Have you got sometimes that feeling when you see how badly your child fall, and you see the worst – ambulance, stitches etc.? Meanwhile, he stands up stroke his head or knee and keep running. This is how look like, in our opinion, jet lag: a lot of fear and uncertainty, but in the end it turns out that it isn’t so scary.
Our experience shows that before the trip is worth to think about a few things. The most important is the time of flight. It would be good if the flight coincides with the hourly bedtime of child. Departure in the morning Polish time, arriving in the early morning, but the next day Thai time, let us rather easy to enter into a new rhythm. Thanks that kids slept half of the flight (approx. 4 hours), night would not commingle them with the day. The missing number of hours of sleep babies very quickly make up for an extra nap during the day. Unfortunately, this can not be said about parents – naps unfortunately are very hard to synchronize (although sometimes succeed).
Expedition to the airport, airplane, travel to a new place for the child’s great adventure and a lot of emotion, which likely disturb internal rhythm of the day. We have seen that it is not worth to put the baby to sleep, because it is now his nap or bedtime. Wait until your toddler by himself will indicate to you the desire to rest. If he does, let’s immediately respond to his need. You probably well know the danger so-called “dragging” of the child. It does not matter whether it is your own house, or an airplane full of people – everywhere, regardless of latitude in which we find ourselves, the effects will be the same :). If the child falls asleep, one parent doing the same thing. This is particularly important in traveling with two kids – you do not know when will be again an opportunity to take a nap! :).
And finally – often jet lag is simply the ordinary travel fatigue, something that can easily deal with. More relax, let you for a lazy mornings or evenings, a slower pace for the first few days after arrival. And most importantly: let a little more understanding and patience for each other. Must be good, this supposed to be vacation of your life! :)