Long haul and jet lag with young kids

[AnnaTortoiseshell]

Hello everyone. Our first flight with our children (thank you, pandemic) is long haul and we will be seven hours ahead when we arrive. Kids are 2 and 7m. Any tips for the jet lag, the flight (direct, thank god), or anything else? I am clueless and grateful for your wisdom!

Afraid I feel sorry for the other passengers. Both a screaming baby and a screaming toddler on a long haul.

The 7m old will probably be fine. Do you have a bassinet seat? The two year old is at a pretty nightmare age for flying. Sorry! My best suggestion is something small new to produce every hour or so - a new book, an app (peppa pig colouring is good), a small toy figure, some stickers. Distract distract distract! And take lots of snacks as they are unlikely to eat the plane food in my experience.

Afraid I feel sorry for the other passengers. Both a screaming baby and a screaming toddler on a long haul.
That wasn't the question 🙄
We always made sure we booked flights that fit in with their usual sleep pattern once they were past baby stage. I found it easier actually with babies as they would sleep for most of it. Drawing things and cartoons for the toddler, lots of little snacks and make sure you're ready with drinks for them as you drop altitude to help prevent ear popping.
The only time we had any issues was when our 7 month old had a screaming fit but that was only because our flight was delayed by 8 hours and our preparation went out the window. The air stewardess asked us if we would like a complimentary drink but we said only if the rest of the plane could have a G&T as well! (They didn't...)

I did a lot of long haul with DD when she was under 3 and it was always always fine. I took snacks, and little toys, sometimes in wrapping paper so she could unwrap them one by one. I played with her non stop except for eating and sleeping. She never cried.

Get them outside in sunlight as quick as possible after arrival and for as long as possible every day. We fly Ireland to NZ regularly enough with our kids and maximising daylight time seems to be the only thing that really helps with jet lag.
Dont worry about unneccessary comments up thread, people have always been kind when we have flown with the kids.
Take travel size paracetamol/ neurofen. I got stuck with a badly teething 9ish month old on a 14 hr flight once and learned that the hard way.

We flew long haul (12h) when our DD was 18 months, and it was absolutely fine.
Like pp said, we took snacks and toys, and we also walked with her around the cabin.
She never cried.

This place is a fucking misery sometimes.

Who said they would be screaming? I did a trip to Tokyo with my 20month old and 5 year old by myself as husband was already there- no tears, I felt a bit frazzled but the free Prosecco helped. The kids watched tv, had unlimited snacks and read books and slept. Just make it easy on yourself, I didn’t let mine know walking around was an option, and they don’t watch tonnes of tv so peppa pig was such a novelty for them

I've done long haul a few times with multiple under 5s and they never screamed.

As far as jet lag, they seemed to adjust quite quickly. A couple of days at most.

Following as flying with a 5 months old soon.
Painkillers, feeding on take off/touchdown, I don't know what else. He's very restless and high energy, I am dreading it tbh! Doesn't nap longer than 30 mins.

I requested a bassinet.

This really made me laugh! There’s always one, isn’t there.

Sorry this was in response to @CanYouFeelMyHeart

I also wouldn’t worry about it either.
we flew with a 3&1 year old and they adapted within 2-3 days - we’d planned not to do much the first couple of days.

the flight though, was absolutely horrendous. We had lots of U.K. based holidays for the next few years. I spent the last few days of the holiday dreading the flight home.

Thanks for all these helpful replies. Painkillers are a great shout thank you so much @MistyFrequencies.

We are flying in the day on the way out and then overnight on the way back. When we arrive it’ll be midnight for us but morning in Asia. We are thinking of doing breakfast, family nap, then try to keep toddler up til a reasonable bedtime. God knows what we’ll do with the baby! She doesn’t have a routine at the best of times.

@ouch321 thanks for your helpful input - I’ll be sure to ask my family members to take into account other travellers when doing inconvenient things like dying or getting married.

I’m not worried about the toddler screaming. She’s an absolute gem (most of the time!), and really well behaved whenever we are out. We’ve got an iPad which will be a novelty for her so planning to let her binge on TV! The baby might fuss but I suppose that’s what boobs are for. We have a bassinet booked but I think it sounds small compared to the size of the actual baby… bit worried about that!

Can anyone recommend what kind of toys are good? (@pinpot?) I’m going to bring pens and paper but my toddler tends to like imaginative play over actual toys.

@underneaththeash what was so bad about the flight? Is there anything that could have made it better?

We have just flown back from Mexico with a 4yo and 2yo. The biggest thing we found was keeping them entertained. Colouring books, portable DVD players etc. We encouraged them both to nap as well. Our 2yo slept for a good few hours but our eldest was awake the whole flight. We also used pull ups instead of nappies for them and they were so much easier to change as you could do them standing so I would definitely think about that

Changes of clothes for everyone in sealed freezer bags in your carry on.
A baby or toddler getting sick over you and the bag with your change of clothes in it makes for an unpleasant journey.

@ChimneyPot I wouldn’t have thought of spares for the adults. Thanks this is perfect

@ChloMorgs1 were yours potty trained? The toddler is toilet trained so we aren’t sure if we should put her in nappies for the flight or not. She still wears nappies at night but rarely ever wets.

Our youngest wasn't, our eldest was potty trained in the day but still wore nappies at night and would wake up wet still. She didn't fall asleep but we did have an accident so the pull up was a lifesaver