Last updated: June 2026. We regularly update this based on the flights we take, and feed in the latest expert advice.
A parent-tested guide to managing jet lag with little ones
Travelling with a baby can be an incredible adventure, but crossing time zones brings a whole new set of challenges. After all, no one enjoys a holiday on broken sleep.
We’ve now done multiple US trips with R across different ages, and each one has taught us something new about what actually works. Most recently we took him to Charleston, South Carolina at 17 months, and it was probably our smoothest jet lag experience yet. On our earlier trips, I was nervously searching for every bit of advice I could find. Now I can share what we’ve actually tested, across different ages and flight times, so you can go in with realistic expectations and a solid plan.
These strategies won’t guarantee perfect through-the-night sleep (let’s be honest, that’s an unrealistic ask!), but they should make time-zone transitions much smoother for you and your baby.
Baby jet lag: quick action plan
Before travel:
- Start adjusting bedtime 15-30 minutes earlier/later 5-7 days before departure
- Choose strategic flight times (day flights west, night flights east)
- Request bassinet and pack blackout aids
On arrival:
- Get natural light exposure immediately (unless evening arrival)
- Align feeding times with local schedule
- Let baby nap but limit to usual daytime duration
- Prioritise sleep over strict routine first 2-3 days
Realistic timeline:
- Expect 1 day adjustment per hour of time difference
- Biggest improvements typically seen by day 3
- Full adjustment usually takes 5+ days
👇 Read on for detailed strategies, real examples, and expert-backed tips.
Before you travel: prepping for jet lag before you even leave
1. Choosing the best flight time to minimise jet lag
When planning travel across time zones with a baby or toddler, timing your flight strategically can make a real difference. Experts generally recommend daytime flights for westward travel (e.g. UK to North America), and overnight flights for eastward travel (e.g. UK to Asia), so that your child sleeps in line with the new destination’s night.
Flights landing in the afternoon or early evening local time are considered ideal, as they allow families to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime and start fresh the next day.
Our own experience backs this up pretty clearly. When we flew to Florida at 11 months on a daytime flight, the whole family was up at 4:30–5am for the first few days. Then on our most recent trip, we flew to Charleston at 17 months and managed to get a 4:30pm departure from the UK, which is rare for US routes. We arrived in the early evening local time, put R to bed at a reasonable hour, and he slept through to 6am on day one and between 6 and 6:30am for the rest of the trip. The contrast between the two trips couldn’t have been more different, and the main variable was the flight time.
I found our night flight back to the UK also went really smoothly. While the daytime flight took more work, R’s naps fell in line with his usual routine once we got the arrival timing right.
Don’t forget to request a bassinet – more info on that in our flying with babies guide. This is a must if you can, and even better if you can pair it with a CoziGo to create a dark nap pod.
2. Shift the schedule gradually (ahead of your flight) – this one was a GAMECHANGER for us!
According to the Sleep Foundation and multiple other experts, gently adjusting your baby’s sleep and nap times a few days before departure can make the transition easier. It’s commonly cited that it will take a day per hour change to adjust to a new time zone. So, for us flying to the US east coast (-5 hours to UK / GMT), it could take 5 days to fully adjust.
The theory says to start moving bedtime later by 15–30 minutes per day in the run up, to soften the shock and get things adjusted sooner.
We also decided to aim for a halfway point rather than fully adjusting to local time, to minimise the pain when we return to the UK. R’s usual wake up is 7:30am and bedtime around 7:30pm (2:30am and 2:30pm in US east coast time), but we aim for a 6am US wake up. We quite like seeing places early in the morning when it’s quieter, and an early bedtime means we can have a couple of adult-only hours before an earlyish bedtime for us too. To make this happen without disrupting R, we book hotels and Airbnbs with some outside space, like balconies or gardens.
The schedule we followed in the week leading up to our holiday seemed to make a huge difference across both US trips, and I’d say we got away relatively unscathed by jet lag each time. The trick was allowing a couple of slightly longer naps to push bedtime back at the start of the adjustment week. It felt odd when he was still in bed at 9:30am by Thursday and tough to lose the evening with a 9:30pm bedtime, but it was totally worth it!
| Mon | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | |
| Wake up (UK time) | 7:30am | 8:00am | 8:30am | 9am | 9:30am | 10am |
| Wake up (US east coast time) | 2:30am | 3am | 3:30am | 4am | 4:30am | 5am |
| Bedtime (UK) | 7:30pm | 8pm | 8:30pm | 9pm | 9:30pm | 10pm |
| Bedtime (US) | 2:30pm | 3pm | 3:30pm | 4pm | 4:30pm | 5pm |
Update June 2026: for our Charleston trip at 17 months, we used the same pre-shift approach and it worked even better than before. R woke at 6am on day one and between 6 and 6:30am throughout the whole trip.
On the way back to the UK, R slept most the night flight like a true champ. We landed early in the morning and we gave him a few extra hours sleep until about midday (given his overnight sleep was cut considerably short by landing), but then tried to follow a shorter 2 nap day, putting him to bed at 10pm. The night wasn’t too bad to be honest, and pivotal was getting him up early the following days. This is tough if you’re jet lagged and need to sleep; it helped us having R’s granny there to do the morning shift. By getting him up early, we were able to pivot towards our usual nap schedule and bedtime and force realignment to UK time.
Travel hacks for flying long haul with a baby
3. Use light exposure to reset body clocks on arrival
Babies, like adults, rely on natural light cues to reset their circadian rhythms. Once you arrive, unless it’s evening, the Sleep Foundation suggest you get outside and get that light benefit – even if you’re running on fumes. If you have toddlers or older children, take them to a playground to release pent up energy. As the NHS states, light tells our body it’s time to wake up, while avoiding bright lights close to bedtime will help us and our babies wind down. Packing those pop up black-out blinds may be key to making things darker in the evening and helping to adjust quicker.
According to Sleepy Angels Consultancy, if you arrive in the morning…
- Allow your little one to sleep as much as they can on the flight (this feels like a no brainer!), utilising black out gadgets like the CoziGo (for the plane bassinet)
- Once at your destination, let your baby nap but for no longer than they usually would in the daytime
- Offer snacks, milk and water to keep energy levels up and fuel the body
- Spend as much time in the natural light as possible
If you arrive in the afternoon/evening….
- Try to keep babies awake on the last few hours of the journey – ideally, the similar number of hours they would normally have between the last nap and bedtime
- Replicate your usual bedtime routine when you get to your accommodation
Another option is to use an app like Timeshifter, although I’ve not personally used it so can’t vouch for how useful it is.
4. Prioritise sleep over routine for the first few days
While structure helps babies feel safe, flexibility is your best friend in the first few days. Let your baby sleep when they need to and don’t stress if naps aren’t when they should be. Encourage pram snoozes (be sure to pack your sleep aids, including a Rockit and either your CoziGo or SnoozeShade).
Try to anchor the day with your usual bedtime routine to signal bedtime, even if the timing is off. For us, that means a bath (where possible) and our own travel crib sheets (that smell like home), our white noise machine, and our sleeping bags. You may find it helpful to read our full packing list.
5. Aligning feeding with local time will support sleep regulation
Milk and feeding times are another way to help babies adjust to time changes, according to nutritionist Jenna Daou, who says “eating for the local time zone can help mitigate symptoms of fatigue”. Try to align feeds with local mealtimes, as this will encourage wakefulness during the day, given when you eat is a powerful cue for internal rhythm. For younger babies, frequent feeds during the day can help them fill up and sleep better at night.
You can take this further by trying to encourage natural melatonin production, and Mother & Baby share 7 tips to encourage this hormone in your little one. These include dimming lights an hour before you start the bedtime routine and feeding foods like milk, chicken and turkey which contain an amino acid called tryptophan which our bodies use to make sleep-inducing melatonin. Here’s a longer list of foods that apparently help babies and toddlers sleep.
For adults, reducing caffeine and alcohol is recommended to help you sleep better when struggling with jet lag. So logic would say that this is even more important if you’re breastfeeding.
Realistic expectations
6. Don’t expect a miracle on day one
Babies are remarkably adaptable but will likely struggle at points when you might be desperate to sleep (nothing new there, eh!). As much as I believe travel shouldn’t stop when you have children, you are ultimately putting them in that position by travelling, so be fair to them and limit any frustrations around them waking up or sleeping at less preferable times.
Use early wake ups to go and see the sunrise (we often Google the best places to view the sunrise where we’re going so we have some ideas ready!).
Keep nighttime wake ups calm by using dim lighting if you can’t soothe your baby back to sleep. Be prepared to need to do activities but choose calming ones like reading a book or playing with soft toys.
Baby jet lag tips by age
0-6 months:
- Follow their lead more – very young babies adapt quicker
- Focus on feeding schedule alignment over sleep times
- Use blackout aids religiously for daytime naps
- Don’t stress about perfect routines
6-12 months:
- Pre-trip schedule adjustment is most effective at this age
- Use natural light exposure strategically
- Maintain bedtime routine anchor points (bath, stories, etc)
- Expect more disruption but faster recovery
- From our Florida trip at 11 months: even with good preparation, a daytime flight can mean 4:30–5am starts for the first few days, so set expectations accordingly
12+ months (toddlers):
- Involve them in “getting ready for adventure”
- Use visual schedules showing new routine
- Plan engaging outdoor activities for appropriate times
- Be prepared for emotional responses to tiredness – a jet-lagged toddler will make their feelings known, so having low-key, familiar activities in the bag for the first day or two helps a lot
- From our Charleston trip at 17 months: keeping days active and outdoors from arrival meant R was tired enough by early evening to go down without much resistance. With the pre-trip schedule shift and a well-timed afternoon departure, we never really had a bad night
Baby jet lag: frequently asked questions
Generally, expect about 1 day of adjustment per hour of time difference. So a 5-hour time change (like UK to US east coast) typically takes 5-7 days for full adjustment, with major improvements by day 3-4. That said, at 17 months in Charleston, R was largely adjusted by day two, which suggests older babies and toddlers can sometimes adapt faster than expected if the flight timing is right.
No – let your baby sleep as much as possible during the flight. The key is managing their schedule once you arrive, not sleep deprivation during travel.
Yes! Our experience across multiple trips showed that gradually shifting bedtime by 15-30 minutes per day for 5-7 days before departure made a huge difference. It’s one of the most effective strategies.
Keep the room dim, offer quiet activities like soft books or toys, and avoid stimulating play. Don’t stress – this is normal and usually improves within 2-3 days.
Melatonin supplements aren’t recommended for babies. Instead, encourage natural melatonin production through light exposure during the day and darkness at bedtime, plus foods containing tryptophan (e.g. milk and turkey).
Adjust to local time for trips longer than a week. For shorter trips, maintaining home time might be easier, though you’ll still need to manage daylight exposure.
Yes – breast milk contains natural sleep-promoting compounds, and feeding on the local schedule helps reset your baby’s internal clock. If breastfeeding, avoid excess caffeine as it can worsen sleep disruption.
Westward travel (like UK to US) is generally easier as you’re extending the day. Eastward travel (like UK to Asia) can be tougher as you’re shortening it. Plan accordingly with flight times.
My mantra is that our goal isn’t perfect sleep, but enough sleep for all of us (R included) to enjoy our travels. From all the tips I’ve tested across multiple trips, it’s clear the biggest wins come from being flexible, staying patient, and knowing that better sleep is usually just a few days away.
Allie, Jack and R x
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