good point Novice, I do try to take his blanket from his cot (and special soft toys if there are any) so that it will smell right, we just go back from a week in Europe and the portacot was a bit of an issue with Ds as he discovered how much noise he can make in it. because it was only a week and only one hour time difference I kept him on his normal schedule (ie Doha time) but otherwise, yes stick to the normal bedtime although you might want an earlier bedtime the first few nights just to catch up on any lost sleep during the journey.
I don't think a time difference of 2 hours would be a problem. My DS normally adjusts to the time difference by the time he gets off the plane. But I have never travelled anywhere with him with a difference of more than 4 hours so my sympathies to Kiwi and Shelly :) I just put him to bed at the normal time (e.g. 7 p.m. local time if he normally goes to bed at 7 p.m. at home) and have never had any problems. In fact the time difference does not even worry me anymore, what DOES always worry me however is the different bed, different room, level of darkness etc. and how that would affect his sleep. But so far he has always adapted fine. Try not to worry and enjoy your trip :)
there is a 10 hour time difference to my home country and the adjustment is HARD.
2 hours is not so bad, try and plan ahead and have the room the baby will be sleeping in blacked out. your baby will probably wake early to start with but just treat is as you would if they woke in the night in dubai and after a few day/week they should adjust.
agree re the daylight, as much as possible apart from during the time you want your baby to be sleeping :)
Hi there, all I can tell you is that with my baby, when I travel home (6hrs time diff) she is completely 100% fine with the time change from here to there. Sadly, its when I come back to Dubai that she suffers jet lag and its really horrible. The last time it took her 10 days to get back on track with her sleeping. So I say go and have a wonderful time back home! Even if your baby does find it a bit tough with the time diff it will improve. You just have to get through it and know that they do come out the other end perfectly fine and back to their good sleep habits.
Biggest tip I can give you is where ever you travel to for the first few days take your baby out into the morning sunshine to 'reset' their clock. ;)
(Sorry edited due to really bad grammer lol)
So i want to travel back home but my DS has just begun to actually sleep better...he sleeps from 8pm to 6am with the occasional waking once a night...my worry is that if I take him home to my country this will disturb his sleep pattern not only because the environment changes but also because 6am here is 4am there and it will be a huge problem if he follows a body clock and wakes up Dubai Time (which is then 4am there).
Or did u find that the hours stay the same....he wakes up every single morning the same time as if he just knows!!!!!!!!
Even when he goes to bed a bit later due to circumstances he still wakes the same time...
I just couldnt bear going home in mid winter and getting up 4am to try and get him to sleep again till 6am...none of us will feel rested....so if u have any experience in this, let me know!