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Have you crossed timezones w/ DC? Question for ya'

AvaLikeLavaAvaLikeLava member
in Northern California Babies

We're planning on flying G to the East Coast. I'm curious how to handle his sleep schedule while away.

I can't gradually bring him down earlier because we just can't get home early enough from work to be able to put him down for the night at 4pm, nor do I particularly want to start waking him up for the day at 3am in the morning either.

This makes me curious what do I do? Do I just keep him to his CA schedule while away, or do I ajust him once we get there, and then again once we get home.

Any suggestions?

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Re: Have you crossed timezones w/ DC? Question for ya'

  • everydayeveeverydayeve

    We've taken Eve east twice now and will have our third time in July. For us, it's really depended on the length of the stay. On shorter trips (3-4 days) we try to keep her as close to CA time as possible. On longer trips, we try to switch her. Honestly, she's switched on her own both times. She has much less of a problem with the time change than we do. Some tips:

    Pay attention to DC's normal sleep and eating cues. DC will let you know when they need something even if it doesn't make sense time-wise.

    Get outside as much as possible if you're trying to switch to EC time. The sun will help to reset everyone's internal clock.

    Offer sleep at the time that you think is appropriate (whether that's EC or WC time) but don't push it and don't skip naps trying to get sleep to happen at a certain time that night. Both of these situations have just made for a very grumpy kid in my experience.

    Good luck! Where are you going?

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  • AvaLikeLavaAvaLikeLava member

    Thank you! Good advice.

    We'll be around Chesapeake and Virginia Beach mostly.

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  • tri-readertri-reader
    Maybe it was because Emmy was older but she adjusted fine to the time zone change when we went to Dominican Republic and Hawaii.  We didn't have any issues with it.  She didn't sleep on the plane to DR (red-eye) so maybe that made her keep her schedule.  But we just adjusted her to the time zone once we were there, the plane rides threw her off enough that it worked.
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  • CelynCelyn member
    It depends how long we go for.  If it's just a long weekend, we don't change anything.  If it's for a week, we try to get him down an hour earlier every night.  I never expect him to be on his usual schedule though, and I don't really want him to be, because we we get back, I think have a kid who gets up 3 hours early for days.
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  • jsugrinjsugrin member
    We went to FL for 10 days when Andrew was 5 months old and we kept him on CA time. ?He basically just stuck to his normal schedule and since he went to bed at 6:30 and was awake between 5-6am we LOVED it. ?I think it's the only time since he's been born that we've been able to sleep until 8-9am.
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  • everydayeveeverydayeve
    imageAvaLikeLava:

    Thank you! Good advice.

    We'll be around Chesapeake and Virginia Beach mostly.

    What a gorgeous area! Enjoy your trip. We'll be in SC in July. I can't wait!

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  • tmp-351858625009089tmp-351858625009089
    We've traveled to the mid-west a couple of times now with Nick (and will again in June) but it's only a two hour time difference.  Each time, we've just let him adjust on his own as much as he needs to (each trip has been about 10~ days).  We're visiting family, so we're always out & about, so having him stay up a little later is actually easier.  And he's such an early riser, him sleeping in a little later is heaven.  By the end of the trip, he's been about an hour adjusted.  That has made the adjustment back home pretty easy.
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  • luojjangluojjang

    imageCelyn:
    It depends how long we go for.? If it's just a long weekend, we don't change anything.? If it's for a week, we try to get him down an hour earlier every night.? I never expect him to be on his usual schedule though, and I don't really want him to be, because we we get back, I think have a kid who gets up 3 hours early for days.

    Ditto

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  • bubbs147bubbs147
    Same here!  We usually keep Amelia on her CA schedule, which allows us to hang out later with friends and family while there.  We do get a lot of strange looks when we are out with her to like 10 pm! :)
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  • roxy_jjroxy_jj member
    We have taken DD east a few times and we kept her on California time (or as close to it as we could) and it worked well.  
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  • TopangaTopanga member
    Ori has been traveling across time zones since she was about 3 months old. She is 19 months now. We just slowly adjusted her each way. She still woke up pretty early but so did I so, it worked out. I think they are able to adjust more readily than we are to tell the truth. Just don't stress about it and let DC nap when they need to so they don't become too cranky.
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