Long haul flight with 15month old

:doh: I really don't want to be posting this but it appears we have to go to the UK in April on the anniversary of Dhs fathers death. I already feel sick about the flight with DD who will be 15months.

We are still traumatised from a 1 hr flight a few months ago when she screamed the entire flight and everyone hated us. She doesn't really sleep well (or at all)in public and is very energetic. How am I going to cope?

DH seems to think it will be fine which is typical of him as he has no idea.

my questions are-

Should we beak up the trip? as we have to fly to Birmingham we can really only go to Dubai for a night, which will be a 14 hr flight, then I think another 9 or 10 hrs to UK.

If we do a 14 hr flight would it be better to start from the morning so dd has the day to get familiar with the environment before attempting to go to sleep, or start in the evening and hope she just goes to sleep?

Anyone done this?, it is defiantly not my idea of a holiday, don't even want to think about trying to get her into a different time frame, I am stuck on how bad the plane trip will be :crying:

Tia

I feel your pain. We did a trip to Italy when dd was 12 months.

I think breaking it up is a good idea, the longer you can have a break the better. On the way over we broke it up in Asia and dd had no jet lag, played on the flight and slept in my arms. On the way back we did the back to back flights and it was a lot more traumatic. She wouldn't settle for sleep, got extreme jet lag and just wouldn't settle. That was also a leave in the day arrive back in the day flight (due to time zones) so when we got back she was due to go to bed but she was still wide awake. They made us sleep on the plane because it was night time in our previous destination.

I suggest pack as many activities as you can for her, break the flight up, travel day time so you can keep the night sleeps semi normal.

Oh the memories....lol

I've done way too many long haul flights, the first to the uk when ds1 was 13 months.

We broke up that trip in Singapore which does help. I honestly don't think it makes much difference what time you go.... Whether they're ready for bed etc. as there are so many disturbances even before you get to the plane.

Once you get in there you can only take it as it comes. It's a long time in a confined space but you have to handle as best you can and IMO the best way to do that is without worrying about other people around you and focus on your dd and her well being.

Take things with you, toys, play dough, books and snacks. Walk around and maybe see if the flight isn't busy if you can have an extra seat to spread out a little. My guess is she might be too big for basinette but not old enough for her own seat.

Good luck with it all, you'll get through it in one piece :)

I last did a long haul back from UK when DS was 15 months and DD was 3.5. I did it on my own. I wouldn't break it up personally, we just do an hour in Abu Dhabi - get it over and done with if you ask me. Unless you can stop a decent amount of time e.g more than a night I think the hassle of in and out airport unpacking etc isn't worth it.

The thought of it is far worse than the reality in my experience.

I don't think timing makes that big a difference, I always just get cheapest flight.

15 months is too big for bassinet and if mobile is dangerous really. I had DS on lap, (way too stingy to pay for another seat). Don't request a bassinet row because the way the trays work is a pain with a little one on your lap - a normal seat is better. The arm rests d don't go up in the bulkhead/bassinet rows so can't lay a toddler across laps etc.

Take some toys with you, but not too many as space is limited and little ones find the normal plane stuff, magazines safety cards, the little tv's etc.

we did Adelaide to London when DS was 23 months, and we still made use of the bassinet - DS would fall asleep on us and we transferred him into the bassinet. Meant we weren't tied to the spot once he was asleep, so could head to the toilet, eat etc. And I preferred the extra space we got in the bassinet row.
We flew Adelaide-Melbourne-hong kong- heathrow and next time we go, we'll be stopping one night in a hotel to break it up. Both DS and DD (who was 3.5) were fine until the last 2 hours of the hk-London leg. On the Melbourne to HK leg, it was an empty flight and so we found a seat near a window to watch out for a while - that was good distraction. Walk around the plane - we did laps! DS slept a fair chunk of the hk-London leg, but like I said, the last two hours were the worst, and then especially when he had to be clipped in for landing - that was the only point he totally lost it. DD couldn't settle on the last leg, despite it being a night flight, and in the end I popped her in the carrier and she settled and fell asleep within 5 minutes I reckon. That was the other good thing about having the bassinet row, as it was next to an emergency exit on our plane and there was space to rock her in the carrier.
If you get an infant ticket, ask for a children's meal.