Help me survive a 30+ hour flight with a 14-month-old (& 3 y.o.)

acia

We're currently living in Australia but are travelling back to Canada for a wedding in June. We've done the trip many times, so we're used to the long flights, but this will be our first trip with a toddler and a preschooler (the last time we did the flight with both kids, my youngest wasn't mobile so didn't present much of a challenge).

My older daughter will hopefully be kept pretty busy with the iPad, loaded with movies, tv shows, and games. But my youngest is newly walking, and wants to be moving constantly. She doesn't like sitting in our laps. At. All.

We have a 1.5 hours flight, 3 hour layover, 15 hour flight, 8 hour layover, then 4 hour flight. The layovers won't be an issue, it's just the in-flight that will present a challenge. She won't have her own seat (though we'll be in 1st class so space won't be as much of an issue). Hopefully she sleeps for 8 or 9 hours of the long flight, but I have no idea what to do with her for the rest of the flight! My DH will be with me for the long flight but I'm on my own for the 8 hour layover and final leg of the flight.

Any tips or ideas to keep an active 14-month-old toddler busy in my lap? Help!

ladybugpjb

DS liked sitting at my feet and digging through my carry-on. He didn't want to sit in my lap at all. So if you have a blanket for LO to sit on and a bag of stuff to dig through, that might help.

oliversmommy32912

Oh man! No tips but I feel for you! Good luck!

chicsahm

I feel for you already! My only thought is go buy a few new "little-ish" toys... wrap them up good and when desperate pull one out.... it will distract and take some time to open and then they will have a new toy to play with for a bit.... good  luck! Treats help too when in a pinch!

PayolaCrayola

Word of advice...Idk if youve flown with them first class before but when I flew with DD i bought her new toys and they didnt let me use them! Apparently in first class you cannot play any sounds outloud so the toys were on silent which of course then she didnt want them. Also i had loaded some cartoons on my iphone and they said she had to use earbuds. I was like yea good luck getting a one year old to keep earbuds in!

I liked the space but next time I will def fly regular and just buy an extra seat!

stemms8810

I have never done this before but I would bring lots of snacks if I could.  Do they allow you to bring snacks on airplanes these days?  I would pack a carry on for her with books and couple no noise toys.  She may surprise you and sleep a lot!

Karen1998

Booze for you?

That's going to be tough.  The lack of a seat for her would be a dealbreaker for me, even in first class.  The seat was a lifesaver for us when we flew overseas.  

You should ask if they have bassinets.  They're not usually the sturdiest of things, but they do simulate a bed, so that may help her to sleep better.  

Use your layovers to wear her out as much as you can.  The big airports usually have play areas, but really, at 14 months, she doesn't need a formal play area.  She'll probably have a lot of fun walking about and looking out of the windows.  Once on the plane, try to find an area you can let her walk a bit.  If you go to www.seatguru.com (sorry not clicky), you can look up your type of plane and the layout of it.  Some planes have extra space around the exits, some do not.  Though, they also may not want you to have her playing or hanging out anywhere near the front exits are those tend to be close to the cockpit.  

Enlist your 3 year old in helping to entertain the 14 month old.  I've found that other kids often hold my LO's interest more than adults or games.  I also brought never seen before books and toys.  Those helped some.  Though, he loved playing in his seat (standing on it mostly as he was only 9.5m) more than anything.  

GL. 

 

Teresa1896

PayolaCrayola:

Word of advice...Idk if youve flown with them first class before but when I flew with DD i bought her new toys and they didnt let me use them! Apparently in first class you cannot play any sounds outloud so the toys were on silent which of course then she didnt want them. Also i had loaded some cartoons on my iphone and they said she had to use earbuds. I was like yea good luck getting a one year old to keep earbuds in!

I liked the space but next time I will def fly regular and just buy an extra seat!

FYI...we've flown with DD several times on a few airlines, and we were told that earbuds were required for everyone, even in coach. her own seat was a must, for sure!  

OP, we brought lots of snacks, a few new toys, sticker books, and some familiar toys. She also had fun just playing with the Skymall catalog, barf bag, safety card...etc.

laurakaz13

Karen1998:

Booze for you?

That's going to be tough.  The lack of a seat for her would be a dealbreaker for me, even in first class.  The seat was a lifesaver for us when we flew overseas.  

You should ask if they have bassinets.  They're not usually the sturdiest of things, but they do simulate a bed, so that may help her to sleep better.  

Use your layovers to wear her out as much as you can.  The big airports usually have play areas, but really, at 14 months, she doesn't need a formal play area.  She'll probably have a lot of fun walking about and looking out of the windows.  Once on the plane, try to find an area you can let her walk a bit.  If you go to www.seatguru.com (sorry not clicky), you can look up your type of plane and the layout of it.  Some planes have extra space around the exits, some do not.  Though, they also may not want you to have her playing or hanging out anywhere near the front exits are those tend to be close to the cockpit.  

Enlist your 3 year old in helping to entertain the 14 month old.  I've found that other kids often hold my LO's interest more than adults or games.  I also brought never seen before books and toys.  Those helped some.  Though, he loved playing in his seat (standing on it mostly as he was only 9.5m) more than anything.  

GL. 

 

All of this. I have flown a dozen times with my now 2-yr-old, but I will never complain again after seeing your itinerary! Good luck.

dragon_chica

We did an almost exact flight as yours back in February.  The kids were 3.5 and 1.5.  We flew from San Francisco to Vietnam (3 layover in Hong Kong.)  Total flight was about 16 hours.  DD (3.5 y/o) did beautifully.  We got these kid-size headphones for her to use with the tablet or TV they have installed in the seats.  We brought her Dora pillow pet and Dora blanket for familiarity.  She took a while to sleep because of the excitement but eventually she did and slept well.  The only problem we had with her was peeing.  She really had to learn to hold it when there were 3 people ahead of her to use those tiny toilets.  We had a couple accidents in the beginning so on the flight home we were constantly having her do potty checks. 

With DS (1.5 y/o) it was a whole other story.  We left at night and that still didn't make a difference in terms of getting DS to sleep. The first leg was horrible.  DH and I got about 45 min.- an hour of sleep at a time as we traded off holding him.  We would rock him in the back or just hold him while sitting.  The moment we tried to lay him down on the seats next to DD he would wake up.  We were seriously starting to regret taking this trip!  After about 6 hours of helll we discovered the magic secret.  During a moment of desparation and frustration I took DD's pillow pet and the plane blankets and pillows and created a makeshift bed on the floor of our seats.  He whined and rolled around for a bit but then magically fell asleep!  I then took another blanket and tucked one end into the magazine holders at the back of the seats to create a tent to block out light and noise.  He slept for about 4 hours!  We were literally banging our heads against the wall for not thinking of this earlier.

With that said, I brought a crapload of new toys/activities, movies/shows on the tablet, and tons of snacks.  But as parents we should all know by now that this doesn't necessarily mean smooth sailing especially when the kid is already pissed off!  You really have to just roll with the punches and hope for the best.  A few things I want to add that I will bullet point are these:

- use fruit pouches for takeoff, a great way to deal with the ear pressure.  For one of them I gave DS a bottle so that works too.

- we bought a seat for DS and even though he didn't necessarily sit in it I was so grateful to have that extra space to manuever around.

- get ready to spend a ton of time walking around the plane.  

- get ready to spend a ton of time watching the same kid show on the plane TV in mute.

GL!

Karen1998

laurakaz13:

Karen1998:

Booze for you?

That's going to be tough.  The lack of a seat for her would be a dealbreaker for me, even in first class.  The seat was a lifesaver for us when we flew overseas.  

You should ask if they have bassinets.  They're not usually the sturdiest of things, but they do simulate a bed, so that may help her to sleep better.  

Use your layovers to wear her out as much as you can.  The big airports usually have play areas, but really, at 14 months, she doesn't need a formal play area.  She'll probably have a lot of fun walking about and looking out of the windows.  Once on the plane, try to find an area you can let her walk a bit.  If you go to www.seatguru.com (sorry not clicky), you can look up your type of plane and the layout of it.  Some planes have extra space around the exits, some do not.  Though, they also may not want you to have her playing or hanging out anywhere near the front exits are those tend to be close to the cockpit.  

Enlist your 3 year old in helping to entertain the 14 month old.  I've found that other kids often hold my LO's interest more than adults or games.  I also brought never seen before books and toys.  Those helped some.  Though, he loved playing in his seat (standing on it mostly as he was only 9.5m) more than anything.  

GL. 

 

All of this. I have flown a dozen times with my now 2-yr-old, but I will never complain again after seeing your itinerary! Good luck.

I know, right?!  Aussies have to fly so.darn.far to get anywhere.  Every time I've met an Aussie (or a Canadian, for that matter) while traveling, they have always been incredibly nice and a lot of fun.   

GL OP.  I hope it's an insanely easy trip for you.