Plane trips & jet lag?

juliaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

We are about to go on our first set of flights with Baby.  Flights of 7+ hours and we will be dealing with 6-9 hours of time difference.  Any tips or recommendations to share for the airplane rides and jet lag?  I'm not worried about it but as it will be our first time doing it with Baby I thought I'd check if others have been through it and have tips.  Thanks !

stephanienjer

If you can keep baby on their normal routine, do so. Otherwise, ease them into it. Start pushing back/forward their bedtime now, and waking them up accordingly. If you can ease this over several weeks, I would. We flew three time zones and had daylight savings happen all in the same 2 days, and I started prepping her over a week prior. She still went to bed earlier than normal while we were gone, but she wasn't asleep at 3, and she did manage to sleep until daylight most days. 
As far as the plane ride--if you baby wear, DO IT. It makes boarding and airport so much easier. I am still glad we had the stroller, which we gate checked, because when we had a layover, it was a lot easier to feed her in a crowded airport there, instead of trying to track down two seats together. (It also is nice to carry all your junk.)
If she nurses or will take a paci during takeoff and landing, that will help, too. Otherwise, give her a sippy with juice or water to help her ears. 
It is likely that he/she will sleep a good part of the flights, so take advantage of that. 
One more thing--our LO was EVERYWHERE within our row. On the seat, on the floor, on us, against the window. Touching everything. (She was a lap passenger.) I would recommend wiping everything down with a clorox wipe or two before putting her down. Within 2 days of returning home, she was nasty sick.

l4rk

I recently read that food is a biological trigger for time. So if you eat on a similar schedule, it's faster for your body to adjust. Stick to the same times (eg: breakfast 30 mins after waking up) and you can help everyone get over the time difference a lot faster.

Cricket99

That big a time change is rough, we've done two transatlantic trips in LOs life. The best advice I can give is to wake them up at their usual wake up time and try to keep everything as consistent as possible. You will be tired, they will be tired, but you will adjust. If LO wakes up at 2 in the morning wide awake and ready to play, don't fight it. Let LO play for an hour or two and they will generally be ready to go back to sleep. If they are hungry at 2, feed them. The biggest thing is to not let LO sleep past the normal time they would wake up and don't let them nap any longer than their usual nap time. If you let them over sleep during the day, they won't sleep at night. Be prepared to be a bit sleep deprived, but have fun regardless!

juliaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Thanks for the tips !  We'll be getting on our first flight in a few hours!  Long travel day ahead + 6 hour time difference on arrival, hope it goes well !