Happy New Year! David is 5 months old!
Baby D is ¾ Korean and my whole family and some of my husband’s family live in Seoul, Korea. For the holidays, we visited Korea to show off our newest addition to our families. Like any other mother, I was very nervous about taking my baby abroad for the first time because of many reasons especially, time change. Even adults struggle with time change, so how would my baby adjust? I wanted to keep his sleep schedule (3 naps with 12 hours of night time sleep from 6 pm to 6 am) which we have developed for his well-being and development but at the same time, we are on vacation – we would love to have more outings and late dinners with our families. Also, my husband didn’t have to work so we did not need to ensure morning daddy and baby time. Instead, we could all sleep in. Here is what we did before, during and after our very first trip abroad.
Before we left - Preparing
My husband and I discussed and set up a realistic sleep schedule for Baby D. I believe that it is important to decide together because of the following reasons. First, there are always going to be unexpected changes to plans, especially when abroad so it was important for us to be on the same page during potentially stressful situations. This made us support each other when one of us called one of our famous “family meetings”. This also allowed us to provide consistent messaging and strategy to our little one. We ended up deciding on moving baby D’s bedtime from 9 pm to 9 am so we could ensure his sleep needs but also align with what my husband and I wanted from our “vacation”.
We could not move baby D’s entire bedroom to Korea. However, for continuity with respect to his environment, I brought some of the following items; crib sheets, monitor (which also makes white noise), sleepers, sleep sacks, night time storybook (we use “goodnight moon”), and vitamin D (part of his morning routines).
We ordered a playpen to my parents’ place in Seoul where we stayed during the entire trip. I believe that it was worth every penny during our six-week stay. He has been sleeping in his crib in his own room since he was 7 weeks old (I did not intend for this to happen that early. This just happened when I broke his bassinet ☹). So, my husband and I decided for him to have his own sleep space. Fortunately, my parents have enough rooms for this.
Beginning of the trip - Adjusting
We limited our outings. We needed to stay home when he took naps as well as for nighttime sleep. I believe that it was an important step to introduce a new sleep environment to him and allow him to have some time to get used to it.
We did not rush. Baby D needed time to adjust. Even adults need a few days and so do four-month-old babies.
We performed morning routines (face and bum washing, diaper/clothes on, vitamin D/feeding) and nighttime routines (bath, massage, sleeper on, feeding, reading a book, cuddling, singing a night-night song) starting based on the new 9 pm to 9 am schedule. This was not easy since my husband and I were struggling with the time change but in the end, I was glad that we persevered. It’s funny, baby D was actually the first one of us that was able to adjust to the time change.
There were two different phases during this period. During the first phase, I focused on helping baby D recover from fatigue. I nursed him on demand day and night. I allowed him to sleep as much as he needed except at 9 am, where I woke him up so he could know it was time to start a day. However, if he was tired after his morning routines, he could go back to sleep.
During the second phase, I treated his night time waking as if he woke up occasionally back home. In other words, avoiding turning on the light, minimal interactions, and quick diaper changes and feedings, but only if needed.
Results: We spent the first two nights in the recovery phase. By the fourth night, he started sleeping through the night.
Rest of the trip - Further adjusting
During the rest of the trip, we had many outings that disrupted his sleep. We did our best to provide some consistency, but it was a vacation – we also wanted to enjoy every moment as well.
We used his nap time for travelling. The car ride, stroller ride, and carrier ride (facing our chest) made him fall asleep. So, my husband and I used his nap time for travelling to somewhere.
When he was awake (about two hours between his naps), we did our best to let him have fun. We allowed him to move his body. We sometimes needed to pop by somewhere (e.g., coffee shop) so we could play with him. In Korea, department stores have amazing baby lounges. They have nursing rooms, changing rooms, sleep rooms, kitchen, etc, all are complimentary for the customers. They even rent strollers. We used baby lounges many times, even multiple times a day for changing, eating, playing and even resting. Prior to travelling any significant distances, we made sure to know where those baby lounges were and constantly checked the distances from where we were currently to the lounges.
After the trip
When we came back, we had to adjust to time change again and used the same strategies in order to get back to our usual schedule (6 pm to 6 am).
Result: This proved to be more difficult. I spent the first three nights recovering. On the fourth and fifth nights, baby D woke up at 1 am and 4 am and did not want to go back to bed. However, he was not fussy. He was happy to play with his hands and feet. So, I was sitting on the rocking chair while he was playing in his crib in a dark room. On the sixth day, he woke up at 1 am and played in his crib for two hours. On the seventh day, he woke up at 1 am but went to bed right away. On the eighth day, he started sleeping through the night. Again, he was the first one to successfully adjust to the schedule among the three of us. Of course, my husband was last.
Our six weeks of vacation in Korea was like a dream. Spending time with family was priceless. We are very thankful to have families who greeted us and welcomed baby D. The love they gave to us made our hearts full but also reminded us of the new responsibilities we have as parents.
- Minnie