Sedatives for Toddlers, is this real?

[Mena1]

Apparently you can get a mild sedative for toddlers to help them sleep on long haul flights, is this real? We are off to South Africa in April and after the disastrous flight to Ireland at christmas I am so nervous about flying with LO. Has anyone heard of this or does anyone have any advice to help them sleep on long haul flights? any tips are much appreciated.

I think you can get them for kids with SEN who simply wouldn't be able to cope.

Most kids will manage. I was a regular long haul flyer as a small child and a bag of lots of small things was fine.

The entertainment screens on long haul now will easily keep them amused if youget bored of snap.

Another recommendation for phenergan. I used it on dd when she was 5 to go to the US and 6 to go to Thailand. She slept really well and landed well rested and ready to go, unlike us old gimmers who did batthe with jetlag for a few days! Its recommended for travel sickness in children and can be bought over the counter. Defintely try it before you go to check they don't react to it. Peaceful sleeping kids makes the flight a lot less traumatic for everyone and I think the best bit was just how rested and revived she was for a good sleep on the flight.

Heavens the night flight to SA will be filled with lots of other screaming kids too if our last flight was anything to go by! You will not be alone :) We took an iPad for our DDs with Peppa Pig loaded on, lots and lots of stickers, playdough and crayons and notepads. The book of 1000 stickers were fantastic, they stuck them everywhere! Dinner provided a welcome distraction then we PJ'd them and got them ready for bed once they turned the lights off and they surprised us and slept on and off for 7 hours. Take lots of snacks and treats too.

I flew to Australia with a 3 year old an a 5 year old without the need to resort to drugging them . I got good advice on here about running through their bedtime routine (as much as possible) so we did teeth, pj's, story and they both slept well. I am really quite astounded by the willingness of some parents to unnecessarily medicate their children.

One thing I would look into is earplugs -which they do for kids as my DD suffers terribly with her ears on flights. Sticking to a routine as much as possible is my best advice too. We have travelled loads to australia with our DC and whilst it is stressful it does not have to be disastrous. Take lots of snacks as my DC hate the food on the plane (can't say I blame them).

And when you get to destination try and adhere to the time zone straight away no matter HOW TIRED YOU ARE. Dont let the kids nap if at all possible out of normal times or you will pay for it with jetlag. Mine have never suffered jetlag because I am the mean mummy who gets them up at 7am when we only got to bed at midnight. Or who keeps them up all day when we arrive in Sydney at 6am in the morning exhausted. But it works!

Ha.

I took Ds aged 2 on my own to California - so 12 hour flight. I enquired at the pharmacy if there was anything to 'help' him sleep during the flight. He said no - but that some travel sickness drugs caused drowsiness.

I forget now what it was, but I bought some. Did he sleep? No - not a wink - not until we landed. Grr...

He wasn't noisy or overly demanding though - it was just that I fancied a rest I think.

:)

Don't agree with sedating a child at all-and anyways its normally the drunk adults that need sedating and chair kickers!
I was once on a flight where it was the adults that misbehaved!
Take lots of activities books/colouring books and ds/other game type thingy-the dcs will probably sleep through some of the flight anyway

If you are able to anticipate that your child is going to be so traumatised by a long-haul flight that your best solution is to sedate them, then I have a better solution - don't fly long-haul! If it is just for a holiday and you know your child will be a handful traumatised then book a holiday nearer to home.

I give myself mild sedatives on a longhaul flight.

If I were 2 years old and unable to read a book and had less understanding of why all of this boredness and uncomfortableness would be worth it in the end then I think I'd want something to help me sleep.

Why is it smug to say that I don't agree with sedating your children? The only long-haul flight I have done was essential because we were moving because of work. Otherwise, if we go on holiday we stay in Europe because I know I can't guarantee that my DC would behave themselves on another long-haul flight. How is that smug?

Its not smug at all-why sedate a child its not right unless there having surgery.
If you cant cope on a long haul flight with kids don't take them-or learn how to deal with their behaviour.
I do have sympathy with people with bad behaved children as mine can be naughty also but i know not to take my kids on a long haul flight and if i ever did i would not sedate them.
What happened to entertaining your kids, giving them things to do and play with, they are strapped into chairs after all

it is not smug to state that you would never sedate your child for non-medical reasons.

I have been on several long and short haul flights with my children. and believe me, they have been no picnic for me at times (dd1 has severe ASD, dd2 is only just 5, so talking about longhaul with two toddlers, one of them severely disabled). I have never sedated them for flights, and have done my utmost to keep disruption for other passengers to a minimum (successfully for the most part). it was hard for me, but tbh, even a flight to Australia is 'only' 24 hours or so (been there, done that) - hell for me and dh (in the snese that we did not rest much, and were instead constantly on top of everything that needed doing), but it's not as though I haven't stayed awake for 24 hour periods before.

flights can be hard work with small children. but, imo, that is no reason to sedate them.

I think I just made the point about essential v's unessential flights.

My last comment was directed at bran.

Even if it is essential it is not essential to sedate your child

I agree pumpkin. My comment was in the context of avoiding flying if you know it will be traumatic for your child. Obviously if your flights are essential, then you can't avoid it, but I still don't think you should drug your child either.

I used phenergan with DD when we flew from Thailand to London. It worked fine. She was fine. I slept. Everyone happy.

Frankly, as a one-off, I have no qualms about sedating a small child (DD was 4). But definitely do a test-run first!

I love the idea that it is martyrdom to swap two weeks in Thailand for a fortnight in Spain!

Your circumstances are different Bran, but you have yet to convince me that it is ok to sedate your child so that you can have a nice holiday and a peaceful flight.

or maybe, bran, just accept that some posters have different opinions?

there is nothing martyred about having holidays in Australia, or Florida, or South Africa.

but there is very little that would persuade me to sedate my children for the purposes of a plane flight, even if it does mean I will have a more difficult time if I don't.

Some friends sedated their three when they did a long haul fine on the way out. On the way back they had three unconscious children as they got off the plane and then got home and they were still asleep.

Parents hopped around wondering if they should call an ambulance as to be asleep and unresponsive for this long was scary. They all then woke up and were fine. The parents never tried it again. After that story I would even consider it.