Long haul flight with 15 month old?

[Monix]

Hi everyone. I am new to the toddler page, my baby just turned 1

I was wondering if anyone has some advice for taking a toddler on a long haul flight. We have flown 6 times already (5 hour flights) and he has been amazing, however we just booked a 19.5 hour trip to Australia (with a flight change) in April and I'm sure this will be an entirely new experience.

What were your toddlers most interested in at 15 months old? Did you manage to find anything that would keep them interested for more than 10 seconds?

In the past I just relied on a small bag of toys (or items from my handbag that he's not normally allowed to play with) and breastfeeding. Now that he is mobile and not really breastfeeding I'm worried for all other passengers on this plane....

Thanks in advance!

 

[sunnydee]

I just flew long haul with my 15 month old and it was a nightmare! He wouldn't sleep for the whole 10 hour flight and didn't want to play with any of the toys or books we brought, the only thing that kept hime occupied was lots and lots of snacks! Good luck!

 

[staralfur]

We took my LO at around that age, not for as long a flight, but two back-to-back 5 hour flights which was still long enough for me to dread.

If you have a tablet (iPad, etc.) that you can download some shows/movies onto that's something that worked well for my LO. Same with easy little games I downloaded on my phone that I helped her play (matching games, really simple puzzles). And as a PP said, lots of snacks. Every time my LO got irritable or bored I just threw a cookie at her and she was fine.

She only slept for like half an hour total but it was a lot better than I had expected it to be, honestly.

 

[Monix]

I just flew long haul with my 15 month old and it was a nightmare! He wouldn't sleep for the whole 10 hour flight and didn't want to play with any of the toys or books we brought, the only thing that kept hime occupied was lots and lots of snacks! Good luck!

That's exactly what I'm worried about... I just keep reminding myself even if it gets really bad it's just 1 day and eventually it will be over

 

[Monix]

We took my LO at around that age, not for as long a flight, but two back-to-back 5 hour flights which was still long enough for me to dread.

If you have a tablet (iPad, etc.) that you can download some shows/movies onto that's something that worked well for my LO. Same with easy little games I downloaded on my phone that I helped her play (matching games, really simple puzzles). And as a PP said, lots of snacks. Every time my LO got irritable or bored I just threw a cookie at her and she was fine.

She only slept for like half an hour total but it was a lot better than I had expected it to be, honestly.

I will load up the iPad! He'll probably love that because he always wants to touch it he loves buttons.

Wow I hope he sleeps longer than ½ hour. Thanks for the suggestions I will make sure to pack lots of fun snacks!

 

[Demotivated]

I'll give you a different answer..may be not very well received.. but we spoke to our paediatrician before taking a 9 hour long cross continental flight and he prescribed us a sedative (pediochryl / benadryl), so that the child sleeps better and is not jet lagged.. we did that and my son slept mostly through the flight..

For the times he was up, ipad/books/in flight entertainment to rescue

 

[alliec]

We traveled from Canada to the Philippines in 2014 when my son was fourteen-months-old and it went very well. It was his first flight ever so we really weren't sure what to expect.

At home he was only nursing about once a day, but on the flight I would offer when he got obviously agitated (not just bored). He took me up on the offer about 50% of the time, and it did help to calm and comfort him.

We had a tablet loaded up with simple toddler games. Fisher Price has a bunch of really simple, free games that don't take up much space, and your local library might be able to recommend other apps (provided the library is of the "some screen time is ok" mindset).

My son loves anything with wheels so we brought a few small trains. I bought a cheap, slim sketchbook that fit nicely in my carry-on and I would draw train tracks and landscapes for him to drive his trains on. The sketchbook was also just great for him to scribble on or for me to draw stuff for him. Obviously, we brought crayons as well

I brought a few finger puppets that went along with a couple of his favorite nursery rhymes, and a mid-sized shawl that we could use to play peek-a-boo and was also just large enough to make a kind of fort when draped over the seats. The shawl also worked as a blanket.

Everything fit neatly inside a LeSportsac medium weekender (11.5 x 16.5 x 8.75 in), along with a change of clothes for both me and him (also some diapers and wipes). This was great because it meant that the bag could be stowed under the seats instead of the overhead bin. This made it a lot easier to pull things out as needed.

We also brought LOTS of snacks. Like, so many. These were packed in my husband's carry-on (along with more diapers, wipes, and my husband's change of clothes). We split the snacks up into lots of small containers. This way we could always pull out something new and exciting, as opposed to a large container of only one food that he might get tired of and reject (child was never an eater).

The biggest thing we brought was my nursing pillow, which I credit with the amount my son actually slept on the flight. I felt a little silly at first but I do think it made him feel more at ease. He slept about six hours total: a five hour stretch, followed by a couple of half-hour naps, all curled up in his pillow on our laps. It also ended up being his pillow during our stay in the Philippines.

At fourteen-months, my son was super entertained by the tray tables and the cheesecloth-like seat protectors the plane had for people's heads. He also liked the mirrors in the lavatories. We did quite a bit of walking up and down the aisles.

I hope some of this helps! Flying with littles can be such a nerve-wracking experience.