Tips on flying long haul with 20 month old

[Guest misschief3003]

Hey guys. Anyone got any tips on flying with a 20 month old on your knee. We have to get to Singapore first then to Adelaide and dreading the flight with the little one. How did anyone else cope keeping them still etc. it's kinda worrying..

[Guest Katangel]

We first did the long haul flight with our 2 boys when they were 18 months old and 4 years old. The older one had a nintendo ds so the younger one would watch him play on it. There are also a lot of children's movies and cartoons shown and the airline will give your child an activity pack too. Hopefully your little one sleeps for most of one of the flights. Always take a few of their favourite toys in your carry on bags and take them for lots of little walks around the plane and when you.re on your stop over let them run around and climb on the chairs a bit cos they need to burn some energy off. Its hard for little ones to hold still for a long time. Take turns with your partner to watch little one while the other one sleeps. And something to eat or drink when taking off and landing will help with the pressure build up in your ears. And distracting them with toys or reading a book to them too with take off and landing so they don't get scared cos the plane is quite noisy and wobbles a lot. Good luck :-)

[snifter]

Are you taking a day or night flight out of the UK? That can make all the difference.

 

We did a BA night flight when our son was 22 months old and got a bulkhead with little drop down baby seat for son (although he was way to big for it). Luckily a lady in our row got bumped up to business class as she was stuck amongst babies and kids. So there was a spare seat and our son went in that for the flight. Slept 8.5 hours. At Singapore we had 4 hours wait for our flight to Adelaide and our son ran round, played in the play areas, went to the viewing decks, we had a shower and grabbed a meal for him. Then on the last leg about 10pm Singapore time to land in Aus at 7am ish. Slept 4.5 hours then in one of the drop down cots, they are much bigger on Qantas flights and even though he had to curl his legs up he could still fit in it fine to sleep.

 

If you are taking a daytime flight hopefully you'll still get a bulkhead seat with the child cot (even if too big to use it) so you'll have more leg room and LO can sit on the floor and play by your feet.

 

Be prepared for lots of walking up and down the plane if awake. We also took some small toys, books and so on. And as we were on a night flight from UK we got our son changed into his PJ's while waiting to board and put him in his sleeping bag also. So all the signals for bedtime. As it was late he was tired and he fell asleep within half an hour of take off.

 

If they have to sleep on you it gets tiring. And uncomfortable. So be prepared to take it in shifts and gently move LO between your laps every couple of hours. If a child is that tired they usually stir but stay asleep or go back to sleep soon enough. All the lights are turned down so its pretty dark.

 

The kids TV is also pretty good on the flights. So if awake let them watch some kids tv on the small screen.

 

We took plenty of snacks and some small packs of cereal in case our son woke early before they were serving breakfast. He did and he ate the cereal (we took some milk in a small carton also but cabin crew will give you some if you need it. Also took small plastic bowl and spoon to put it in). Snacks were not the sugar loaded kind as a sugar filled kid on a plane isn't fun

 

We also ordered the older kids meals or adult meals for our son. The baby/toddler ones were the sort of mush our son has never eaten so we stuck with adult meals mostly. He scoffed the cooked breakfast.

 

Take some inventive but popular toys and perhaps a few small new things so they have novelty value for the flight. The airlines usually provides a kids bag of stuff and grab it to use at some point. Crayons and some drawing is always good. TBH our son hardly bothered with his toys, when he was awake he either wanted to be running up and down the plane, looking out the windows in the galley at the back or was trying to make friends with the cabin crew. O and escaping into business class a couple of times He also played peekaboo with the 2 older ladies in the seats behind who thought he was gorgeous and were more than happy to play along for ages.

 

Take it in turns to have LO on your lap, take a deep breath if LO gets tired or grumpy and go for a walk round the plane or find a distraction. Also don't be afraid to stand up for a while and stretch your legs and let LO sit in your seat on their own. It gives you both a break.

 

Personally with a toddler I'd always take the night flight from UK option so they sleep. A kid that age can't stay awake all night and will at some point sleep. Our son was out like a light with some gentle rocking on my lap and as it was 2 hours past his bedtime he was more than ready for it at that point. Another time we flew we got him to sleep while we were waiting to board and so he snoozed all through take off and beyond. I had to rock him in my arms and then over my shoulder but he went off.

[Guest miraclebabycaw]

We flew to the US from South Africa when my daughter was 18mos old. It was a harrowing trip but really only because it was just after 9/11, our flights were diverted and the trip ended up being 25 hours in total. First and foremost try book a bulkhead seat. That give you extra room at your feet and little one's can sit on the floor and play. Some kids have a real issue with take off, so make sure that you have a bottle ready if they still take a bottle for take off or a dummy (pacifier) if the child takes one because take off can make their ears sore. I'm sorry to say I went to my doctor and asked him for a mild sedative for my daughter. I gave it to her at her normal bedtime and the doctor reckoned it would help her sleep for 8 hours straight...yeah right, like that was going to happen LOL. It did however help her to sleep a good 5 hours so her dad and I got a bit of a rest. The rest of the time she would walk up and down the plane with one of us following her, or play beside us and she did doze quite a bit inbetween. Take as many non noisy toys as you can with to keep her busy inbetween. Often if there are empty seats the air hostess will move you to that area so you can lay them down to sleep. Much easier. When you get on board have a chat to one of the air hostesses and ask her if there should be any seats that are open if she could move you to them with the little one. They are normally very accommodating. Just try not to stress. They are little, they need to move around otherwise they will get bored, so try relax and just go with the flow.

[mattyegg]

Jumping in with some thanks for the tips guys. This time next week we'll be taking off from Heathrow. We had a wee boy who has just turned two and were how he(we) would cope.

[Guest markandcate]

When we flew out, our daughter was 21 months old (we had a 5 year old too) so she had to sit on our knee. We flew with Singapore Airlines and when we checked in, they said they would try to give us an extra seat and they did. We had a morning flight from Manchester to Singapore so we were dreading the flight, but it was actually ok! After take off, she moved to the spare seat and was fine, even slept when we wanted her too! My 5 year old on the other hand, wouldn't sleep and drove us nuts!!

 

Don't worry about it too much, if its anything like our flight, it was better than we were expecting, happy travels!!

[Guest lebour]

We are validating our visas in September, our daughter will be 23 months, we paid for a seat for her. Thinking on getting a little DVD player thing so can play In the Night Garden on a loop!!

[mattyegg]

We got a cheap tablet pc, same thing Thomas the Tank on a loop and download a few apps.

[Guest Watkinsfamily]

We are validating our visas next month with a 21 month old! We fly Abu Dhabi (where we currently live) to KL then KL to Adelaide. 1st flight is a night flight so hope he sleeps, have booked 2 transit hotel rooms in KL 1 for adult to sleep one for adult to tire my son out we will swap over half way through! Then I hope he sleeps again on the next flight landing in Adelaid at 7am - he may adjust to the time difference better this way (we won't!!)

 

I am so excited. We take ipad and he watches films / cartoons on that and quiet toys but he never plays with them he prefers to explore the plane or watch the cartoons. Good luck it's the joy of travelling. We have booked a bulk head seat on all 4 of our flights there and back. Staying for a month as I couldn't face the return journey before that, also have a few days in KL on the way back to break it up a little. XX

[tori0609]

we came over 2 months ago with our daughter who had just turned two - I wish I had done things differently on the flight!

my tips would be:

1) Wrap up little pressies, just little tiny toys and books and things so that when (or if) things get a bit desperate there is something exciting for them to do.

2) I wish had purchasd a mini portable dvd player as she was too little to see the screen on the seat in front!

3) She never really played with it before the flight but luckily I had downloaded a feww toddler type apps for my iphone - I wish I had downloaded more - that phone has been a god-send!

4) Try to live in the moment and not 'expect' them to go to sleep - we kind of hoped our little one would sleep but she wasn't having any of it for 19 hours! - just try and go with the flow and enjoy the moment (if possible!)

[Guest misschief3003]

ah thanks guys, that is a huge help, i think cos the flight is a morning one to singapore from manchester and is 13 hours that'll be the most difficult one, the flight from there to adeliade is at midnight so fingers crossed a bit of shut eye xx

[Guest lebour]

ah thanks guys, that is a huge help, i think cos the flight is a morning one to singapore from manchester and is 13 hours that'll be the most difficult one, the flight from there to adeliade is at midnight so fingers crossed a bit of shut eye xx

 

We have an afternoon flight leaving at 12PM to KL, but we need to fly down to LHR from ABZ and flight at 6.20am, luckly we live 5 mins from the airport. So its going to be a very LONG day!!!

[Guest Eilidh Wilson]

Good luck Siobhan and Andy. Wife and I came over with an 8 and 10 year old in February (not quite the same as your young uns I know), living in Adelaide Hills and loving it.

 

1) Just to add to the good advice. Buy those inflatable headrests and inflatable cushions (cheap off ebay!) as it stops numb legs when kids are sleeping on your lap.

2) Also we checked in early at the airport which gave us a good choice of seats. I don't know if all airlines are the same but even if you prebook the last seats on the plane with Singapore airlines (as we did) when you check at the airport to confirm there was a better choice of seat locations.

3) Also we had a few hours at Singapore airport so paid for us all to use the rooftop swimming pool at one of the airport hotels (towels provided just take costumes). Certainly freshened the adults up after the long 13 hour bit and relaxing way to pass the time!

 

Good luck.