OK so tell me about babies and jet lag

[PuppyDogTails]

Thinking of flying to the US with a 1 year old.

What is the best way of getting them adjusted? I know that I always wake up at 4am and want to go to bed about 8pm. Is there a best time of day/night to fly to minimise it? Am I worrying about nothing?

Bumping for the evening crowd?

It is faaaar easier for them than it is us.

Done a few long haul flights at various stages with DS1, about to go on a 12hr night flight to Malaysia too, now with two of them.

Really, they adjust so quickly. And, generally, because the flight is usually at night, whichever direction you go in on longhaul, and because a journey is very tiring for a little one, they tend to sleep a lot of the travel part. Then, just keep them up that following day at destination - bob's your uncle, little baby/toddler will sleep better than they ever do normally at home!!!

I personally think you are worrying about nothing, but I might eat my words when I discover that 5mth old DS2 is not such a handy 'travel baby'!!!

Agree with Bergentulip. IME takes about 3 nights to fully adjust - Medised is my answer, give em a dose when they wake in the night.

Going to the US, you'll get there in the daytime so try to get the lo to sleep on the plane - dosed up if necessary - then try to keep them going as long as you can.

I suspect it would be a daytime flight going over - if I can get him to have a long sleep on the plane then hopefully he will last until evening. He has a remarkable body clock though - whatever time he goes to bed he wakes at 6:15am (it was 5:15am before the clocks changed!)

I suppose the easiest thing is to pay extra for a seat then keep them in their car seat for the journey - usually sends DS to sleep in minutes.

Sure, you could pay for the extra seat. Always good to have more room, although we never did that ourselves with DS1, and on occasions either he or Dh would be sleeping on the floor in front of the seat (which is why it pays to phone airline well in advance to book the seats with all the legroom at the front!)