Jet lag with children

Before you go: shift the sleep

The body clock is set by the sunrise and the sunset, so it can be moved a little before you fly. In the last two or three days before you leave, shift the children's bedtime an hour a day towards the time it will be at the destination: earlier if you are travelling east, later if you are travelling west.

On a longer journey, try to adapt to the destination's schedule before you leave rather than after you land, and set your watches to the new time as you begin the trip so the whole family is on the destination's clock from the start.

The night before, get plenty of rest. A well-rested child copes with a strange bed and a strange day much better than a tired one.

On the plane

Try not to let the children sleep during the flight unless the flight's own bedtime is the bedtime where you are going. If they are awake, get them up and walking a few times, so they are tired at the right hour.

Give them water through the flight, and keep the heavy meals, the fizzy drinks and the caffeine away. Staying hydrated matters, because the loss of fluid makes the physical symptoms of jet lag worse.

The first day: daylight, naps and meals

The strongest signal for the body clock is the daylight, so the most useful thing you can do on the day you arrive is to go outside. Natural light during the day helps the clock adjust to the new time zone.

Keep the children awake through the local day if you can. If they need a nap, make it a short one, because a long daytime nap makes the night harder still.

Eat the meals of the destination's day: breakfast when the destination is having breakfast, dinner when it is having dinner. On a short trip you can also keep your usual eating and sleeping times, and that works too.

The days after

It takes about a day to adjust to every one or two time zones, so a flight across three or more zones takes around two days, and a longer trip takes longer still. It usually improves within a few days as the body adjusts to the new time zone.

Keep the family's ordinary exercise routine while you are away, and try not to schedule anything important on the first day. If there is an event the children cannot miss, arriving a day early gives the body time to adjust before it.

Helping children through it

A child who is hungry, overtired or out of routine on arrival settles harder than one who has kept to the family's rhythm, so the small things matter: the daylight, the meal times and the nap length.

Younger children also tend to wake in the night. Keep the room dark and the house quiet when they do, and use the daylight of the next morning as the thing that resets them.

When to ask a doctor

Jet lag is common and it passes. Ask a doctor if the trouble sleeping or the daytime sleepiness lasts well beyond the first few days after the trip, or if it is bad enough to interfere with the family at home or at school.

Ask before you travel if your child already has a sleep problem, because a long flight is harder to manage then, and a doctor can tell you what to expect. And ask about any medicine before the trip: whether it is right for your child is a question for a doctor, and medicines are not usually needed for jet lag.

Sources

• Jet lag prevention, patient instructions of MedlinePlus, the U.S. National Library of Medicine: jet lag is a sleep disorder caused by travelling across time zones when the body's internal clock is not in sync with the destination, and the cues of sunrise and sunset set that clock. It advises going to bed earlier for a couple of nights before travelling east and later for a couple of nights before travelling west, not sleeping during the flight unless it matches the destination's bedtime, drinking plenty of water and avoiding heavy meals, alcohol and caffeine, and spending time in the sun on arrival to reset the internal clock. It takes a day to adjust to one or two time zones. — medlineplus.gov (checked 21 October 2026)
• Jet Lag Disorder chapter of the CDC Yellow Book: jet lag is a temporary desynchronization between the internal biological clock and the local time, with sleep disturbances, daytime sleepiness, general malaise and gastrointestinal disturbances. It advises shifting sleep an hour later a day for westward travel and earlier for eastward travel in the final 2 to 3 days before departure, timing meals, sleep and light exposure to the destination time zone, staying awake during the local day, keeping daytime naps short, staying hydrated and avoiding excess alcohol. — cdc.gov (checked 21 October 2026)
• Jet lag page of the NHS: get plenty of rest before you travel and start going to bed and getting up earlier or later than usual, go outside during the day because natural light will help your body clock adjust, do not sleep during the day but only at night time, and for short journeys try not changing your eating and sleeping times to the new time zone. It usually improves within a few days, and medicines are not usually needed for jet lag. — nhs.uk (checked 21 October 2026)