Traveling to Italy with 2-Year-Old Son

Hi M.,
We travel with our son to Ireland. Since the flight over is overnight...it works perfectly. Then while there we just stay up as late as possible. take a "small" nap that day and keep going. The first day is always tough. But after that it's fairly easy. Just whatever you do, do not revert back to US time. Keep your schedule for the time zone you are in. When you come back - the same thing. The moment you arrive, start in the US time again. Good luck adn Bon viaggi!

I just travelled with my 16 month for two weeks to my in-laws in Germany. We have taken the late night flights both times over to Europe and so he has slept for most of the flight. He wears his pjs on the flight. Then during our layover we get him dressed and feed him his usual breakfast. We try to make it feel as much like a new day as possible. Once we are at my in-laws, we try to keep him up as close to his bedtime as possible - but we don't push it. We do his usual bedtime routine and then stay with him until he falls asleep since it's a little overwhelming to be in the new place. We know that he may be up for a bit in the night but we just go with it. Usually in a day or two he's on his usual nap and bedtime routine. Being consistent with meal and snack time has helped. My advice though is make sure you don't forget to let yourself adjust to the time change. I go to bed early too and my husband and I trade off naps too during the first couple days. Have a great trip.

We just took our 2 and 4 year old daughters to the UK and while I was worried about the same thing, it worked out fine. What I found was that the traveling (12+ hours of cars, planes, airports) is so tiring that they slept first thing when we got there and back home, and then in the days after were still so tired it was easy to put them down at their regular nap times and regular bedtimes - both abroad and at home. I hope this is the case for you and your son. Have a wonderful time.

M.,
We live in Switzerland and fly back and forth a bit with my 2.5 year old and 4 year old. I think it's easier coming this way, but everyone is different. I found that my kids sleep longer into the morning while in Europe so those early morning adventures are out for the first 3-4 days. Try to get him to sleep the 'local' time as quickly as possible. We found that an umbrella stroller was essential as it makes a great place to nap at any time of the day. It may be hard the first 4 days/nights, but they adjust very quickly. Especially if you keep the bedtime routine the same, even if it's not in the same environment. If you are staying in one place it helps as well - lots of hotel moves are hard for them to adjust to.
Good luck and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
S. H