Jet lag and a 14 mth old

[newbelly2002]

Any advice from the traveler mom and Dads out there?

We flew back from Boston on Fri/Sat. The past 2 nights Dante has gone to bed at 3 AM Berlin time, which would be just about his bedtime in the States. We tried laying him down around midnight last night, but his body clearly thought it was just a nap. He woke up an hour later rarin' to go. I know that if he doesn't get enough sleep, he won't sleep at night (whenever that is?!). I feel like if we could only get him "jumpstarted" into the right cycle we'd be okay...but how to do that?

Thanks so much for anything you can offer!

Paula
Mama to Dante, 8/01/02

[raynjen]

I can tell you from experience that this is something only time will cure. We traveled to Okinawa when DD was 14 months and it took us a good 2 weeks to get on to Okitime. When we visited the states for a month this summer her clock was off the entire time we were there. Coming home was a little easier as we got stuck halfway back for a week. My best advice is move his bedtime little by little until he gets 'synched up' again. My spouse and I gave in when we were in the states and let our daughter sleep with us (a big no-no while at home) just to keep her down for longer stretches.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. You might check with a medical site for more specific advice.

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to Noelle (10/25/01)

[newbelly2002]

Thanks, Jen! That's what we've been doing, in conjunction with getting him up at a "reasonable" Berlin time--say 8/9 AM. It seemed to take 2 days before we saw a difference. Last night he went to bed about 10:30 which was the best yet. Unfortunately, the little man has a cold so he was up a number of times due to stuffiness.

How long have you been in Japan? Are you raising Noelle with 2 languages? It seems you and I are one of a very small handful of "ex-pats" out there.

Paula

[raynjen]

We've been here 10 months now. When we first moved I had grand ideas of raising her to speak both languages, but it is turning out to be a lot harder than I anticipated. The ideal way would be to have her in one of the local nursery school programs that teach Japanese, but our church has a great "Moms Day Out" program that I don't want to take her out of. Most of the pre-school/Montessori programs require the kids to be there 6 hours a day 5 days a week and I'm not ready for that. We are military, but we live "on the economy". I love living off-base, and we are literally surrounded by Japanese families, but getting to know them has been rough. Culturally we have the cards stacked against us. The Japanese are very private about their homes and rarely invite people over much less foreigners. We meet a few kids and parents at the park, but again, no one has responded to our overtures of friendship. I am hoping and I'll keep trying, but so far I haven't had any luck.

How do you like Germany? We are hoping to get an assignment there next. Both my husband and I are of German extraction and I would love to research our families and immerse ourselves in our history.

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to Noelle (10/25/01)