Sleeping on the plane for a 21 month old to Singapore

[Lotusinbloom]

We're heading out to Bangkok & Singapore in March & my biggest headache is how to get our currently 17 month old to sleep on the 13 hour journey. He usually sleeps in his cot & is used to falling asleep on his own pretty much as soon as we lay him down. We know from previous (thankfully much shorter) flights that he usually screams for at least half an hour if he cannot lay down to fall asleep by himself but is held by us. If anyone has any advice on how we could help our little one sleep on the flight we would be very grateful. Thank you!

is he too big for the bassinets they use?

otherwise basically he may scream. Everyone round you will know that you are trying to soothe him (it is right in your ear after all) so anyone going tut-tut can be ignored. The joys of travel with kids!

Sounds like it might not work for your LO, but we hired a toddler sling from a local sling library for our holiday to that part of the world.
I had carried both kids as babies, so knew they were likely to sleep (and we co-sleep when ill etc - sounds different to the way your LO likes to sleep).

We then had him in the sling when he started flagging (night flight), and he dropped off in the airport, and stayed asleep for hours.

I also carried him for naps when out and about. Hot work, but we were in a very pushchair unfriendly country.

I think they have an upper weight limit for the bassinets, or more precisely for the table that supports it, so I think we are going to exceed that... The sling is something I haven't thought of, might have to give it a go for the sake of all our sanity, and also useful for any other situations where prams are not suitable! Thanks for the suggestions!

Book him a seat. After take off lift the arm rests and he should be able to lie flatish.

Fly BA and he will probably fit in the car seat like thing they have to put on the table in front. Both mine did until the age of 2 and they were both big toddlers.

I would book him a seat tbh. Then he can have the one between you and sleep better.

Short flights we often just had on laps but I just can't cope! Last 2 flights we did back from we managed to get a whole middle 4 plus 2 next as was fairly empty and it was bliss as both laid across x2 seats watched half a film then fell asleep the rest of the flight. Me and dh sat across the aisle in bliss with wine to celebrate! ( they are now 2 and 4 ad we have done many many flights)

Yes book him a seat and do the bedtime ritual (get him into pjs etc) as normal so that he knows that it's still time to sleep etc. We did a shorter flight (8 hours) but that seemed to work for us.

I flew to dubai with both of my ds's last summer. The youngest was 15 months. He is used to being put down for a nap in his cot awake and going off to sleep on his own. Getting him to sleep was my biggest concern for the flight. He was spot on the weight limit for a bassinet but emerites need the baby to be able to lay completely flat which ds didn't so no bassinet.

We had a lunch time flight going out. Ds sat on my knee and fell asleep as we hurtled down the runway. He was due his nap then anyway so worked out well. He only had an hour tho the whole flight!

On our way back it was an early morning flight. We had been awake since 3am. I just treat it like breakfast time and by the time we were going down the runway again he fell asleep for an hour. He slept again maybe an hour from landing. He basically sat on my knee and I had to keep him still. He grumbled a bit but I just jiggled him a bit and he eventually went off.

The outward flight was full but return was maybe only 70% full so we had extra space. We still had the bulkhead seats too as I was travelling on my own with 2 children so needed to be seated together.

There was a lot of small children on the flight. The staff are great. I really wouldn't worry about them crying or being grumpy. They won't be the only ones. Take lots of snacks. Sticker books were a hit too.