Managing Jet Lag: Tips for Travel with Kids

The absolute pain of being awake when you just don’t want to be. I still have seared into my brain the discomfort of struggling to stay awake in high school classes, fighting to keep my eyes open in the passenger seat of late night car rides, forcing my eyelids open during early morning meetings. I would envision white, crisp sheets and heavy, down comforters wrapped around my body, lulling me. I’d get comfortable, then battle my way back to semi-clearheaded consciousness. It’s the same dreaded war I often wage when we travel (particularly when we fly east), except this time I’ve got kids. So, I’ve come up with some fool-proof artillery for managing jet lag, especially managing jet lag in kids.

Managing Jet Lag Prior to the Trip

Set it up

I’ve never been blessed with those kids who ask to go to bed or who happen to fall asleep in the cutest places from sheer exhaustion. Nope. Mine have always sort of run around like banshees, tripping all over themselves while loudly proclaiming that they are in no way tired and that they would not, in fact, like to take a nap. They will do everything in their power to keep themselves from sleeping, especially in the day light. So, switching time zones with self-proclaimed never-nappers makes managing jet lag a long mental task, in addition to the physical ones that arise.

We prep our kids by talking a lot about the time change. For weeks and weeks we will enthusiastically tell them, “Oh wow! Guess what time it is in [_________]? That means everyone there is already asleep/having dinner/eating breakfast!” As we get closer we talk about how they may want to nap, not because they’re tired from a normal day, but because of this special time difference that only they get to experience. Because we’ve offered them an excuse to nap, we’ve found they’re more willing to just take it–they’re not just some weak toddlers and kids who can’t hang.

Pack accordingly

Big changes in time usually mean a pretty substantial amount of time up in the air, and, depending upon what you’re going to want to have happen in that amount of time, you have to pack accordingly. So…go into that pre-sleep trance and imagine what that perfect flight is going to look like. Quiet kids, happily engaged. Cheerful at first and then pleasantly dropping into the deepest slumber. Now, throw that all away. It’s not gonna happen. But, that doesn’t mean you don’t plan like it will.

As noted below, as soon as our feet hit the floor of that plane, we are on our “new” time, so that may mean bringing pjs and changing into them at what often feels to be an absurdly early time. But guess what? I don’t mind looking crazy. I’m playing for the win here: slightly-less-than-could’ve-had-jet-lag-levels. So if it’s gonna be night, we dress like night and bring all those special lovies and blankets. And you know what? We don’t wash them before we bring them, so they smell like that chocolatey sweat that their beds take on after two nights of fitful sleeping.

Managing Jet Leg During the Trip

Quickly adjust your time

From the start, don’t mess around. Get on that plane (hopefully you’ve got some early boarding privileges with those little ones in tow) and immediately adjust those watches and your entire mentality in relation to time. And, most importantly, get telling those little ones what time it is now. The glitch in this is that airplanes and their food services tend to not follow this pattern, so we suggest bringing enough snacks to just get those tiny travelers on schedule. Immediately. Besides, in the realm of airplane food, there really isn’t all that much worth staying awake for.

Change clothes

Remember those mornings where you accidentally wake up on top of the covers still wearing last night’s clothes? No? Me neither then. But I think we can all imagine how just yucky that feels. How unrefreshed and uncomfortable. You know what you don’t want to do? Make a tired kid feel unrefreshed and uncomfortable when the have to wake up because the aircraft cleaners are literally standing over them about to wipe the drool from their little mouths. This would inevitably end in one of those moments when said child’s feet fail them, and they plunge themselves onto the grimy jetway floor screaming what seems to be incoherently, but what every parent knows as a slew of toddler curses.

So, if they’re supposed to go to sleep because the clock at your destination says it’s 10 pm and that is waaaaaaaayyy past their bed time (we like to show them that so they feel like we gave them that little treat of staying up late), put those pjs on and grab that blanket and lovie you brought along. You know, the ones that smell like their week-old, super-comfortable, no-one-else-would-think-it-smelled-good-but-they-do, bedding? Bring all the nighttime comfort on when it’s night time. Likewise, if you get on that early flight and don’t want your little people to sleep through it all (because you have zero interest in entertaining them in the middle of the night in a new city), then wake them up (after you apply that “Look! I let you sleep in!” mentality) and have them put on some real kid clothes. (If you’re worried about how you’ll manage your long haul flight with your kids, check out our list of Fifteen Best Activities for Toddlers on a Plane.)

Managing Jet Leg at Destination

Stay outside

First things first–get outside and soak up all that sun and fresh air as long as it’s there to be had. Even if you are exhausted, being out and about, exploring will help you stay awake when your body is starting to tell you it’s time to wind down. Ride out that natural inquisitiveness and excitement that accompanies finally getting to a new place. Managing jet lag in kids is much easier and faster if you push through rather than if you give up (not to mention there’s that whole that whole serotonin, melatonin thing that happens with natural day and night).

A little story…we landed in Spain about two hours before dawn, flying from NYC, so it was only about midnight for our bodies. Of course our little people were all fast asleep…deeply. We had two options: get a room in a airport hotel and get a few more hours of sleep or get into our car rental and start the day. We chose the later. Why though when our we were all a little more than a little tired? Because we knew that once we checked into that hotel, our little ones would be awake enough to have that first round of energy and they wouldn’t fall asleep. Which means we wouldn’t fall asleep. This gave us the opportunity to take advantage of their excitement and start our three hour drive to our destination.

How’d it go? Well, we were able to make a day of it. Granted, it was long, but by the next day, we were basically on schedule. The best part is we walked old walled towns. We saw giant aqueducts that intrigued us, ate yummy yummy foods and sat in city squares. We got rained on. We let the sun warm up our faces. We moved and breathed fresh air. Really though, the bonus here was that the 3K dad and I were able to stop off at a few little coffee shops along the way to find that life-affirming beverage. Of course, in between these pit stops, the littles leisurely nodded off with their mouths agape, but not for too long. And that made the difference that evening when we went to bed. There were none of those rejuvenating hours’ long naps to give those little people more energy than we could handle at bed time.

Don’t go to bed

As noted in our choice above, as much as it can be physically uncomfortable, just do not to go to bed at completely off times. Sure, grab a little sleep in the morning hours if you are one of those people who can recover from a little nap. (Truth be told, I am not. When I crave a whole lot of sleep, just a little bit will only make me feel grumpier and electric (in a bad bad way).) We prefer to head to bed a little earlier than we normally would. We’re so tired that usually there are no issues with staying asleep, and we all feel like we were able to get all of the sleep our bodies wanted rather than just a taste of it.

Let’s chat midday nap. Don’t do it. Just don’t. Sure, it’s different for kids. They can have a little nap, but the key is that it’s little. If your kids sleeps the day away, they won’t be ready to go to bed when your body is so desperate to shut down later that night. That will not feel good. This is why we keep our kids up and moving when possible. We don’t want them to take any hours and hours and hours long nap. That’s the kiss of death to happy travels.

Other Options for Managing Jet Lag

Melatonin

We have been known to use melatonin for our little ones, but we do so sparingly. If I know that they will be able to get a full night’s sleep, then I have used it to help them settle down from the day’s events. That’s not something that we encounter much when we travel though. Because our focus is on keeping them awake rather than letting them take extended naps, we usually have sufficiently tired children at night. This gets them on track quite quickly. But I will say, melatonin is always in my bag, just in case.

Role with it

As I’ve mentioned, I am a bear when it comes to not getting enough sleep. I can handle it for a little bit, but then I just can’t. I can’t handle anything or anyone. And that makes for some pretty miserable travel days, so, I don’t often role with it. There are times when it makes sense though. For example, it provides some pretty amazing opportunities to get up and get out before local life gets going. That means sunrises and nearly empty tourist destinations. So, plan to get out early those first few days and hit those destinations that would typically be swamped.

Traveling with kids is always a little dicey. Traveling long haul? Dicier. Traveling long haul with a kid? That’s the diciest there is. Jet lag can creep in and change every expectation you ever had about the beautiful, relaxing, positive vacation you had planned. But let’s face it; it’s a fact of travel. The best way to manage jet lag is to just face it head on and work against it every step of the way.

Happy travels!