How to help your kids get some sleep while they travel

What are some tips and tricks to get children to sleep on a plane? 

Make them comfortable with the provided blankets and pillows and with younger children try having some of their familiar sleep associations like a special blanket or stuffed toy. Make sure they are in comfortable clothes, remove their shoes and try to avoid them becoming too warm. Try to have food before going to sleep and keep on the safety seat belt to avoid having to disturb them later if the seat belt light goes on.

 

What about other forms of transport, or in a departure lounge between flights? 

Again, all you can do is ensure that where possible you create suitable conditions for sleep. Most of us need a dark quiet environment to sleep, so try to be in a quiet spot and consider using an eye mask for an older child or a snooze shade on your buggy to darken things down. Make sure that your buggy meets you at the cabin door for connecting flights so that you can wheel your child around in between.

 

How do you get children to adjust to a new time zone? 

The best approach is to match the time zone of the place that you are visiting, almost immediately, give or take an hour or two. Try to have a regular wake up time in the morning to help reset the body clock, and open up natural times for sleep for a child who will still require day time naps. Unfortunately when the young body becomes over-tired, it has a chemical response that makes it harder to fall asleep with ease. This is particularly relevant for children under the age of three.

 

Is it best to just go straight back into your child’s normal routine when you come back from holidays, or should you give it a few days?

Yes, the first few days are the hardest and experts suggest that it can take a day for every hour of time difference, but I normally find that within a week or two, the body readjusts. The key is regularity. A sensible wake-up time such as 7.30am, and then a suitable bedtime for a young child, which until age 10 is suggested at somewhere from 6pm-8pm.

 

Sould your child's sleep problems affect your decisions about whether to travel or not?

I encourage parents to live! As a parent of four children myself, I recognise the importance of exclusive holiday-family time and wouldn’t suggest that people avoid holidays. Travelling long haul with really young children can be ambitious and you can always holiday closer to home to avoid this problem.

 

What I would normally suggest is that if you have recently solved your sleeping issues, the stay put for another month thereafter before thinking of travelling.

 

Are there any must-have aides or accessories parents should buy to help with adjusting children to new sleep patterns when travelling across time zones?

Lucy Wolfe, CGSC, MAPSC, is a paediatric sleep consultant and mum of four young children. She runs a private sleep consulting practice where she provides knowledge, expertise and valuable support to families across the country. See www.sleepmatters.ie <http://www.sleepmatters.ie>, t: 087 2683584 or e: lucy@sleepmatters.ie