Maybe you’ve been around for a while and your kiddo is FINALLY sleeping great — takes good naps, sleeps through the night, all is well! But then you have a vacation coming up so you start to wonder how to handle the schedule when you’re about to change time zones!
There are a couple different things to consider when it comes to a traveling time change, but never fear — I’ll walk you through a few different scenarios today!
Vacation Length
Short Vacation (<1 week)
If your vacation is short, it’s usually easiest to keep Baby on his normal (home time zone) schedule. Of course you’ll be on vacation, so there may be naps on the go or a late night here and there, but when you do naps at the hotel or bedtime on time, try to keep your home schedule.
Long Vacation (>1 week)
If your vacation is long, it makes more sense to switch to the new time zone (especially if it’s a big time change!). You can choose whether to take a cold turkey approach (immediately adopt the new time zone) or to ease into it over 2-3 days (adjust the schedule by 30-60 minutes each day). If your baby is younger, easing into it is likely to work better, but if your child is older, he may be able to handle the cold turkey option.
Time Difference
1-2 Hours Later
Typically when on vacation, you’d rather sleep in and stay out late. If your travel location is in a later time zone, it may work to your advantage to keep Baby on his home time zone schedule. Instead of a 6am-6pm schedule, you could have an 8am-8pm schedule! Baby will still be on a 6am-6pm schedule in his home time zone, but he’ll be on an 8am-8pm schedule in the vacation time zone. Just make sure to adjust the naps accordingly.
1-2 Hours Earlier
While an 8am-8pm schedule is great for a vacation, a 4am-4pm schedule is not. Therefore, in this case, it makes more sense to work toward a 6am-6pm schedule (or even later if you can/want to) in the vacation time zone.
Traveling 3+ Hours Either Way
If you’re traveling through several time zones, you’ll probably want to adjust the schedule so that Baby is sleeping according to (roughly) his normal timing, but in the new time zone. If you’re moving to a later time zone, you may be tempted to try for, say, a 10am-10pm schedule. It might work, but it also might not. Babies’ bodies are really good at following the sun’s timing, so your little one might naturally settle back into his normal timing (but in the new time zone).
You now have several options for how to handle various time change scenarios, but if this all sounds too complicated, just do whatever feels right during vacation, and get back to normal the day you get home. A vacation doesn’t have to completely derail your sleep progress! Enjoy your vacation, and when you get home, get back to enjoying your predictable sleep schedule.
You might also be interested in this blog post about sleep and travel.