For the life of me I don’t know why I thought babies don’t get jet lag. I guess I saw someone mention it and just figured that was the case. Not so much. Ripley slept for most of the plane ride from Los Angeles to Singapore and for the first day or two since arriving I had jet lag so I wasn’t really paying attention to Ripley’s schedule. He was sleeping and eating and peeing so I figured those were all good signs.
Today, which is our third day in Singapore, the little man had a breakdown. Ripley ate a ton during the night and then woke up early this morning extremely pissed off. He was agitated and fussy. He was burping and puking a TON. He was also crying way more than usual and couldn’t be comforted which is very unlike him. We emailed his pediatrician, Dr. Jay Gordon, because I thought Ripley might have bad acid reflux, but Dr. Jay said not to be concerned at this point. With travel, change in my diet and the climate change, Ripley just needs time to adjust. That made good sense but didn’t help with the crying.
I posted on my Facebook status “Ripley has cried more today than his entire 3 months of life. Sad baby is sad.” Some of my friends responded and suggested that babies do in fact get jet lag. I decided that I was being a total idiot in not realizing this and started to do some research. I found a blog “Delicious Baby” that had some tips on jet lag that made a ton of sense to me.
- Breastfed babies may take a little longer to adjust as mom’s body is manufacturing milk on the home-schedule and may need some time to adjust to the new schedule. Jetlag and dehydration from a long flight can also impact mom’s milk supply, so make sure to keep yourself well hydrated.
- Young babies rely on routines to help them understand their day. Try to keep your naptime and bedtime rituals similar to the routines you use at home, this will help your baby adjust.
- It’s ok to play with a baby who wakes up at night (for the first few nights) but try to keep the activity fairly quiet and phase it out gradually. After a few nights, keep the room darkened, offer milk, and try to soothe your child back to sleep.
- Don’t worry that a time change will cause a permanent regression in baby’s nighttime sleep. Sleep training is a long, ongoing effort with frequent setbacks when baby is teething, learning a new skill, or not feeling well. Travel is just another temporary setback.
- The return back home is often a more difficult adjustment for babies than the transition to a new time zone.
- Try to gradually help baby get used to taking most of their food or milk during daytime hours (but don’t refuse to feed them if they are hungry)
My friends also mentioned that it could take up to a week to allow a baby to acclimate especially with a big time difference. Babies are all about routine and as much as they might be portable, they need to have a sense of familiarity.
This all made much more sense to me this evening when Ripley and I went down for a nap at about 3pm and he didn’t wakeup until 9pm which is about 6AM PST, the time he normally wakes up. He ate and then fell asleep again, which he normally does. I expect him to wakeup in another hour or so when it’s midnite here. Eep.
The only thing I can do is be patient. We are fortunate in that we are staying in an apartment for a month and not moving around between hotels so he has a “bed” to sleep in or share our bed. I’m going to try and go to bed after he wakes up and eats. I’ve been failing with the jet lag myself and going to bed at 5AM. I’m also going to make sure we get outside for a good couple of hours tomorrow. We didn’t get outside today because of all the crying and the sleeping.
Hopefully we both get on track before we leave at the end of June. *crossing fingers*
