Backpacking or Traveling with a Baby or Infant: Getting Over Jet Lag

No matter which way you slice it, jet lag sucks.  No matter how tired you are, you find yourself awake in the middle of the night… then you find yourself falling asleep at the table when you sit down for lunch.  But when you’re dealing not only with your own jet lag, but with your baby’s jet lag, too… Well, that is a much greater challenge!

Jet lag is never fun, and with a baby it is even less so. But some determination and a few simple tricks will have your baby back on schedule in no time!

Babies under the age of 3 months generally don’t have a problem with jet lag.  Their circadian rhythm is not yet fully developed and they are not on such a fixed schedule.  Usually very young babies adapt quite well to travel changes.  But once your baby hits that developmental mark where he/she has developed a circadian rhythm, you are going to have to deal with their jet lag as well as your own.

The fastest way to acclimatize a baby to a new time zone is to keep their schedule in tact, come hell and high water.  No matter what, try your best not to deviate.  If bubba goes down for a nap at noon and sleeps 3 hours, then put him down for a nap at noon and only let him sleep 3 hours.  Try to keep them awake until their appointed bedtime.  Sometimes this may not be possible (they might just fall asleep where they are sitting and no amount of prodding will wake them) but try your very best, even if it is hard.

The harder part is the middle of the night, when your baby will wake up and cry to come out, thinking it must be daytime.  Older babies may understand an explanation of showing them through the window that the sun is asleep and they should be, too.  With younger babies, you may just have no choice but to spend time trying to put them back to sleep as best you can.

When your baby is awake during the daytime, try to do things outside to get their circadian rhythm back in sync.  Remember, circadian rhythm is determined by sunlight, so if you can keep your baby in the sun their brain will automatically associate it with being daytime and they will (hopefully) reset to the new time zone much more quickly.

If you do these simple tricks, there is a good chance that your baby will adjust even faster than you do!  Usually it only takes a couple of days (it took me a week to get Akiva back on schedule when we went from the US to Australia, but that’s as extreme as it gets – completely reversed sunlight hours!).

Good luck!