Possibly stupid question about 6yr old sleeping on a plane

[NutBiscuit]

I've got an overnight flight coming up, me, DH and 6yr old DS. Can anyone who has done this before give me some tips on how their child slept on a plane please? I mean literally, what position they were in?! I just can't imagine how it is going to work (maybe because I find it impossible to sleep on planes myself). Did they sleep sitting up? Or lying across your lap in some way? Any advice/pointers gratefully received!

My 6 year old niece slept sitting up. But with the chair reclined (another child behind her, not an adult struggling for legroom!) and had the handluggage on the floor by her feet to rest on.

I'm sure there's some sort of contraption you can buy where kids can sleep on the plane. Il have a look for the link

Is your Child tall? Or average height? Small? X

He's tall for his age, only just turned 6 and 1.22m tall.
I saw something about blow up things that go in the footwell, but heard that BA don't allow them? (We're flying with BA)

Mine just slept! I didn’t do anything or take anything. There are curving headrests. Take a cushion but you will get one. Also a blanket I think. If you are in economy it’s not easy for adults but DC seem to take it in their stride as they have more space!

BubblesBuddy I really hope that will be the case!

His head won't reach the headrest though, which is why i was thinking he would slump one way or the other. Maybe window seat and pillow against the wall?

I got a sling thing to put your feet in. It hooks over the table arms & dangles down. It wouldn't impede an emergency situation & nobody said a thing on our BA flight. My daughter really liked it. I'll see if I can find a link.

We put the armrests up across three seats and laid her across us. One of us got the head and the other the feet. None of us got much sleep but we survived.

Seat reclined, pillow, hood up in his hoodie, blanket. He slept really well.
Position- head on pillow on armrest, curled up. We were in PE though so nice big seats. This was an Orlando flight.

My 6 year old struggled a few months ago. She’s flown long haul fairly often and been fine against me or curled up in an awkward looking position but this time she couldn’t get comfortable. I ended up holding her 3year old sister so she laid out across 2 seats and still struggled. My 3 year old eventually ended up in the footwell. What helped was not making her sleep. She ended up getting upset even though she was tired and decided to watch another film then was exhausted so tried again. Comfy clothes, pillows and blankets to try to pad out any metal bits on seat. Maybe moving to let dc fall asleep on a couple of seats first if they’re really struggling then move once asleep. Good luck!

Window seat be good idea. We never have this but bet it would help.

Thanks spritesandunicorns I really like that idea of potentially moving to let him fall asleep and then shifting him. I'd never have thought of that but it could work

DD just curled up in her seat & slept for 7 hours! I was very envious

She had the window seat too so we didn't disturb her getting in & out

Warm clothes mine struggle when they are cold. Soft travel pillow really helps.

Honestly we just kind of figure it out. My kids have travel pillows that they like to bring and we usually book the four seats across the middle so we can all share the space. The kids take the inner two seats and DH and I take the aisle seats. The kids fall asleep eventually, sometimes slumped, sometimes leaning on us or each other or lying across the seats. It never looks comfortable but they are kids. They don’t have the same comfort requirements as adults. Of course they never sleep quite as much as we’d like except when one of them is draped over me and I can’t move or I will wake them up but I desperately need to change positions and have a wee. But we just keep our expectations low and make sure we don’t have much to do our first day after a night flight.

A sleep mask also helps.

As pp said, arm rest up. Window seat. Pillow and blanket.
Mine sleep ok on night flights. Just don’t over stimulate them with movies/tv/iPad etc.

Best advice I can give is a proper pillow in hand luggage! It takes up room but the inflight ones are small and rubbish, a proper pillow wedged between you is lovey to snuggle into and you might get some sleep resting the other side!

We take plane pals and full size pillows and our own blankets which are big and soft. I have my own plane pal as does DD now 14. H doesn’t like them. I sit by window, DD in middle and we curl up against each other.

My 6 year just curled up and slept for about 6 hours, i was amazed. He had my travel pillow and a blanket annd fell asleep really quickly. I didnt sleep at all.

Can I also add a question... What do you do with a 2 year old on a long haul flight? For take off and landing is my main concern... Any suggestions would be hugely appreciated!! I am beginning to stress out big time.