Jet lag woes


For some reason neither Marion nor I anticipated having to deal with our children waking up at midnight and expecting to be up for the day. Nor did we foresee that they would take afternoon naps, waking them from which would unleash floods of tears. But that's exactly what we've been dealing with.

When Claire and Luc slept from 4 a.m. until about 11:30 a.m. on the morning we arrived, and then went to bed at their usual time Tuesday night, I naively thought that adjusting to the time difference was complete. Instead, Claire awoke on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights roughly around midnight asking for breakfast and to play and do art projects. Luc has awoken around the same time, either on his own or because Claire wakes him (we've been starting each night all in the same bed). So it's been pretty rough on us, needless to say. After they wake, we usually split up to try to get them back to sleep. I usually get Luc, and although I can get him back to sleep relatively easily, the remainder of the night he tosses and turns and wakes up every half hour to hour. Claire, on the other hand, has kept Marion awake for 2-3 hours each night.

We may be making some progress. Yesterday, they were both up for the day quite early, so we got them very early naps (e.g., 8 a.m.) and then headed out to Old Delhi around noon. It was a challenge keeping them both awake without another afternoon nap, but since they seem to go into nighttime sleep mode in their afternoon naps, we decided to deal with the fall out and keep them up. As it turned out, that meant keeping them up until 6 p.m., when both crashed.

I actually went to sleep shortly after them, and Marion read for a bit (an entertaining book called Holy Cow on an Aussie's travels in India) and then was asleep by 7:30 p.m. Luc woke around 11 p.m. and since I had fallen asleep in the other room and was not there to serve as his barrier from the edge of the bed, proceeded to roll himself out of bed. Momentary chaos ensued until I got him out of the room and got him back down in the second bedroom. The chaos awoke Claire, but Marion was able to get her back to sleep. Claire awoke at 3 a.m., wanting breakfast again, but Marion refused to get up for her this time. After two hours she went back to sleep.

Right now, they're both down in separate beds for naps. We'll see how nighttime sleep goes tonight. We've heard from others here that it can take children a week or more to adjust.

Posted: Sat - December 3, 2005 at 01:41 AM          

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