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5 month old jet lag nightmare!

7 replies

lilac3033 · 08/10/2015 12:56

So just back in the UK after 3 weeks on the west coast of the U.S. DD handled the east to west jet lag and flights beautifully. We got back on Sunday and it has been pretty hellish since. She slept well on Sunday night, which was no surprise due to the exhaustion of travel. Even then she couldn't really settle properly until 3am, just lots of startling awake and crying out then going right back to sleep. Monday night she was up for 2 hours between midnight and 2am as well as not really settling until 3am. Last night was HELL. Went down at 2020 and slept to 2310. She was then up until 300, with about a 20 minute snooze. I have been waking her up about 30 minutes earlier each day (930 today) and putting her to bed roughly 30 minutes earlier each night. I'm also limiting her naps to 1.5 hours (she normally only does 40 minutes). Is there anything else I should be doing? I make sure she sees plenty of daylight each day and keep it dark at night, even when she is awake.
I am used to this myself and obviously my own jet lag is making this worse. I am used to the second night being the worst and last night just threw me totally. She just could not settle. She was clearly exhausted but just not able to sleep. I felt so bad for her. I am wondering if taking her into a dim room to play and burn some energy during the night might help?

OP posts:
fluffikins · 08/10/2015 13:36

I've got no ideas really but I'd probably avoid play. At best I'd read stories in a v low key voice.

lilac3033 · 11/10/2015 08:44

Anyone? It's been almost a week and DD wakes up every night for at least 2 hours. I have been getting her up earlier (8am today). She is going to bed fine, sleeping for 2.5 hours, then awake for 2.5 hours. Nothing is helping. We go for a walk every day, sometimes twice. Blinds are open all day. Her naps are limited to 1.5 hours,but I am thinking limiting them to 40 minutes. She is just SOOOO tired and I feel so sorry for her. She ever used to do this. One the way to the U.S, she did it one night only. It just isn't getting better and I expected some improvement by now. She will usually only accept me for comforting so I am totally exhausted!

OP posts:
fluffikins · 11/10/2015 12:02

What's your bedtime routine? I've heard that when things go wrong then changing the routine a bit can help, so if you did Bath-Feed-Story-Song flip it all about so it could be Feed-Bath-Song-Story

lilac3033 · 11/10/2015 12:13

Same as before, bath, pjs and feed to sleep. I do not feed to sleep in the day, only before bedtime. Today I went straight out and about after waking up to hopefully get the whole "it is daytime" thing across to her. Going to go out again later to hopefully reiterate the message!

OP posts:
mummytime · 11/10/2015 13:19

Lots of sunlight.
Be kind to yourself and get enough sleep.

And time.
Is there anything that happens 2 1/2 hours after she goes to sleep: a noise, the heating switching off? Etc.

lilac3033 · 11/10/2015 13:49

I haven't noticed anything. Last night it was when we went to bed, but the night before I was asleep and had been for over an hour. I'll pay closer attention though. I think she gets hungry, as her last feed is normally about 20 minutes but lately it is just over half that. I feed her and then BOOM wide awake for 2.5 hours. The first 20-30 minutes of her awake time were spent trying to get her back to sleep last night, but she just got more and more awake. I kept it dark but started interacting when I realised she was just going to be awake. The funny thing is during the day she can't last more than 2 hours awake!

OP posts:
mummytime · 11/10/2015 16:05

Can you move her feeds?

With friends in the U.S. We often discussed how jet lag is worse the more "meals apart" the time zones are.
So maybe her feeding is still adjusted to the wrong time zone.

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