Tips for Time Change

We're traveling from Ohio to Hawaii (6 hour difference) with our 12 month old. Does anyone have any tips for how to deal with the time difference? I'm guessing we should expect to be off for a few days, but hopefully the little one will be able to adjust, yes?

I think the time difference is my biggest concern.

We had a 10 hour change...took 2 days to get used to it. I'd advised doing anything "sunrise" timed on the 1st day you're there....you will be waking up at 2-4 am! For instance, we did the sunrise trip to Haleakala on our 1st morning...it was NO problem to wake up at 4am to catch the bus!!

I have no idea how to acclimate a 1 year old....

In my experience, trying to get toddlers used to a time change too quickly just made us all crabby. Instead I let it happen more naturally and we just enjoy a different time of the day than usual (when going backward to Hawaii, we enjoy more early mornings; when going forward to Europe, we enjoyed more after-dinner time than usual). You can help it along by taking walks in the sunlight to tell the body it's day time. The added benefit to staying closer to our "home" time was that it then wasn't miserable again once we returned from vacation.

Others do it differently, but I learned not to make them wait for food or sleep - I let them take naps and have little snacks if they couldn't wait for the official time. Tired/hungry kids are miserable and make those around them miserable.

Best,

Mia

Maybe stopping on the west coast for a day or two (two is better). Breaks up a long flight and maybe reset the clock a little. If you go on a cruise that goes through a few time zone changes (say the LA/Hawaii), the change is made an hour at a time over the course of say, four days. It's reversed on the way back.

In my experience' date=' trying to get toddlers used to a time change too quickly just made us all crabby. Instead I let it happen more naturally and we just enjoy a different time of the day than usual (when going backward to Hawaii, we enjoy more early mornings; when going forward to Europe, we enjoyed more after-dinner time than usual). You can help it along by taking walks in the sunlight to tell the body it's day time. The added benefit to staying closer to our "home" time was that it then wasn't miserable again once we returned from vacation.

 

Others do it differently, but I learned not to make them wait for food or sleep - I let them take naps and have little snacks if they couldn't wait for the official time. Tired/hungry kids are miserable and make those around them miserable.

 

Best,

Mia[/quote']

 

This to me sounds like the best option. I know I have a hard enough time with the one hard time change twice a year.

 

We always keep snacks in our room/bag. There's no making a small child wait (well you could, but really, you'll thank me, she's happier)

We traveled from Europe to the USA when our son was 1.5 years old. Somehow, he stayed on our schedule. We were all on the "wrong" time, so that was fine. But, I do remember he needed his morning nap back, even though he was down to a single nap in the afternoon.

My advice is to research what you can do at 4 am in you hotel (ie will the pool be open). It takes a couple.of days and the first day going westbound feels like the longest day EVER. Just keep muttering under you breath "we are on vacation and having fun" until you believe it ;)

We traveled from Europe to the USA when our son was 1.5 years old. Somehow, he stayed on our schedule. We were all on the "wrong" time, so that was fine. But, I do remember he needed his morning nap back, even though he was down to a single nap in the afternoon.

same with my dd, without major time changes. She needed two naps on the cruise, even though she was only taking one. She also ate a ton more.

Being flexible is key with small kids. Let them sleep when they need to sleep, and feed them when they want to eat!