Help - my baby has serious jet lag!!!

[nigele]

We returned from a trip to England last week and DS has decided he does not want to get back onto EST! He goes to bed at his usual time with no problem but wakes between 12:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. with tons of energy, ready to start the day. We stay up with him for a couple of hours until he tires out. He goes back to sleep but wakes for the day around 5:30 a.m. Ughhhh!

Has anybody effectively dealt with a baby's jet lag? I could really use some advice!!!

TIA!

[Annette_C]

Lisa,
Sorry you're going through this. I don't have advice since I haven't experienced baby jet lag yet but I wanted to let you know that I feel for you and hope it gets better soon.
Also, Paula might have good advice since she's been through it.
Annette
SAHM to Sabrina 6/24/02

[egoldber]

Sarah did this for a few days when we got back from France last year. Her body had gotten used to waking up on "European" morning time, so we needed to help her re-train herself. Also, (at that time) she was eating as soon as she woke up, so I think she was also waking up at 2 because her tummy had been trained that that was breakfast time. Here's what I did.

When she woke up at 2 the first night, I went in her room, fed her a tiny snack, but kept the lights off and said "It's still sleepy time, time for bed", laid her down and left the room. And I did this over and over and over (not the snack part, but the time for bed part). The first night took forever. The second night, I gave her just a bit of a bottle and then did the laying down/time for bed part, and it didn't take quite so long. The third night I gave her some water and then she quickly went back to sleep.

Unfortuntately, I think if you go in and play with him, it reinforces the idea that 2 am is "wake up time". You need to convince him that it really is bedtime!!

Good luck!

[newbelly2002]

As usual, Beth said it best.

I did much the same thing (although, I think we played a little too much because he didn't want to go back to bed--more than likely prolonging the problem). It took about a week for Dante to adjust coming back this way. Going to the States, I think I remember it being easier.

The tummy/hunger thing is, if I remember correctly, the hardest part to change. Wish I could be of more help!

How was the trip?

Paula, Mama to Dante
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b32384e84594 -6/25 update