How do I feed a 4 mth old in a different time zone? Post Reply

[Bailey]

Good Morning,

I will be taking my 4 month old to British Columbia in a couple of weeks time (fingers crossed the ash dissapears!!). They are 8 hours behind us. I follow the Baby Whisperer, feeding her at 7am, 10:30am, 1:30pm, 4:30pm, 7pm (bedtime) and dream feed at 11pm. We will arrive at around 12noon BC time which will be 8pm our time and then how do I get her into the swing of things so she understands night and day there?? Does anyone have experience in doing this? I am pretty good at handling jet lag but with a newborn just seems so daunting ! Thank you so much.

Cdnmom

[moops]

Hi

We had a similar problem when I took my Son to Australia, we arrived at around 9am but it was night time in the UK. I had no choice but to put him to bed and let him sleep for a while and then I gave him a small snack when he woke up and then tried to give him dinner at 5pm Australian time and then bedtime as usual. He was so knackered that he slept well that night and we were able to start from scratch in the morning. Don't worry if the first day doesn't follow your routine to the letter you should be back on track before too long. Have a great time!

[SJ1979]

Hi there,

I took my daughter when she was 4 months to Australia, and was still breastfeeding, I have to say the routine went out the window, she pretty much demand fed on the plane (they encourage you to feed on take off and landing as sucking helps prevent their ears popping) and with my jet-lag my milk supply was all over the place. But after a very unsettled first night - I think in the end my sister ended up giving her some formula as my milk supply was so low, which helped her sleep, she soon settled into the new routine brilliantly. For the first few days, she was waking a bit in the night for a feed, but was soon back to normal. My advice would be to just not worry too much about the routine you have at home, so long as your baby is getting fed every 3-4 hours as usual, you'll be fine. I have to say, flying a longhaul flight with a breastfed four month old was the easiest thing, compared to when they're on the move and eating normal food.

Have a lovely time!

[Devi]

my son was 3 and a half months and breast feeding when I brought him from New York to London. Nothing I could do helped him for a week and he had bad jet lag ( refused to feed or sleep on schedule and demanded feeds at all odd times). After a tough week he was fine. I hope you have a better time! Some of them do take it easier. I have heard keeping the infant as much exposed to sunlight during the day as possible helps with the change in body clock. Be mentally prepared for losing the schedule for a while but, have heart, eventually you'll get it going again. Best of luck, devi
PS--the flight itself went very well. he just slept through it as it was night (by his old body clock).