majority of it exhausted

I took DC abroad at that age. I don't remember any waking up in the middle of the night, more that they were more tired during the day, just get onto the Caribbean timing ASAP when you arrive

I got married in the Dominican Republic. My sister in law came with her two kids who were 18 months and 3.5. The first day they were really grumpy from all the travelling/time difference. The second day they went to bed super early but after that they were fine.

The way over is fine - the first day or two you might have early wake-ups, but then everyone settles. It is the way back that is much harder to acclimatise to