long-haul flight with 1 year old (jet lag, entertainment tips)

[firsttimer08]

Any tips on how to keep a rather boisterous 1 year old entertained on a long-haul flight? What should I take along with me on the flight to keep him busy? It is a night time flight so hopefully he will sleep, though I guess he will be too big to fit into the bassinet provided on the flight, right?

Also how do people deal with jet lag. As we are only going to be there for 2 weeks, should I try to keep his schedule on UK time or try to move to 5 hours ahead and then shift back when we are back in UK?

You will be surprised just how well young children adapt to a change in hours.

A change of 5 hours should pose no problem at all. In fact 5 hours is not even a long haul flight.

Nonetheless my advice would be to go about your business as per normal, and then once on the flight adjust your watch accordingly and then go by the time of your destination country.
You will face huge problems by trying to stick to UK time.

Very recently my children (aged 4 & 7) and myself flew from Singapore to Los Angeles. We left Singapore at 10pm on the Saturday, arrived into Tokyo at 6am Sunday morning then had a layover all day Sunday leaving Tokyo at 6pm. We then had a 10 hour flight to Los Angeles and arrived Sunday morning at 10am.
Essentially we traveled for 27 hours, of which 19 was spent in the air yet only advanced 12 hours forward in time.
Both children were fine, admittedly we all had a good sleep in LA, but the following day it was business as usual as we headed for the lights and sounds of Vegas.

Go with local time, or you'll be stuck with strange hours too. Try not to get seated in a bulkhead seat where you can't put a bag of handy toddler things under the seat in front. It's a PITA to have to reach up to the overhead storage every time you need something. If you're flying at night, there'll probably be dinner service and not too much resting going on in the cabin for a few hours -- bring along some quiet toys, dress your LO in pjs for the trip.

Depends who you are flying with and the size of their bassinett. My son was ok recently in the BA seat but had to be squeezed into the emirates cot. He'd never fit into it now and their website says up to 2 years old. he's 16 months now and was 12 months at out last longhaul flight.

thank you for all the tips. actually the flying time is 7 hours with 12 hour stop over and then another 3 hours. i assumed that was long-haul, but given the journeys you are quoting, it sounds like it will be a rather short trip ! I am flying without my husband, hence a little concerned, otherwise it would definitely be a breeze. good point about the dinner service, with all the noise !

i've ready conflicting advice on whether to board first or last. should I take the option of early boarding, but then more time for ds to get bored out of his mind while the plane gets filled. hmm.

we're travelling emirates - so probably the bassinet is out of the window. though i think I have managed to secure a bulkhead seat b/c of the bassinet ! i hope they don't change the seat allocation at the airport.

Well, that sounds long-haul to me

Good job on the bulk headd seats - it gives you that little bit of extra space imo and your DS will be able to move around on the floor better than if you were behind other seats.

In terms of entertainment, take a new book or two, Aquadraw mini mats will be fun, definitely pack a couple of new toys too. Also, take breadsticks, raisins, Ella's smoothies, etc to keep him occupied with food.

We went to Barbados when DD was 15 months old, and it was far easier than we could have hoped for - she didn't cry once Are you still breastfeeding? That was one thing which really helped with DD - I just fed her to sleep and she was happy! Good look and have a nice trip

I got a mini etch a sketch that entertained for a while and I got my ipod out with cartoons on it too ;-)