Suggestions for long haul flight

[Fijifish]

Hi everyone,

We are travelling on a long haul 10 hour flight soon. My son is 20 months and does not sit still!

Any suggesstions/tips for toys, games, snacks, how you managed with milk would be ever so grateful!

Thanks so much in advance!

Emma

[Pickle]

We travel to NZ frequently with our 3 children - three flights each way totalling 26 hours!

Milk - if your son drinks cows milk the airline should be happy to provide it for you. I've never had a problem asking for milk when we fly, and often the children's meals come with a carton or bottle of milk anyway. At 20 months he won't need much more than one or two cups or bottles in a 10 hour period will he?

For our most recent trip in April, my youngest was 2 (others 5 and 7, a breeze, they just watched movies the whole time!). I bought a selection of new things for her - a little stamp/ink pad set, mini aqua draw sets, crayons, paper, a few of her favourite books, and an iPad with a variety of her favourite CBeeBees shows downloaded on Iplayer which means they can be watched offline.

Generally I have always found that I'm over-prepared in terms of activities, as once on the plane a lot of time is taken up with food, general excitement at being on a plane, and nappy changing/walking around and sleep!

In 7.5 years of long haul travel with kids (11 trips to NZ), I've never had a flight where I thought I never wanted to do it again. It's never as bad as you think it will be.

Good luck x

[Fijifish]

Hi Pickle,

This is really helpful - wow well done you, I'm a little about just this one flight! A good point about the milk, I've thinking how I will manage this. Great tips about the activities too. We are going to purchase an Ipad - thank goodness for In the night garden and Toy Story! I have a couple of sticker books and I like the sound of the aqua doodle.

Thanks again, it's really appreciated x

[hazelnunhead]

One thing that worked with my daughter at this age on a long distance flight was to have either a few lollies or chewy sweets to give at take off and landing to help with air pressure in their ears (or a dummy or sucking on a bottle, whatever works best)

I had a little backpack stuffed with cheap disposable type toys (things that come free in magazines; pound shop) that could be pulled out and not really a problem if left behind! Snacks are useful, some drinks, extra water so you dont have to wait for an air hostess to reach you... .. but I agree with Pickle once the flights starts there is also lots happening, it is usually the time before the plane leaves and when you are about to land that you need some stuff to occupy them with. I would definatley have some apps or something on an ipad if needed for distraction, although aqua doodel etc, sticker books are spot on .....

Those little sticky post it notes are useful! My duaghter once sat quietly and covered an entire seat in them. (and of course easy to clear up afterwards)

TAke those head rest cushions as extra padding is always needed to get comfortable. And dont forget to order yourself a bottle of wine when the food comes around!

[Fijifish]

Hi Hazel,

Thanks so much for your message, my son would love the post it note idea! Great tips on the head cushion and he loves a cosy blanket. And the wine comment made me laugh out loud - I love your thinking, I will most definetely be partaking in a little vino or two on the plane! :)

[JS33]

We've done a lot of long-haul flights with our daughter over the years and at that age I'm fairly certain that I survived in part by doling out an endless stream of new, small, time-consuming snacks (oranges that she could peel herself, small tubs of raisins/dry cereal/various things that needed to be eaten one at a time, cut up sandwiches, etc), along with the other things people have mentioned. Up until she was old enough to have the attention span to watch movies/play games on an iPad, whenever she started fussing I'd bring out a new "snack activity." She's never much liked airplane food, so I'd generally try to give her a combination of things that, taken together, would approximate what she'd need to eat over the course of the day. I also recommend bringing a sippy cup or some other sort of closeable drink container for the flight attendants to pour water/milk/juice/whatever into, because those tiny plastic cups tip over if a toddler just looks at them.

[Convex]

All good advice.

Plus if you have a sling take it for carrying on/off the plane.

Spare top for you (in case you get vomited on) and some plastic bags.

Trunki do pillow/blanket sets which we found useful.

A sippy/straw type bottle works for clearing ears eg the nuby one or camelback. An ear nurse recommended blowing balloons though I haven't tried that.

Also I take almost nothing for myself that I used to take when child free. I don't bother with book, music etc as it's just more to carry and when the kids are asleep, I rest! I have 2 though.

Also try and get a bassinet seat. If your kid us under the weight limit they might sleep in the bouncer type attachment, and if they won't you at least have the extra space to put stuff.

[Crustyrack]

Don't take toys that can roll (pencils, round toys etc)

Early learning centre sell sticker books with stickers that be reused and removed from the window/tray table at the end of the flight.

Spare top for you and your little one.

If there are headphones provided with the entertainment system on the plane, get them to practice using them (buy from Pound store) as they won't understand the concept!

Lower your standards and never underestimate the power of chocolate buttons....

[AnyaJoeli]

I echo etta, it's never as bad as you think, and even if it is bad there is a definite end in sight! I've done a few flights with mine, the least painful was actually the longest and the one I was worrying most about, flying to Sri Lanka when he was 19 months, an 11 hour flight there and 12 back. The flight over was overnight and he slept pretty much all the flight, and he's not a great sleeper so this was amazing, He was in my arms and woke occasionally for milk so I think in this respect it worked in my favour that he likes to sleep in my arms and wasn't more of a cot-only baby. The airline provided as much milk as we needed, and offered to warm it up although my son has always been a bit weird and liked milk straight from the fridge even when he was really little. Flight back he was awake for 3 hours, slept for 4 hours, awake for 4 hours which worked pretty well. we were offered the basinet and although he was a little bit big to actually go in it for any length of time, it was great for having another surface to use to put things or him if you needed to find things around the seat etc. So if they offer you the basinet seat, take it!

I found nappy changing a bit stressful as Maurice seems to be a bit claustrophobic in tiny rooms and so he didn't like the airplane toilet at all, but using toys and the mirror etc to make it fun was useful.

Being with your partner means you can share the duties and that makes such a difference, means one of you can go to the loo/have a cup of tea/watch some telly in peaceful shifts if you want to which makes it much more relaxing for everyone, plus you have two pairs of hands or loving faces for entertainment when you need it. I have done two 7-hour trips with my son on my own, when he was 12 months and last year at 2 years old, and that is a bit tougher, especially if they don't sleep as mine managed not to for an entire 7 hour flight, having woken up as the plane took off! It involves a lot of walking up and down the plane patiently if yours is anything like mine and not a "sitter", and creating games out of what you can find on your journey. Making friends with friendly air stewards and stewardesses, on my last lone flight one of the stewards was so taken with maurice he wanted to take him into business class with him for a bit to give me a break! In general most passengers are pretty friendly when it comes to a cute toddler and that can be reassuring too so try not to worry if they do kick up a fuss at any point, take a deep breath in those moments and realise that this too shall pass (mine started shouting WHERE IS DADDY I WANT DADDY!!!" inconsolably for the first hour of the flight to Canada last year so I had to grit my teeth a bit there.) Anything that can be used to distract in those moments is good: change of scenery with a walk, a new or favourite app: Maurice likes cbeebies app, dipdap, baby touch, thomas activities, a few episodes of Raa Raa downloaded from iplayer etc etc. My son was a little bit small last year for watching the cartoons offered on the inflight entertainment, although I think it did help with temporary distraction, so I relied heavily on apps and on bbc iplayer or downloading other favourite cartoons onto my phone from iTunes before the trip. I didn't have an iPad and think they are probably an absolute godsend on flights, although my own personal bugbear as a passenger is if the child isn't using earphones and games/apps can be a bit annoying.

As everyone else has advised, have an armoury of snacks, treats, sticker books, drawing pads, new (or not played with for a bit) toys as well as beloved ones. I found that Maurice's soft tigger toy also doubled up as a good pillow for him.

Basically don't stress too much about the flight. It certainly isn't like flying used to be without a toddler (sit back and enjoy), but it's not necessarily a nightmare!

x

[AnyaJoeli]

Also generally a trip to the pound shop is a good bet: I got a box of pens, drawing pads, sticker books and other picture books there which we still use a year later, and I've just stocked up on drawing pads again for the next 7-hour flight we'll be doing next month.x

[Fijifish]

Hi everyone,

A really huge big thanks for all your suggestions, I have starting purchasing things for our flights already and there are some great ideas here. It's all really appreciated, thanks so much x x