How to organize proper sleep for your baby on vacation? Do I need to prepare him for the change of time zones? Life hacks that will help you quickly put your child in a new place
A vacation with a small child is always a challenge. No matter how comfortable the living conditions are, in a new place the baby becomes capricious and restless. Because of this, a big problem arises: the child's sleep schedule gets lost. Not only can this greatly spoil the rest of the parents. Upon arrival home, you have to start all over again, and again teach the baby to the regime. To avoid this, try your best not to "fall out" of the schedule. How to do it on vacation, said a children's neurologist and somnologist Anna Ostroverkhova.
At what age can you travel with a child
Any child in a new place will behave uneasy / istockphoto.com
This is the main question that all parents ask: what is the optimal age for the baby so that the rest goes smoothly, and there are fewer whims. There is no definite answer here, says Anna Ostroverkhova. “Children are very conservative,” the expert explains. - Regardless of age, they all love the regime, order, clarity and predictability. Accordingly, if you are going on vacation, it does not matter how elite the hotel will be. There will be no predictability and comprehensibility for the child, and most likely it will cause him anxiety. "
In this situation, the main thing for parents is moral readiness for the fact that the child will be on vacation. more capriciousthan usual time. Sleep will be worse and at first it will definitely take longer. “If there is no such readiness, it is better not to take the child with you on vacation at any age,” says the children's neurologist. - Leave it to grandparents. This option also takes place, and is often useful to both parties. "
If you are determined to go on vacation with your baby, understand all the possible inconveniences and are ready to temporarily endure them, the main task is to make every effort at first to keep sleeping child. How to do it right? Anna Ostroverkhova offers parents several life hacks and useful recommendations.
How to prepare your child for jet lag
Changing time zones can knock a child off the chart / istockphoto.com
Change of time zones causes discomfort even in adults, not to mention small children. However, they do not always need to be prepared for this in advance. “If you are flying to a country with a time zone difference of plus or minus two hours, you should not prepare for this,” says Anna Ostroverkhova. - You come to another city and make a decision for yourself whether you live according to the new time or stay in the old one. It can be very convenient to stay on the old mode. For example, putting the baby to bed later allows the whole family to sleep longer in the morning. ”
If you travel more than two time zones, it makes sense to do some preliminary preparation. “To do this, you need to wake up the child every day either 15 minutes earlier, adapting him to the eastern mode, or to lay him down 15 minutes later, adapting to the flight to the west. We do not move the mode for more than 1.5 hours in our time zone. The rest of the adaptation to the time will have to be carried out on the spot, ”the expert notes.
What time to fly so as not to interrupt the child's sleep
Long flights with a child are best done at night / istockphoto.com
If you go on vacation by plane, be prepared for the fact that it will not be possible for the baby to organize the usual conditions for falling asleep there. Therefore, the behavior strategy depends on the flight time. “If the flight is long, more than three hours, it is better to try to take evening or night flights,” advises Anna Ostroverkhova. “The child will definitely fall asleep and calmly sleep the entire flight.”
If the flight is short, then you can fly at any time, the expert says: “Even if the baby does not fall asleep on the plane and misses a nap, the regime will not break at once. This is force majeure, so we leave everything as it is. Upon arrival at the destination, we try to even out the regime by going to bed earlier than usual. "
How to establish life in a new place so as not to bring down the regime
To make the child fall asleep easier, take familiar things from home / istockphoto.com
Most often, the regime gets lost in those children who are used to falling asleep. “The main mistake of parents is not to think over a separate place for the child to sleep,” emphasizes Anna Ostroverkhova. - Already upon arrival at the hotel, the parents understand that there is no crib for the baby, and they put him to bed next to them. Two weeks is enough for the child to feel the difference and, upon returning home, refused to fall asleep alone. "
To avoid this, consider from the very beginning where the child will sleep in the new place. Please check with the hotel if there will be a cot for your baby. If not, take a falling asleep arena with you. It can easily be placed in the trunk when you are traveling by car, or you can take it with you on the train, placing it on a stroller. You can also try to rent a arena: this service is now provided in many resort cities.
“It is very important to take with you what and in which the child is used to sleeping at home,” adds Anna Ostroverkhova. - It can be pajamas or a favorite toy. A good option is your own sheet. Take the one on which the child slept for two or three nights before the vacation. It is imbued with a homey smell, and will give the baby the feeling of familiar comfort and peace. "
For the organization daytime sleep Think in advance of the devices that will save you from daylight. Often, there are no block-out curtains at a new location, or they are (for example, in hotels), but they are poorly coping with their function. Therefore, consider how you can close the windows. These can be special mobile curtains with Velcro made of impenetrable dark fabric. Economy option - a roll of scotch tape and a large garbage bag made of dense black polyethylene.
“White noise works very well,” says Anna Ostroverkhova. - Even if you don't use it at home, there are unpredictable situations on vacation. For example, restless neighbors or discos until the morning. In this case, white noise can save you from extraneous sounds. The only caveat: if this is unusual for the child, three to four days before departure it makes sense to turn on White noise to fall asleep, so that in a new place the baby is not frightened. "
How to properly organize a daytime sleep in a stroller
Sleeping in a stroller is okay for a short vacation / istockphoto.com
If on vacation you plan to walk a lot, it is permissible to arrange for your baby to sleep in a stroller. “Yes, it will not be as full-fledged sleep, it will not be as restorative as sleeping in a static position. But this is quite acceptable for a short period of time, so as not to miss the opportunity for parents to walk and see new places, ”says Anna Ostroverkhova.
How do I put my baby in the stroller? “We always warn moms that you cannot close the stroller in the heat with anything, because there is a great risk of creating a greenhouse effect in it,” emphasizes our expert. - However, in order for the child to fall asleep, a darkening effect is needed. For these purposes, there are special black curtains on sale that are made of breathable fabric. Covering the stroller with a short is enough for half an hour until the child falls asleep. After that we remove the device "
For older children, it is permissible to use eye masks. But be sure to watch the face of the child so that the mask does not slip on the nose, and remove after the child has fallen asleep. In advance, it is worth using this device several times at home so that the baby is familiar with it, and he does not get scared.
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