Long haul with a one year old

[EllaWt]

Hello my husband and I are about to fly 12 hours with our very active one year old. We booked a sear for her but we're worried. It will be a night flight.

Any tips?

He will sleep - it will be ok :) the humming of the engines etc knocks them out. have lots of milk / whatever he drinks handy as little ones need to be hydrated. Hopefully he can walk about / play in the airport to tire him out? Also get his PJs on / fresh nappy before you board so he can drop off and be comfortable. Good luck!

*her sorry

She should sleep. I know you booked a seat already but some airlines provide bassinets which might be more comfy for her.

When I did long haul with DS, I packed a bag of new toys to distract him from running up and down the aisle. Just cheap things, mainly sensory he could look at and fiddle with along with some new books and stickers.

Thank you both! Im just concerned about how she'll sleep as she doesn't really sleep on us and most airlines ban sleeping accessories these days

My non-sleeper babies always slept on long haul. I think it's the hum of the plane or something, lulls them off. They're 3 and 4 now but have been flying long haul regularly enough since about 4 months old and honestly it's easier than you think. Passengers and staff have always been really kind.
My one recommendation is take carry on paracetamol/ neurofen/ bonjella. Because I got stuck once with a badly teething baby and my god that was hell.

It will be fine. And if it’s not there is not much you can do about it. Focus on you and your little one rather than worrying about others around you.

I’ve flown several times on 26+hrs flights with my 3 from when they were babies. Take snacks, peppa pig downloaded onto an iPad (or whatever they are into), calpol, more nappies and clothes than you think you will possibly need and a change of clothes for each of you adults! You may want to take a V shaped pillow with you as the seats are quite upright even when reclined so I found little ones struggle to get their head in a comfy place but this helped a lot on our last flight with a 10 month old who was way too long for the bassinet!

Good luck and it’s only a few hours and will end (hopefully somewhere nice!)

Games/colouring apps/kids shows on a tablet
Nurofen and calpol
Snacks

Did you book a bulkhead seat with bassinette? Mine slept fine in there, alternatively are your carry on bags tall enough that you could put them in front of her seat and form a footrest from them allowing her to lay down?

Might be too late/expensive but we have this and it's been brilliant, she's used since 18m old and is now 5, still uses it:

www.stokke.com/GBR/en-gb/travel/5345.html

@ineedaholidayandwine thank you! Think most airlines ban them now unfortunately (Air France definitely does :( )

That's a shame, we've always taken it without checking, set it up after take off and no one has said anything

Night flight should be good - maybe try her lying with her head on one of your knees if the armrest lifts and bring a cozy blanket for her.

As you have a seat for her, I think you shouldn't worry too much - as others have said, they sleep quite well and with three seats together, you can lift the arms and let her snuggle down.

Agree that you need plenty of drinks and if she takes a dummy, include that. Try to save full bottles of milk for take off and landing - it can be very difficult to get them to understand that sucking things will help their ears. A few lollipops for those moments can be good too.

Take extra blankets for kids. DD is a good sleeper but found it difficult to sleep on the plate while everyone was still moving around until I managed to hook up a sort of tent for her.

Snacks are your friend. they're unlikely to want to eat the proper meal. So variety of snacks from fruit/veg slices, babbles, crackers etc.