UKC

I've got a flight in the next few weeks with wife and young nipper 22 months. So has more energy than a dalmatian on m&ms. My cub has a great routine sleeps 12 nights.
We're embarking on 12 hour flight. Any tips how to settle the cub and her of to sleep?

In reply to goldmember:

Clandestine duty free?

In reply to goldmember:

If they're sleeping 12 hour nights, I hate you

Took our daughter to Australia aged 11 months. First flight to Kuala Lumpur was hard work, as she didn't settle much due to the different environment and noise and, having quite a bit of turbulence on that flight, she had to be on a lap rather than in the basinette. The steward was very tactful when I was walking the aisle with her in suggesting where there was a quiet space at the back of the plane. Subsequent flight to Sydney and rest of the flights that trip were much better.

Since then, the furthest we've gone is Mallorca, but mixed it up by doubling the number of little ones to manage.

Usual long journey tips, take a few favourite toys and books, plenty of snacks and let them burn off energy in the terminal - most seem to have kiddy play areas now. Get them to eat something during take off to help ears pop.

I was once on a long-haul flight a few rows back from a family with 2 kids. No word of a lie, when they got off the plane the area round their seats looked like a bomb had gone off - I've never seen such a mess generated. The cleaners must have had a fit!

Calpol and valium as appropriate.

In reply to Dave the Rave:


I think from the OP they are his own kids

In reply to goldmember:

Flight is 12 hrs and youngster sleeps the same - then what's the problem

We had our then 1 yr old son with us on a flight to New Zealand with a 12 hrs stop over in Kuala Lumpur, and I think we failed in not letting him burn off (enough) energy before our journey. He caught an ear infection soon after we arrived in Auckland and we had to see a doctor who prescribed antibiotics. I suppose it was caused by a combination of a germ, the dry air in the airplanes, aircon in the hotel and low guards of his immune system due to his exhaustion, as he barely slept during the flights. Good advice above!

In reply to Mr Lopez:


I understood that too

In reply
An anaethetist chum swears by Piriton, the drowsy one (chlorpheniramine sp?). It's the original Piriton. There is a small person version available.

Alternatively be prepared to play eye spy for a very long time.

In reply to radar:



I swear by it too (chlorphenamine)! It's very, very weak, and doesn't last long (4 hours maybe?) - but it's perfect to get you sleepy enough to fall asleep without waking up feeling dreadful.

In reply to goldmember:

Keep them wide awake for the 48 hours before the flight.

In reply to goldmember:

What's all this nonsense about favourite toys, tiring them out etc? Give them your iPad and a pair of headphones* and you're sorted. Nothing else comes close.

A £5 Walkman from Woolies and a tape of the Tweenies was the equivalent when our two were nippers. Old school but highly effective.

PS I recall friends taking their two little horrors to Canada. As parents they were quite hands off with the discipline and, as a consequence, their offspring were as ghastly as you'd expect. I asked the father how he expected to cope with them on an 8 hour flight and he just smiled and explained that his darlings were so loveable everyone on the plane would want to play with them. I kept my counsel. The parents' faces when they described the inevitable nightmare of the flight were the only vindication of parental discipline I've ever needed.

In reply to goldmember:

Hand puppet. Can be passed around to take turns playing games.

CB

In reply to goldmember:

My cousin flys back from Aus with two toddlers quite regularly. She buys about five presents for each of them and wraps them (cheap, small crap which a child will get an hour or two out of - colouring in books etc). Every hour she gives each child a new pressie to unwrap (playing a bit on the 'you have to be good' etc). The initial novelty just about lasts until the next present is ready.

She reckons it works anyway.

In reply to Y Gribin:

I'm flying with my 4 year old tomorrow and I'll be taking a range of things I can bring out depending on the scale of boredom/stress levels. Ranging from colouring and story books to Teletubbies on the tablet and sweets (used as a last resort if all else fails as adding sugar to an angry child is a risky business).

In reply to goldmember:
Put wife and nipper in economy, you go club.

In reply to goldmember:

I think I remember seeing a recipe for victorian calpol that was basically cocaine in a solution of neat gin, might have been heroine now I think about it. That'd probably do the trick

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:
Do the trick, as in not get past the security screening and Border Agency sniffer dogs? Undoubtedly.

Certainly guarantee a peaceful flight for the rest of the plane as whole family would be 'bang to rights guv'nor'