Taking a 3 year old on a 7 hour flight to New York

[Jadey31]

As the subject suggests ... are we crazy? Flying from Heathrow in January for 4 nights. I've read up on suggestions to entertain. She's very good at keeping herself entertained and has been on a plane before a few months ago but not this long. The way back is over night so she will sleep but the way there is day time.

Am I doing the right thing? It'll be a lovely few days away and she'll love it also.

I've got the usual stocked up ... stickers, iPad, colour books, snacks etc

It will be fine. We did long flights with dd at that age and it wasn't a problem.

Take something for her to suck in case her ears hurt, and plenty of things to keep her busy. The worst bit for dd was the hanging around in the airport!

We used to do this fairly regularly when our oldest two were small. It was never really an issue.

For just four nights I suspect that by the time she is over the jetlag you'll be on your way home............ratio of travel time to holiday time is too big

I did 10 hour flights 3x a year from birth, before iPads were invented - it was fine. Just do take headphones if you are taking an iPad with noisy apps

We took our three year old to New York and it was an amazing adventure! Total nightmare trying to get him to sleep on the night flight, but still worth it. He conked out eventually and still remembers so much about the trip.

I have done this and my parents did this with me when I was a baby (though they found 3yo particularly hard - too old to sleep and too young to concentrate on anything, though this was pre-recorded entertainment). But always for much longer. 4 nights is not enough.

It’ll be fine! Did it loads at that age when we lived in the states but family was all in Europe. Ipad and headphones is the best entertainment, I never bother with much else as I’m yet to find anything else that gets enough attention to justify the space it takes up (stickers get 5 minutes max here so absolutely not worth it). Order a kids meal but also take plenty of food with you in case they don’t like it but also because it passes the time. Also a no spill sippy cup you can fill after security.

I would just say don’t book business or first class because those seats are too separate and 3 is still very young to be ok with not seeing you for take off/landing and to manage long stretches in flight solo- economy or premium economy is best for ages 2-4 IMO so you can help them with whatever from your seats. And controversial opinion but given the option I’d come back on the day flight so it’s straight to bed when you land and gets everyone on the right time zone. There’s nothing worse than a 3YO on 4 hours sleep, which is probably best case scenario on an NY flight, getting off the plane and it’s still 12 hours until a reasonable bedtime.

The flight should be fine but four days doesn't seem long to adjust to the jet lag there and back.

We did it a lot with DSs.
Top tip - never use two forms of entertainment at once. So screens go off for eating then back on. That way they get bored less quickly. I also had a bit of a screen ban before a long journey so that they were really excited to use them again.
In airports try to walk around. My two loved watching planes and baggage trucks at that age so we'd try to find a window overlooking the gates. The conversation is gripping but keeps them happy.
As it's such a short trip DD unlikely to adjust to timezones so you just have to accept that you'll be up early and let her cat nap. I found the hardest thing was when they slept just before landing and we then had to lug a sleeping child and hand luggage through customs. So much easier when they fitted in the sling and snoozed on the go