dinner set usa image
Anela Ange
We flew from the UK to the USA for two weeks and just got back 3 days ago. Now my 1 year old is awake all night and sleeping all through the day. How can I adjust her sleep schedule, and mine?!
Answer
I'm a former Flight Attendant and I fly with my children about twice a year between Europe and California, which is a 9 hour time difference.
Obviously, I had the jet-lag game down cold since I worked almost all international, long-haul flights, but it became a little more complicated when I flew with my children. As babies, I noticed they switched nights and naps. End of story. Easy. Once they hit toddler hood, it was a whole different deal. I had pleas of "Barney! Barney!" at 4am. Yikes!
First, remember that her stomach needs to adjust just like her sleep schedule. Be sure she's not headed to bed on an empty stomach, only to wake at 3am with hunger pangs expecting dinner. Get yourselves on the local eating schedule asap.
Adjust to your new time zone but be reasonable. My guidelines are bed between 8pm-midnight and up between 5am and 10am. Set your alarm if you have to. Once you are on something vaguely reassembling a normal wake/sleep pattern in your new location, you can then "tweak" forward or backwards to make it more sane. This will get rid of that "zombie" feeling and at least have you feeling normal when you're awake. Don't try to dive into exactly the same schedule you have at home or you may be paving the way to disaster.
Light is an important componant to melatonin. Look it up and read up on this important chemical your brain produces which aids sleep. Light supresses it while dark increases it. I used to take melatonin in pill form when I worked but I was hesitant to give it to my children. Don't give it to your daughter unless you discuss it with a medical professional first.
During the day, head outside and get in fresh air and sunlight. On a bad day, we would head to the mall. Being with other people, especially other children works well to keep awake in the day time.
I assume she naps but don't overdo it! Time it carefully and then wake her up after whatever is the length of a normal nap at home.
Before bed, turn off all screens, no games, computers or TV's. Even if the light doesn't seem bright, this kind of light going in the eye supresses melatonin. Keep lights low as you read a book or do whatever your bedtime routine is.
If she gets up at night
-Keep lights low, no computers, TV's or electronic games.
-Feed her a snack, if she's hungry of something not too sugary, salty or greasy. Something bready works well, like a bagel or roll.
-Skip the teeth for this special situation. Going in the bathroom, flipping on the light, etc. may wake her up more. Your dentist will forgive you this once!
-Head her back to bed as soon as you can manage it.
Keep well hydrated. Air travel is very drying and dehyration symptoms are very similar to those of jet lag. You end up with a double battle. I try to stay away from caffine, althought a little green tea during the day seems to help me. If your doctor has restricted bottles or milk, you may want to "liberalize" that a little while she's adjusting and then go back to any restrictions. Needless to say, this is not the time to get rid of bottles or pacifiers, if she uses either or both.
I used to call a friend who would say that the whole family got up at noon two weeks after getting back because they were "getting over jet lag". We were over ours' in 2-3 days tops, with two more hours of time change than they had (I'm from further away).
So just hang in there. A little bit of disapline will make things much more sane for both of you.
Good luck!
I'm a former Flight Attendant and I fly with my children about twice a year between Europe and California, which is a 9 hour time difference.
Obviously, I had the jet-lag game down cold since I worked almost all international, long-haul flights, but it became a little more complicated when I flew with my children. As babies, I noticed they switched nights and naps. End of story. Easy. Once they hit toddler hood, it was a whole different deal. I had pleas of "Barney! Barney!" at 4am. Yikes!
First, remember that her stomach needs to adjust just like her sleep schedule. Be sure she's not headed to bed on an empty stomach, only to wake at 3am with hunger pangs expecting dinner. Get yourselves on the local eating schedule asap.
Adjust to your new time zone but be reasonable. My guidelines are bed between 8pm-midnight and up between 5am and 10am. Set your alarm if you have to. Once you are on something vaguely reassembling a normal wake/sleep pattern in your new location, you can then "tweak" forward or backwards to make it more sane. This will get rid of that "zombie" feeling and at least have you feeling normal when you're awake. Don't try to dive into exactly the same schedule you have at home or you may be paving the way to disaster.
Light is an important componant to melatonin. Look it up and read up on this important chemical your brain produces which aids sleep. Light supresses it while dark increases it. I used to take melatonin in pill form when I worked but I was hesitant to give it to my children. Don't give it to your daughter unless you discuss it with a medical professional first.
During the day, head outside and get in fresh air and sunlight. On a bad day, we would head to the mall. Being with other people, especially other children works well to keep awake in the day time.
I assume she naps but don't overdo it! Time it carefully and then wake her up after whatever is the length of a normal nap at home.
Before bed, turn off all screens, no games, computers or TV's. Even if the light doesn't seem bright, this kind of light going in the eye supresses melatonin. Keep lights low as you read a book or do whatever your bedtime routine is.
If she gets up at night
-Keep lights low, no computers, TV's or electronic games.
-Feed her a snack, if she's hungry of something not too sugary, salty or greasy. Something bready works well, like a bagel or roll.
-Skip the teeth for this special situation. Going in the bathroom, flipping on the light, etc. may wake her up more. Your dentist will forgive you this once!
-Head her back to bed as soon as you can manage it.
Keep well hydrated. Air travel is very drying and dehyration symptoms are very similar to those of jet lag. You end up with a double battle. I try to stay away from caffine, althought a little green tea during the day seems to help me. If your doctor has restricted bottles or milk, you may want to "liberalize" that a little while she's adjusting and then go back to any restrictions. Needless to say, this is not the time to get rid of bottles or pacifiers, if she uses either or both.
I used to call a friend who would say that the whole family got up at noon two weeks after getting back because they were "getting over jet lag". We were over ours' in 2-3 days tops, with two more hours of time change than they had (I'm from further away).
So just hang in there. A little bit of disapline will make things much more sane for both of you.
Good luck!
What's the Safest preetiest Latin American country to Travel too?
Some Guy
I Live in USA but I wanna do some Travelin I've already done European travel, but I haven't Been to Latin America at all and I speak fluent spanish son what do you guys recommend would be fun to go to as far as culture, music, food ,beautiful women.
Answer
You can get everything you just asked for anywhere in latinamerica. All countries have something beautiful interesting and nice to offer.
Pretty women, delicious food, nice exotic music, great weather, etc.
Safe wise, there is no such thing as "the safest country are such and such", the deal's pretty much the same in these countries too. There are nice safe areas and terrible dangareous areas as well in all of them. Wherever you go, just use common sense and avoid "red zones" and you'll be fine. Use the same rules you do in the US. There are ugly areas here that you wouldn't go to, do the exact same overseas.
Being in latinamerica is like going to a restaurant, all meals are nice and tasty, but each's so different from each other. You would have to define what you want to see in specific, that way you can decide where to go.
In all of these countries, you'll find the most beautiful and different looking places in the country(side), not in the capital cities. Of course, there are interesting things to see in the main city, but the best is in the countryside.
For beaches, Belize, Mexico, Costa Rica and Brazil. For dramatic culture variety (such as different languages, different cultures within their society, unique music styles that belong to specific cultural groups, etc.) Guatemala, Colombia, Bolivia and Peru. Variety of climates and dramatically different cities and lifestyle: Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil... For great architecture from the 1600's (aprox.) Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia. You can't forget about the great ancient civilizations, you've got to check out their ruins and pyramids: the Mayans (south of Mexico, part of Honduras, but their 'New York' is in Guatemala), Incans (Peru), etc. For diving and reefs Belize. To see the garifuna (direct african descent that still speak their african language, have their own music and cultural habits, etc.) visit Guatemala and Honduras (east coast of both countries), it's really cool. They do beach parties and dance until dawn; their celebrations and holidays are a blast.
Gosh, I hope my message ends up being helpful (I kinda went overboard, lol). Those are just some countries, I mean, there is WAAAAAY more I did not mention. But all of them have great food (very flavorful, tasty and lean). The best food is sold in little local dinners or on the streets (you know, the mom and pops like little dinners). Just take the usual precautions so you don't get sick obviously. Be careful in Mexico though (specially with the water), anywhere else in latinamerica I was fine eating food sold on the streets. If you go to Mexico, try their tamales, carnitas and the real tacos sold in dinners. If you go to Guatemala try Kaq'ik , churrasco and paches. If you go to Argentina, you've got to try their steak. Venture trying their food no matter what country you end up going to. Don't go to McDonald's and such, you won't regret it. Now, for the beautiful women, you are set any country you go to (you'll find them specially in nice clubs, they love dancing). All of those countries have good looking women. Latins are very friendly people, they all will be willing to help you even if you don't speak any spanish at all. Enjoy ;)
P.S. If you need extra advice, don't hesitate and contact me. I'd be glad to help and suggest some specific cities within a country once you know where you're heading.
You can get everything you just asked for anywhere in latinamerica. All countries have something beautiful interesting and nice to offer.
Pretty women, delicious food, nice exotic music, great weather, etc.
Safe wise, there is no such thing as "the safest country are such and such", the deal's pretty much the same in these countries too. There are nice safe areas and terrible dangareous areas as well in all of them. Wherever you go, just use common sense and avoid "red zones" and you'll be fine. Use the same rules you do in the US. There are ugly areas here that you wouldn't go to, do the exact same overseas.
Being in latinamerica is like going to a restaurant, all meals are nice and tasty, but each's so different from each other. You would have to define what you want to see in specific, that way you can decide where to go.
In all of these countries, you'll find the most beautiful and different looking places in the country(side), not in the capital cities. Of course, there are interesting things to see in the main city, but the best is in the countryside.
For beaches, Belize, Mexico, Costa Rica and Brazil. For dramatic culture variety (such as different languages, different cultures within their society, unique music styles that belong to specific cultural groups, etc.) Guatemala, Colombia, Bolivia and Peru. Variety of climates and dramatically different cities and lifestyle: Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil... For great architecture from the 1600's (aprox.) Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia. You can't forget about the great ancient civilizations, you've got to check out their ruins and pyramids: the Mayans (south of Mexico, part of Honduras, but their 'New York' is in Guatemala), Incans (Peru), etc. For diving and reefs Belize. To see the garifuna (direct african descent that still speak their african language, have their own music and cultural habits, etc.) visit Guatemala and Honduras (east coast of both countries), it's really cool. They do beach parties and dance until dawn; their celebrations and holidays are a blast.
Gosh, I hope my message ends up being helpful (I kinda went overboard, lol). Those are just some countries, I mean, there is WAAAAAY more I did not mention. But all of them have great food (very flavorful, tasty and lean). The best food is sold in little local dinners or on the streets (you know, the mom and pops like little dinners). Just take the usual precautions so you don't get sick obviously. Be careful in Mexico though (specially with the water), anywhere else in latinamerica I was fine eating food sold on the streets. If you go to Mexico, try their tamales, carnitas and the real tacos sold in dinners. If you go to Guatemala try Kaq'ik , churrasco and paches. If you go to Argentina, you've got to try their steak. Venture trying their food no matter what country you end up going to. Don't go to McDonald's and such, you won't regret it. Now, for the beautiful women, you are set any country you go to (you'll find them specially in nice clubs, they love dancing). All of those countries have good looking women. Latins are very friendly people, they all will be willing to help you even if you don't speak any spanish at all. Enjoy ;)
P.S. If you need extra advice, don't hesitate and contact me. I'd be glad to help and suggest some specific cities within a country once you know where you're heading.
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
Title Post: How do I get my toddler over jet-lag?
Rating: 93% based on 9658 ratings. 4 user reviews.
Author: Unknown
Thanks For Coming To My Blog
Rating: 93% based on 9658 ratings. 4 user reviews.
Author: Unknown
Thanks For Coming To My Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment