Tips for long flights with a 2 y_o ??

[roudoudou]

Hi,

We have to go to Australia in a few weeks with our almost 2 years old. Last time she was 4 months old so it was all fine, she slept all the time. This time around I am pretty concerned about how to entertain her, get her to sleep, etc, for 25 hours.. Hmmm; any tips, ideas? Toys or games I should take over for the flight?

I've been collecting stickers and stickers books and put away for the journey but I don't see what else could entertain her such a long time in such a small place !

Please help !

[pebbles]

Stickers and sticker books are a must

If she likes cars i took a couple of small cars that he played with at the front of the plane

Stickle brick/lego - just enough to build a tower or something?

Food and snacks - things that will take her a while to eat - saltanas or i do a large fruit salad as well

We also bought a portable dvd player for exactly this reason and i couldn't have flown long hall without it

The other thing that she'll love is just to walk up and down the aisles smiling at people, i'm a big fan of as long as they're not doing any harm letting them wander for as long as they like cos it'll hopefully knacker them out.

Will she have her own seat? if yes obviously sleep is easier, if no, make sure that you have been to the loo and eaten before you try to get her asleep and whatever happens make sure you are as comfy as possible and preferably with a hand free to read a book if you can't sleep - nothing worse than being stuck in an uncomfy position and not wanting to move incase she wakes up!!!

Sleep at this age is a little bit more difficult but make sure you bring everything that she has in bed - grobag, teddy, bottle. It is difficult and my son certainly didn't fall asleep at 7 after my "bedtime" routine like i had hoped (oh how blinkered was i!!) but he did pass out in front of the tv by 8.30 and pretty much slept on and off for the rest of the night. It's just a case of praying for the best but if it doesn't happen i truly believe they somehow aren't as grumpy as if they hadn't slept and were at home cos there's so much to look at.

Accept all help from everybody

Good luck and please don't panic - it'll be worth it all once you arrive

[roudoudou]

ouhh yes the portable DVD player.. ! I've been looking at it for this purpose! One with 7hrs battery life, not an hr !

Thanks for our ideas, I'm sure there will be a whole lot to explore and discover but I can't avoid thinking "what if.." and "what if.."

She won't be 2 yet and won't have her own seat, I'm sure we can manage to get some seats near an empty one, we've tried to book those with extra room for the legs but they wer apparently all booked out. We'll see what we an do in the check in.

[nymom]

The DVD player is a must!!

[Pickle]

We've done the trip to NZ many times, I'm going again in a few weeks (flying out with my nearly 4 and 2.5 year olds by myself - aaaaaagh!). Little toys like small Playmobil sets, travel colouring books (the Colour Wonder ones are good), stickers, pens & paper, a few favourite books. My daughter entertained herself last time (she was 20 months) by pressing all the buttons on the control panel for the inflight entertainment system...

DVD player is a must, we use ours as backup once they're bored of the programmes on the plane. Lots of snacks, and a supply of small toys that your child has never seen before that can be produced at strategic intervals over the course of the flights.

Good luck!

[Helen GV]

ditto most of what has been said above, but also don't worry about the other passengers, many will have been in your situation and will be sympathetic, and though there will be those that will give you unfriendly looks if your child kicks off, you will NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN so just do your best not to stress! have fun!

[ryedalema]

Yes those magazines with the trashy plastic covermounts are fab - as is the Nintendo DS! With headphones! I went to Italy with the girls by myself - Trunkii was a saviour, but I think you have one Pickle don't you?

Anyway, sorry OP. It's better than you think. I dreaded it for ages, but once you're ensconced there is so much novelty around, they will amuse themselves to a certain extent. Just try and avoid them kicking the seat of the person in front or you might get some not-quite-so sympathetic looks. :)

[Pickle]

I do have a Trunki, however we won't be taking it this time as I don't want to deal with the arguments over who gets to ride it (and taking two isn't an option). So this time we will be attempting to travel light - both children will have little backpacks containing their toys, I will have a single rucksack with food, books, change of clothes. The bonus this time is that I don't have to worry about packing nappies (albeit apart from a couple of pullups for sleep times), so that saves us a lot of room.

[candj]

Here's a few links from the past (had a bit of time!). Hope it helps.

Would definitely recommend dvd player with a two year old and some headphones. Also, colouring books with washable ink markers, puzzles, small new toys that you can introduce every so often during the flight. Hopefully your toddler will also sleep on the flight - we did this by continuing on with same routine as at home, ie, brush teeth, gym jams, stories then into the airplane seat with favourite blanket and soft toy from home. Good luck!

long haul travel

flying to Aus with toddler

flying with baby

car seats on airplanes

virgin airlines

trunkies

edited to add re; charging dvd players - depending on airlines/type of plane you can charge them on board as certain planes have outlets and certainly a larger long haul plane would. You might have to have an adaptor but we've bought them from the duty free shopping on board in a pinch. hope that helps.

[roudoudou]

thank you all for those tips it will defo help !!!

[alieh]

Great tips. We have done lots of long haul travel and it is not fun when they're at this age but don't have a seat! One of the toys that worked really well for us (my son is a similar age) was a bucket of mini farm animals. I put them in a tin and he loved to take them all out, put them back in, name each animal, etc. I got a big bucket of them from Mothercare for ?4 I think.

[Maki]

I haven't done this on a long haul flight but something I always do on any long journey (normally train) is to start collecting bits and peices for a 'suprise package' - things she has not seen before. I let her take out one item at a time and usually each thing gets at least a 10 min inspection and hopefully sometimes a further 20 mins entertainment before I give let her take out the next thing. Could be a little toy animal, a picture, a peice of fruit, a straw (when she was smaller!), some buttons in a little box, a wooden peg made into a dolly etc etc Hard work collecting it all but I really find this works!! Trouble is the older they get the more things they have seen so fewer things amaze them!

[etta166]

When we've been on a long night flight, we rigged up blankets between the baby's seat and the seat in front to make a dark tent over him. He was then in a dark room, with nothing exciting to look at and in a familiar car seat, grow bag, with teddy etc. and slept for about 8 hours. Obviously, this is only going to work if the little one has a seat.

Also, we took washable pens and lots of paper wich provided endless entertainment (until drawing on the seats got more fun than drawing on the paper)...

[damzel]

The DVD is a great idea unless you have an iPhone (or want a good excuse to get one!). I've downloaded free and cheap kids shows and play them on my iPhone whenever we need a distraction for our daughter - perfect for long haul, airports, car journeys, wherever because it's always in my pocket.

The funny face sticker books are a real winner as are the kids mags you can get, usually with rubbish plastic freebie on the front. There's lots in the mags that entertain my 2 year old on flights.