How to survive children's jet lag 2026

If you've never traveled to the other side of the world with a child, you don't know what you're missing. On the first trips with my daughter from Barcelona to Sydney I thought that the plane trip would be the hardest. However, I can assure you that it is not. It's definitely a lot harder to deal with a toddler's jet lag when you have it too.

We suffer jet lag when we travel across multiple time zones and our internal clock gets out of whack.

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Our circadian rhythm or biological clock is guided by: the natural environment, light cycles and temperature. When we suffer from jet lag, our sleep pattern, hormonal regulation, temperature control and eating habits are interrupted or affected to a lesser or greater extent.

Thus, when we travel and alter our biological clock, it is very likely to feel tired, sleepy, irritable, apathetic and disoriented... sensations we call jet lag.

Facts about jet lag

• Jet lag occurs when flying across multiple time zones in an east-west or west-east direction.
• Traveling by plane heading east is harder on the body. Generally, you suffer more jet lag and for more days.
• Chances are, if you only travel across one or two time zones, the effects of jet lag will be minimal or not at all.
• Sleep helps you recover faster.
• Being exposed to daylight helps reset the biological clock.

7 tips to survive children's jet lag

1. Choose the appropriate flight

Arriving at the destination city and settling the family in the hotel during the day makes it easier to combat jet lag than doing it at night. Daylight helps regulate your internal clock and recover sooner. You may feel the need to lock yourself in a dark room, but it is much better to go with the children to the park, take a walk under the sun or just do some outdoor family leisure activity.

It is important for the brain to perceive light changes throughout the day to adapt.

2. Don't plan too much for the first two days.

Make sure you don't plan activities for the first two days, going a little on your own will help you adapt to the new time zone. If your accommodation is a hotel or tourist apartment, it is advisable to sleep in the same place during the first few days. It is recommended, as far as possible, that you do not share a room (parents-children) so that you can recover without disturbing each other. Sleeping in shifts with your partner is usually very useful for resting and being with the children.

3. Keep the room as dark as possible at night.

It is something that will help your child sleep for longer hours and get back to sleep if they wake up in the middle of the night. For daytime naps, it is also crucial to keep the room dark. Lamelatonin, the hormone that helps us sleep, is produced when we are in dark places.

It's hard to convince a child to go to sleep when their brain is sending them commands to wake up, so keeping the room dark will help a lot.

4. Change the phone time when you arrive at your destination.

This will make your brain locate the new time. However, it is a good idea to be aware of the home schedule to know when your child is due to eat or sleep. If he is hungry at 3 in the morning, you can give him a small snack (healthy) but never give him a full meal.

5. Try to get your child to eat at normal times

You should try to make him eat well during the day so that he is not hungry at night. Healthy foods such as fruit, vegetables and cereals are much more recommended than junk food or foods with large amounts of sugar.

6. Be flexible on the first day and allow your child (and yourself!) to catch up on sleep

If your child needs to sleep all morning or afternoon on the day of arrival, let him, there is no problem. But from the third day onwards it is advisable to put a little order and maintain the duration of daytime naps as at home.

7. Let yourself go: give yourself some time for your biological clock to adapt

It takes a while to adapt to the time zones and, for the sake of you and your child, you will have to stop being excessively strict for a few days. Fighting with a baby or toddler in the middle of the night to get them back to sleep can be a losing battle. If this happens to you, I recommend that one of you get up and read him a story in the dim light to get him to relax again. You can rest assured, it is very likely that you will sleep better the next day.

Child sleep expert

Amelia Hunter is an expert in children's sleep. She was born in Australia, but lives in Barcelona, ​​where she designs personalized plans for each family with the intention of helping children - up to 8 years old - sleep better independently throughout the night. Use methods that psychologists and pediatricians have created.

She started as a Sleep Consultant because of her daughter's sleep problems (and her own sleep deprivation). In this way, it helps families in the same situation.