Travel with young childern

Our baby will be 1 when we go.

Thanks for all of the tips. Things are going like clock work right now as she wakes up at the same time and falls alseep at the same time, so I am sure this will mess with her system.

This is usually what happens with my guys -- they don't sleep much on the plane, maybe 3 hours or so, so they're pretty groggy the first day. We let them nap for about 2 hours on the first day, and they're still more than ready for bed at the usual time that night. They'll sleep about 14 hours that first night, and that gets shorter and shorter over the next few days until they're on the regular sleep schedule, more or less.

On our first trip with our son, when he was 2, we thought we could adjust his sleep schedule so he could stay up a bit later and sleep a bit later. He's the kind of kid who wakes up at 6:30 regardless of when he went to bed. The first few days he slept in, but getting up a little earlier each morning, and after 4 days, he was back to getting up at 6:30 again.

When they don't sleep on the plane, they'll be out on their feet the first day.

Just keep them active and awake until after dinner then let them get a good night's sleep. After that they'll be fine. Kids (not sure about infants) seem to adjust quickly.

ONE -- Some are not comfortable with this first piece of advice... but talk to your pediatrician about a sleep aid for the plane. In the case of our son, he responds well to simply Benadryl. That allowed his ~3 hours of normal plane sleep to become ~5 -- a much more workable amount of rest.

TWO -- Plan outdoor activities on the first day. Keep them on their feet and moving.

THREE -- Minimize the nap the first day -- if they normally get 1-2 hours at home, then limit it to 1 hour on the first day.

FOUR -- Consider using the sleep aid again for the first night's rest.

...that said... if yours is as little as ours was for his first trip (10 months) using a sleep aid was not possible -- for his first trip we relied on using his feeding schedule as a trigger. My wife started getting him up 3 hours early 4 days before the trip started, and adjusted his feeding schedule accordingly. On the day of the flight, my wife got him up the extra 4 more hours early, a total of 7 hours early -- on Germany time -- and started the feeding schedule as if we were already in Germany -- and didn't let him nap until we were on the plane. He crashed for right at 4 hours, the first day was cranky but workable, and by day 2 he was right as rain.

(A nifty side-effect is that my wife had near-zero jet lag upon arrival herself... now, she was a bit cranky the day of the flight...)

If you're considering using Benedryl, try it on your child before you go. It effects people one of two ways -- either a)it knocks them out, or b)it's like taking speed. A friend of ours didn't try it on her son, and ended up having a 2-year-old running all over the plane all night.

Having Benedryl along on the trip can be a good idea, anyway, in case they have an allergic skin reaction to anything while you're there. And bring some children's Tylenol, too. Not that you can't buy that stuff there, but if the pharmacy's closed and you need some, you'll have it.

Depending on your child it's rather limited as to what might work for them.

We instituted one rule that the kids really chuckled about and we made a game of it: the first two days they were not allowed to go to bed before 9 pm - which is of course the opposite of what they get to hear at home.

Spending a lot of time outside on the first day to catch as much sunlight is important, too. No indoor museum the first day! There are lots of great outdoor playgrounds in Europe. Try them out.

You don't mention the age of the kids. But as long as mine were still breastfed it was the easiest time to get them to sleep even while travelling. Use that tool as long as you can!

There are some nasal sprays that can prevent jet lag, and keep him busy the first day. Try to walk around a lot and get plenty of sunshine and exercise.