Long Flight with a Toddler

Hi there!

We are heading to Hawaii for a family wedding late April, and I'm just curious if there are any other parents out there who have had to travel on a long haul flight with a toddler? Our DD will be 15.5mths when we travel...

I've thought about ensuring we have toys and activities to keep her busy but I'm interested in hearing from anyone on how to make the time pass as smoothly as possible. Just want to be prepared.

I'm a nervous flyer so I'm trying to be as organised as I can beforehand, and be prepared for every possible situation that I can think of. I guess my biggest worry is if she decides to 'lose it' while on the flight and unlike when we're out somewhere I can't just remove her from the area to calm her without disrupting other people.

I've bought some Brauer's Calm (naturopathic) drops as a suggestion by a family member, and other people have suggested just going to the GP and getting some sedation :o - but I don't want to do that!

Any advice??

I have done it a couple of times, and the best advice I can give is to take a few small toys or new books, and give them to your child at intervals throughout the flight. This way she will have something new and exciting to keep her entertained the whole flight.

I used Kalm Kids herbal tablets, they worked well for my kids, but I never had to sedate them.

Awesome, glad to know there's someone else who has tackled this and survived! lol

I might look up the Kalm Kids tablets and see if there's any difference between that and what Brauer's has put in their stuff.

I'm more than happy to go out and get her a few new books and toys if it means she has an ejoyable experience and not a negative one.

me too!! we are going to japan in july and dd will be 15 months. I t will be a night time flight. So i hope she sleeps through...do you still get them to suck on something when takeoff and landing? Also are you bringing milk on the aeroplane? Im flying with qantas hopefully they can accomodate..

hey Bubbles...good to know our family isn't the only one crazy enough to do long haul travel with a toddler! lol

Our flight to Sydney is during the day but our long flight from Sydney to Honolulu is at night, so I'm hoping the day will really wear her out and then she'll sleep.

I was still going to give her milk and make sure she has something to chew (even if its a dummy) when taking off and landing to help her ears adjust.

I don't know, my anxiety is getting the better of me and suddenly I wish we weren't going! But I swing between that and being excited...my fear of heights and nerves regarding planes are just compounding this new fear of being stuck on a plane at high altitude with a screaming toddler and nowhere to go. :wall:

Little ones are pretty adaptable and so long as you just go with the flow, I'm sure she will too.

I do a lot of travel with my DS from Perth to Singapore (which isn't long haul really) but we did to Perth to Singapore to London when he was 13 months and it was a lot easier then, than it is now.

The plane tends to lull them to sleep, but I would just make sure you take books, colouring stuff etc.

Bubbles - I think they would be able to provide you with hot water and you can take formula I guess, or you could maybe take some of those long life cartons? (just remember the amount of ml's you are allowed to take on the plane through customs!) My DS has never really had to suck on anything during take off and landing unless he's had a cold or is a little blocked up.

Good luck with your flights girls....enjoy your HOLIDAY!

There are usually exceptions to the liquid rule for infant formula. it is worth checking with the airline what they are for your flight as it may mean you have to taste ready made bottles, or perhaps sealed cartons are all that are allowed.

We flew 5 hrs at Xmas time with DS who was then 17 months. He was very excieted and a little hyperactive. He usually is at the best of times. We timed it so he would sleep for some it, which during those times was a relief, though god forbid it I needed to use the toilet. Luckily there was also enough space that we had the use of an extra seat for him to play on and on 1 leg has some 5-10 yr olds travelling behind us who was playing peekaboo with DS, that kept him entertained.
Good luck with your flight, it is hard work, just make sure you have some time to relax while on you holiday and a day or 2 after you return.

Thanks for all the advice girls...you've given me some things to think about which is great :D

I'll definately be taking some time out while we're away...sadly none when we get back (we get back on Mother's Day, and I'm back at work on the Monday - our flights had to be changed at the last minute as the airline changed their schedule...sigh...) so most likely I'll rock up to work looking like a total freak show but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

we are going for two weeks to japan and will be eating out everyday, still wondering how to order food for a toddler...can they pretty much eat everything by then? she will be 15months and we will be shopping and out pretty much the everyday....any tips????

Bubbles - I live in Asia and rice is aways an easy one for a toddler :) Bungs them up a bit though! My DS is also a sucker for Sushi!

My only advice is don't put your child into a seat of their own while you put stuff in the overhead because they then think it's their seat for the rest of the flight and ... OK, I won't say any more ;)

Make sure you check in as early as possible and ask for a bassinet. Even if your DD doesn't sleep in it, she can sit in it and give you a rest from holding her. If you cant get a bassinet then ask for a bulk head, it just gives you a bit more space and you don't have someone in front of you putting their seat back and getting in the little space you have!

As for bottles. We had no restrictions on what we took on board (to the USA - DD was 11 months) we just put our DD's food in a separate bag and they inspected it but we didn't have to taste it or anything. The flight attendants heated bottles for us and were really helpful.

Another good thing to take for flights food wise is the Rafferty's baby food that is in a squeeze pack. We took these and they were great. We had a spoon and were able to squeeze the food directly onto the spoon and feed DD - no mess!

We also take colouring books, even though our DD is too young to colour within the lines she enjoys scribbling on the pages!

We are also flying to Hawaii via Sydney (not until August) and I have already bought a couple of colouring books ready to go! At least this time though we have a seat for DD so a bit more space will be nice.

Enjoy your trip!

im flying with qantas, i wonder how many kg can it hold? dd will be 15mnths and shes about 9.5kg atm, rafferty sounds like a great idea! can we bring heaps in the suitcase because we are away for 2 weeks. also did you bring your own milk or does qantas have milk on the plane-not the tiny coffee milk though that would be a pita. whats a bulk head?

The weight for a bassinet is either 12 or 15 kg's can't remember but she will be fine at 9.5kg. It is just handy to have. The bulkhead are the seats that are at the front of a section. It is the wall that blocks off the galley. Some of these have bassinet and some are just the bulkhead. The bassinet is attached to the wall at about eye level and it just drops down. Also, if yoou get a bulkhead but no bassinet then there is space to put her on the floor. Some flight crews allow it and some don't. We were lucky and it was allowed and it worked out well!

We took our own milk but she was still having formula at the time. I am not sure if they will supply milk. We took a small cooler bag and filled zip lock bags with ice to keep the contents cool that way security could see what was in the icebag!

We took heaps of the rafferty's food in our case as well. Just make sure you declare it when you go through customs, they didn't have a problem because it was commercial food but it is best to let them know you have it. Also we found in the USA that the Gerber food was good so when we started running low on the raffertys we bought Gerber and used the Raffertys only for our flights!

I hope this helps!