Tips for a long-haul flight to Mexico with a toddler

[JessParrish]

Looking for advice from people who’ve actually done a long-haul flight with a toddler! 😊

We’ll be flying from Heathrow to Mexico in November with our daughter, who will be just under 18 months old. It’s around a 10-hour flight and she’ll be travelling as a lap infant. The flight there is daytime annoyingly but the way back is a night flight!

We’re currently booked in economy and have requested a bassinet/bulkhead seat, although I know that’s not guaranteed as it depends on availability and younger babies may get priority.

We’ve already got a cabin-approved pushchair, are looking at headphones (the soft headband style ones), and I’m planning on taking plenty of snacks, toys and activities to keep her entertained.

For those of you who’ve done something similar:
✈️ What were your absolute must-haves?
✈️ Any toys or activities that kept your toddler occupied for ages?
✈️ Any tips for naps or getting them to sleep?
✈️ Anything you packed that you couldn’t have done without?
✈️ Any advice for take-off and landing with little ones?

I’d love to hear anything you wish you’d known before your first long-haul flight with a toddler!

Please keep it positive. 😊 We’ve already booked the holiday, so I’m not looking for opinions on whether we should be taking her—just practical tips from those who’ve done it. Thank you! ❤️

Okay, oomph, first of all, absolutely buy her a seat. I cannot stress enough how much harder you are going to make this for yourself by having nowhere for her to have her own space. When meal service comes, you won’t both be able to have your trays open for food and drinks with a toddler on your lap. She also won’t have anywhere to play or get out toys. And that’s assuming the person in front does not recline their seat. She will be squashed under your chin. I would also assume she may be too big for the bulkhead bassinet, if you even got one. trying to picture squeezing mine into one at 18 months and I just don’t see how I’d safely keep a toddler in there.

Those issues aside, bring lots of favourite snacks (bring these for your trip anyway, particularly if you won’t have easy access to a supermarket if on a resort), bring a full change of clothes or two for all of you, don’t underestimate the likelihood of wee/poo/vomiting accidents in close quarters.

Also for headphones, it’s often impossible to hear sound from the child safe ones. They need to be loud to hear over the rumble of the plane. Get proper adult ones without the ear protection features in normal child headphones.

If you are downloading things to watch on a device, some content is only licensed in certain countries. If you download in the UK, fly to Mexico and connect to wifi there, it may then block you from viewing it as not licensed for streaming there. Double check before you fly back that you have everything on there and can actually stream it, otherwise you may need to re-download.

The flight is fine. But do be prepared for how jet lag will impact your first few days. When we flew to California at a similar age, dd was up for the day absolutely no chance of getting her back to sleep between 2-4am for the first 4 days. Plan to trade off on who gets up and who sleeps and then switch at 6/7am so the parent who was up at night then sleeps. Be mindful of alcohol consumption (both of you) so that you can cope with being up all night/being up very early to solo parent. Bring ear plugs for yourselves so the sleeping parent can sleep through the middle of the night Bluey shifts.

Also don’t necessarily bank on sleep on even a night flight. 😬 We had a night flight going out to California, 10 hours I think it was, departing at 8pm. Dd stayed awake the entire flight! 🫣 She dosed off for about 10 minutes as we waited in the queue for passport control. By the time she actually fell asleep that evening, not for lack of trying by both of us, she’d been awake for 23 hours straight. And then she woke up at 2:30am ready to start the day. 😂

Thanks for the reply! 😊

Unfortunately buying her a seat just isn’t an option for us financially - it’s so expensive. I’ve checked Virgin’s bassinet guidelines though and, unless she has a massive growth spurt 🤣, she should still be within both the height and weight limits when we travel. They told me they’re suitable for infants up to 2 years old, so we’re keeping everything crossed!

Thank you for the other tips too - especially about packing spare clothes for all of us and checking downloaded programmes before we fly home. I’d never even thought about the downloads not working in another country!

Books, books, and more books
Pack a snack for every hour of the flight
download some cbeebies if she is interested
spare clothes
crayola mess free colouring
light up switchboard (best flight toy imo!)

I think a day flight is always preferable because the success of the flight is very highly based on how tolerant you are feeling! So a night flight, at the end of the day, when you're ready for bed...if they don't sleep...is actual hell.

We put all the toys in the bassinet and sat the kids in there when they could fit. Not technically allowed I suppose but we did.

I’ve recently seen the Montessori busy board which looks fantastic for keeping a toddler occupied for at least part of the trip.

We did a 12 hour flight with DD at a similar age. No seat and she hated the bassinet.

The best thing I brought was one of those V shaped breastfeeding pillows (even though I wasn’t BF) - it meant I could get comfy and she could sleep on my lap cushioned. The soft type not the very firm type.

It was HARD work though. We basically had to split the flight into small chunks and DH and I swapped very often to give the other one a rest as she needed to be entertained/ jiggled etc constantly to keep her happy if not asleep. (not much sleep happened). Ours were night flights so keeping her quiet was more important than for day flights.

we discovered In the Night Garden on a ipad kept her attention on the holiday, that’s worth a try - obviously will have to have sound off though. Galt magic water colouring books were good at this age too. And reading to her.

Otherwise lots of snacks and toys… and swapping parent frequently !

Maybe take some earplugs to offer to those sat near you in case she does start wailing…?!

Thanks so much! We actually have something really similar to the light-up switchboard already, so I’ll definitely pack that. 😊 I love the idea of packing a snack for every hour too - I’m definitely going to overpack on the food front! Hoping we get a bassinet too as I think the extra space will make a huge difference, even if she only uses it for a little while. Thanks for all the tips!

Thank you, that’s actually really reassuring! 😊 I think we’re just accepting that it’s probably going to be hard work and taking it in shifts like you said. The fact you lived to tell the tale definitely gives me hope! 🤣 I’m hoping because it’s a day flight and she’ll hopefully still have an afternoon nap it might work in our favour 🤞. I’ve never thought about a V-shaped pillow either, that’s a really good idea. She’s never actually watched In the Night Garden, but maybe it’s time to introduce it before we go! Thanks so much for all the tips.

I flew transatlantic regularly (and alone) with mine at that age as I live in Caribbean.
I used to take zip locks full of things like those craft wire twine things, and sticky tabs (that can be lifted on and off paper), any favored toys, and snacks for every hour.

Also a device loaded with shows they might be interested in. When my youngest was 18 months he was obsessed with Toy Story and Shrek so we just loaded up a laptop with all of them and he watched quite happily.

Mine were good flyers and napped as usual. Make sure you let them run as much in the airport as possible, and I definitely don’t recommend boarding first when they call families with young children, as you’ll have an extra 25 mins on the plane before you’re even ready to taxi. If your other half can go ahead with everything and get settled, you can join later with the baby.

Try not to worry, it’s fine if they cry or are irritated on a day fly, it’s to be expected! And if other passengers take interest in her/him and want to entertain for a while, let them! I can’t count the amount of times I’ve had someone else’s baby/toddler in my arms to let someone eat their meal or just to hold them if they’re sleeping.

I was always more worried about them crying on night flights because everyone is trying to sleep, but if they generally sleep well, they’re likely to on a plane.

Bon chance and have a good holiday!

Just jumping in to say we did two flights when my baby was 6 and 11 months as a lap infant and the rule was that he had to be buckled to me using the in flight seatbelt. We were flying in the evening with baby in a sling, but if I remember correctly I had to face him outward for the departure and landing. Flight attendant also said she'd done a flight where a toddler was refusing to be buckled in using the airline seatbelt (as a lap infant) and the plane couldn't take off until they persuaded her. So maybe make DD aware in advance and try and practise something similar if you can?

I had done 5 long haul flights by the time older DS was 2 as we were living abroad.

There are no tips that can truly help you if you think 10 hours with an 18 month old on your lap in economy is acceptable.

But this is what we did:

• we booked an extra seat and bought an air mattress specifically allowed by the airline. It turned the seat into a bed and a safe play area. DS usually slept 6- 8 hours total, while I was free to chill and sleep a bit too.
• blanket for covering and another blanket to put on top like a tent so that the lights don't bother when sleeping
• stickers and fidget toys
• new book
• more snacks than you can ever think you will need
• breastfeed or time drinks with take off and landing.

Screen time unlimited but my DS didn't have the attention span for that until he was older than 2.

Lots of snacks and also something more substantial for them to eat, as it will be tricky to manage the airline food as you won't be able to get the tray down. We have flown a few times with little ones and have only once got a bassinet (I think we were prioritised as we had a newborn) so don't rely on having space.

We had lots of books, water paint books, sticker books etc. Also screens - we downloaded favourite programmes on to an iPad but they often also used the airplane screens as well. Ahead of the flight get them used to head phones. Fave toys are good, along with a few new ones, but nothing that rolls easily or is very small.

Make sure you have at least one change of clothes each and plenty of wipes. Calpol sachets are also useful if they might be teething.

Mainly accepting it's going to be a tough 10 hrs of full on parenting (but on the bright side this is probably the toughest age to fly with kids, so next time will be better!).

Also I would echo what a previous poster said about planning how to manage jet lag. If you can use naps to keep them going in the day that might help but you will likely get some early wake ups.

Calpol taken half an hour before take off for their ears and then a sachet for the descent.

Entertainment wise those water painting boards - aquadoodle? are good on a plane. As are fuzzy felts. Magnetic storyboard type things. Sticker books. Lots of snacks. They will do 2 meal services which will break it up and it's likely your lo will have a sleep, the engine noise is like white noise. The kids that scream and cry are the ones whose ears are hurting.

We flew to Miami and LA dozens of times with ours when they were babies and toddlers. Flight back is a doddle as they sleep. Ours are early 20s now so there were no iPads. We just used to take brand new books (story and sticker) and toys that they’d not seen before. We were still using the bulkhead sky cot when our eldest was 2 and positively wedged into it. But most of the time they were happy to be on our laps.

The only think I remember being a pain in the arse was trying to change a large baby or toddler on the poxy changing tables in the loos. But we managed and it was all fine.

We’ve done long haul loads with babies, toddler, small kids. It’s absolutely fine. If she’s on your lap, can you upgrade to extra leg room seats. Also good to have an aisle seat so you can both move around. Have your own AirPods to listen to a podcast etc so she can monopolise the tv.

Then snacks. Endlessly.

We found breadsticks were great for take off and landing as involved lots of chewing and swallowing (and dc never refused a breadstick)

I’ll be amazed if she fits in the bassinet. It’s a while back but DS was in one at 8 months approx. He wasn’t massive and was an easy baby but he was pushing the boundaries then. Good luck!

Thank you! I’m not sure she’ll be at an age where she understands that! We’ll bribe her🤣

That’s good to know!! We are looking at upgrading to extra leg room, will have to see if it’s possible! Thank you

Thank you!! I’ve spoken to Virgin directly and they’re up to age 2 and she won theory will be well within the weight and height limits, will have to see!!

Trust me, if buying an extra seat had been an option, I wouldn’t have been asking Mumsnet for survival tips! 🤣 We tried with both TUI and Virgin but unfortunately it’s not possible on our booking. Thank you for the other suggestions though - they’ll definitely be making it into our hand luggage.

Unless she’s absolutely tiny she will be over the length of the bassinet, it’s 72cm which is about the length of an average 10 month old. But I think Virgin do the seat style ones not the carry cot (a more recent traveller can hopefully confirm this) so it may still work even if she’s over hanging…

But personally I think I wouldn’t risk it and if you’re travelling as a couple would go for standard seats, not bulkheads, because they have a few cm extra width and moveable arm rests so you can stretch her out over both of you.

Then ipad, peppa pig or miss Rachel with some toddler headphones and all the snacks. Smoothie pouches are good for take off and landing unless you’re still breastfeeding, in which case do that. She won’t get a plane meal so again all the snacks. Use taped nappies not pull ups so you don’t need to fully strip her bottom half inc the shoes in a horrible plane loo. Take 2 days worth of nappies in hand luggage and 2-3 full changes of clothes for all of you. Long flights often do funny things to their digestive systems and there’s a reasonable chance she’ll throw up and/or have a nappy blowout on you. Plus you need to be covered for delays and lost luggage.

It’s not going to be great but ultimately it’s a day of your life, I’m sure you’ve had shit days before, you’ll survive it and hopefully the holiday will be worth it!

I completely agree with this poster.

I think you need to let the bassinet thing go. If you do get it (often not) you baby/toddler has to be fully asleep. They can’t be in it at that age and not just sit up and roll out. It’s like six inches high max.

At 18 months despite Virgin guidance almost guaranteed your kid won’t fit. They may allow it but they won’t fit.

During take off and landing kid has to be belted sitting in front of you. It might be good to practise.

No amount of books, toys etc can entertain a kid that young for 10 hours on a lap. Any kid over a year needs their own seat.

I have two kids and have flown abroad with them (being from across the pond myself) many many many many times.

Something to endure and get through.

We’ve flown virgin with a bassinet, our daughter was well under the supposed size and weight, she was far far too big for it. We’ve always purchased a seat for an under two, so I guess our survival is different.

We would still book bulkhead and we’d take a blanket so the floor area could be additional play space.

With headphones planes are so noisy you can’t hear via the kiddie ones, you’re better getting good noise cancelling ones on a low volume, you will need to practice with them lots before the flight.

New, small non-noisy toys, stickers have always been popular.

Now we’re possibly evil, but we do everything in our power to prevent airport naps/naps on the day of travel to increase the chance of sleep on the flight.

Bottles for the adults, an open cup is guaranteed to be knocked off.

A change of clothes for everyone.

They do have changing tables, but they’re really awkward, so if you can stand up changes are better.

Food, your toddler won’t get a meal, so lots of snacks.

Oh and you need to schedule at least one argument, preferably just as meals are served so you’re both extra pissed off when you land.

Thanks! 😊 I’m definitely not banking on the bassinet - I know there’s every chance we won’t get one, or she won’t use it for long. I was just hoping the extra bulkhead space might make things a little easier if we do. Unfortunately buying Ada a seat isn’t possible on our booking despite trying with both TUI and Virgin, so we’re just trying to go into it as prepared (and realistic!) as we can. 🤞