Jet lag and children

“The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes, in seeing the universe with the eyes of another, of hundreds of others, in seeing the hundreds of universes that each of them sees.” Marcel Proust

Jetlag hit us all like dominos, one after the other. I hadn’t anticipated that. I had also thought that we could just force ourselves to stay awake until bedtime and get into synch quickly. No way.

When a child is exhausted a child is exhausted and no amount of cajoling is going to make it enthusiastic about an orchid or a food court or a swimming pool.

I came down first, the 9 year old came down next on day two and crashed out at one in the afternoon, the 11 year old the next day. On all occasions we awoke at about 10 pm, wide awake and ready to explore. At 4 am we were ravenous (breakfast time was a very late supper according to our body clocks).
I learnt my lesson from that and made sure that I had something for us to eat on future trips involving jet lag. It helped the children sleep too, when they had full tummy’s.

There is no cure for Jet lag, you just have to wait for bodies and minds to catch up with each other.

Tips for dealing with Jet lag and children

• Don't fight it. Like I say when the kids are exhausted you can't get much out of them so you sleep when they sleep.
  
  
• Make sure the kids are fully hydrated (and you too)
  
  
• Take a walk and get out into the sunshine
  
  
• Sleep with curtains open so your body isn't fooled by dark when it's not dark - you get into the swing of things much quicker this way.
  
  
• If it is major time difference (8 or more hours) I found it was pointless trying to go to bed a little earlier to try and match the times. Apart from anything else the kids weren't sleepy so there was an argument about going to bed in the first place, then they simply lay there wide awake until normal bedtime.
  
  
• Giving children Anti histamine or products to make them sleep is generally not helpful and with both my children it has the reverse affect of revving them up completely.
  
  
• While it's best not to push things to far and allow your body to adjust naturally it is equally important that you make an effort to match the right time zone.

The Symptoms of jet lag are

• tiredness and fatigue
  
  
• Irritability
  
  
• feeling disorientated
  
  
• finding it hard to sleep
  
  
• finding it hard to concentrate
  
  
• stress and anxiety
  
  
• loss or increase of appetite
  
  
• constipation