Jet lag is, unfortunately, a huge, unavoidable inconvenience for my family. We travel from London to the west coast of America at least twice every year, which means we have to reckon with an 8-hour time difference each time we travel. My grandma has always said that it takes you as many days to get over jet lag as the amount of hours you’re off schedule. Which means, by her measures, it takes us at least a week to feel normal after traveling. Ugggh!

Of course, it’s always a bit easier when traveling west because your clock is gaining time, and it’s worse when traveling east because you lose time. We always do much better when we travel to the states than when we return. Also, it seems that kids are generally less affected by jet lag than adults, and if you’re pregnant it seems to really knock your socks off!

Here are my tips for dealing with jet-lag and getting your family back on track…

• Reset your watches the minute you land, and start getting accustomed to the new time immediately.
• Don’t take naps, and try not to let your kids take naps at odd times. When they do take a scheduled nap, don’t let them oversleep. (Seriously, pretend you haven’t flown across the globe and that you aren’t in a different time zone.)
• If your kids wake up in the middle of the night and seem wide awake, try to keep them in their beds by giving them a few books to read. It always seems like my boys are wide, wide awake, but they always go back to sleep within an hour.
• Try to get as much fresh air and natural sunlight as you can, and drink plenty of water. Your kids might not seem thirsty, but try to encourage them to drink.
• Eat when you’re supposed to eat according to your new time. Again, your kids may not seem hungry but you should encourage them to eat.
• If you have a baby, you should feed them on demand — they will get accustomed more quickly than you think. (I always nursed my babies whenever they woke during the night, and it seemed like they adjusted in just one day.)

-Courtney