[janeb]

HI all

Well as you know we have been approved in principal so have booked our flights and am now in a panic over what kind of chaos noa may cause on the plane!! He will be 13 months when we fly, and we are booked in business class (ever the optimist i figured we can have a sleep lying down with him on one of us) has anybody got any tips or experiences (positive ones!!!!) on how to get a sleeping baby, not a screaming one......I have heard about phenegen (spelling?) but dont know anything about it, any help would be appreciated!

Thanks :cheers
Jane

[jubjub]

There is a good discussion here

http://www2.everybody.co.nz/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=17680&an=0&page=0#Post17680

The only thing with Phenergan (apparently) is that it can work the opposite way, so test before you fly!

Also see http://www.flyingwithkids.com/

We just did it with or 7 month old and it was not *that* bad.

Cant remember who said it to me, but its great advice, ignore everyone around you and any hard stares you may get, its not your fault if the baby is in pain, or just plain cheesed off with flying and crying his head off, you can only do so much in that confined space, I ended up doing a lot of cuddling, shushing and walking up and down.

At the age yours will be, you have more chance of distraction with new toys, it worked a bit for us, but we have an active bub who hates being in one spot.

We flew Air NZ and found them fab.

[Gumbygreeneye]

Just a quick note,

As long as baby doesn't have any other medical problems, I sometimes advise that a bit of calpol or ibuprofen syrup about half an hour before you are due to take off and land can help with a child's depressurising ears. Also you can try feeding them a bottle as you take off and land as the swallow reflex may help.

[Oregonkiwi]

there are also some good discussions here -
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4911
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6194

[janeb]

Thanks so much for your replies, the links were great, I will be contacting our agent tomorrow to ask for a sky cot, will have the calpol ready before we fly and milk and treats/toys galore....hooray!

Have a great weekend and thanks again
:cheers
Jane

[spudulike]

Hi Jane,

We flew in Feb with an 18 month old and an 8 week old :eek:

We booked the first flight overnight and they both slept through and had a 16 hour stop then did the 2nd flight and they slept most of that too. We booked a bassinette for the baby and bought a seat for our toddler.

Other than that we brought lots of toys/books etc for our eldest but to be honest he didn't bother with them much. We were lucky as neither of them even cried once!! :raebanana I was dreading the flight throughout my pregnancy but I was told by a friend that if both of them screamed the entire time then don't worry - it is unlikely you will see the people on the plane ever again!!

We flew with Singapore Airlines and they were excellent.

Good luck, the worrying is worse than the flight!!

Louise

[jdbob]

I was told by a friend that if both of them screamed the entire time then don't worry - it is unlikely you will see the people on the plane ever again!!

That's really inconsiderate of the other passengers.

[jubjub]

That's really inconsiderate of the other passengers.

No its not really, there are times you have done everything for your baby that you possibly can n the confined space, and they still scream, having the stress of worrying about other passengers just makes it worse cos the babies pick up on that too and it winds them up more...

I hate screaming babies on flights too, but having been through it myself now with my own baby, I appreciate the issues.

dont want to pick a fight, just my two cents worth, I understand that if you are a non parent babies are a pain on flights.

[K&CS]

I'm with you on that, Sal (sorry must learn to do the quote thing). I always do my best to make sure that my kids are as quiet as possible on flights (and they are generally pretty good), but sometimes these things are beyond our control. I am very sympathetic towards people with infants who are crying (even if they wake my own baby up). What I'm not sympathetic towards is people whose older children are misbehaving and running riot when others are trying to sleep etc and their parents don't do anything to even check them!

Everything will be fine, I'm sure. You're probably not still bf, but that really is the best way to keep them quiet if you are!! Try not to stress too much about other people because if you get stressed, then your baby will be stressed, and that could lead to problems. Also, asking to sit near other families is a good idea (kind of safety in numbers). You don't want to end up sitting next to someone who doesn't like kids, because that will also stress you out.

Good luck. I'll be doing the trip next year for a visit back to the UK and ds will be 21 months!! Imagine what a nightmare that will be - a few stiff drinks will be required I think!

Kate x

[Bergita]

My daughter will be just over 4 years old when we make the flight. I'm a bit concerned, as keeping a child that age quiet and still for such a long time will be almost impossible. I do worry about the other passengers, but I guess they will have to try to be a bit understanding.

If anyone has any tips for how to manage toddlers on a flight, advice would be appreciated. I'm thinking it's all about distraction - toys, books, etc - but if you know 4 year olds, that will only get you so far.... then there's the other 15 hours to worry about. ;)

[Angelonthemove]

I took my daughter at the age of 2 to USA and the thing that kept her most busy was a selction of old photos of the family including ones of her Nanny. She spent hours looking at them with me asking her who was who, I also made up 3 seperate childrens bags with different toys in each, mainly cheap plastic things. Every 2 hour I gave her a new one with stuff she had not seen before. She was so good I ended up supplying various other mums on the plane with stuff for their children.

Are they old enough to have those drinks in cartons with straws as they are good for ear problems too. My daughters now 19 so its hard to remember what age they use them. It's a bad trip as there are so many take off and landings which does ot help

Failing that ignore them all on the plane. If anyone give you the stares then ask their advice that will shut them up! :nice1

[K&CS]

We flew to NZ on holiday a couple of years ago when dd2 was 4 and she was fine! To be honest, she slept most of the way (and we didn't even drug her!). She's actually an extremely lively child with the concentration span of a gnat, so it came as a great surprise. I think the flight actually bored her to sleep!! You might be surprised, but yes books, toys, surprises, sweets etc and decent entertainment (ie individual screens where they can choose what they want to watch) are very helpful too.

Kate

[Bergita]

She's actually an extremely lively child with the concentration span of a gnat

Kate

That describes my daughter to the T! So funny. And Angelonthemove, I'm going to stock up on cheap plastic toys, what a good idea.

[SharpBlade]

Hi, we flew to Chch in November 2005 with 4 kids aged 6, 5, 4 and 2.. It wasn`t that bad, actually. You just have to be organised, pack food and change of clothes (our little one got sick twice :uhoh ), and yes, I also had a few new jigsaws and cheap toys, but I found that the christmas toy catalog kept the kids happy for a long time.. all those pages and new toys to look at keep your imagination and dreams alive for a while. ANd then, the in flight entertainment was good too, even Lucie (aged 2) watched the same Hi 5 video in a row by herself when I was too exhausted and had to sleep while leaving her to do her own thing.
The kids didn`t sleep at all between Manchester and Singapore but we all had a much needed 6 hours sleep at the transit hotel in Singapore, it is well worth it, even if you only want to get some peace and quiet and a nice hot bath.
Good luck with the travelling, it sounds more daunting than it is
Laura

[spudulike]

That's really inconsiderate of the other passengers.

You clearly haven't got children jdbob!!

This comment was made in a very tongue in cheek way but it does help to think in this way on some level in order to avoid stress. I ensure my children are as well behaved and quiet as humanly possible whilst I am in public places. However, they are 22 months and 6 months and they are CHILDREN after all. They do not have the ability to behave perfectly at all times and to be honest I find people with an attitude like yours make parents feel worse when they are struggling and acutely aware of the discomfort they are causing to others.

As you read this thread in the first place then I assume you have something useful to add rather than simply to tell all us parents how inconsiderate we are. I would welcome your practical tips on how to entertain and keep babies and toddlers busy (and quiet) on a 26 hour flight - you clearly could do better. If not, then I would politely request that you keep comments such as that to yourself!!

Louise

[Lupin]

We did long haul with our (then) 3 year old and just let her watch the same couple of films over and over....as most little kids seem to enjoy! I was worried about it but actually it was easier to keep her amused than I'd anticipated. Pens and paper were our best buy and we used "ear planes" on all the flights she did. They really are marvellous and you can get them in boots, she had no problems with pressure at all. In NZ for the return flight we gave her a dose of valerian syrup (light herbal sedative) for children, which just made her calm and easily amused. I had to throw it away on touchdown because I thought it might be too tempting to use on one of *those* days! :laugh

This time we'll be taking her far more rowdy little sister, so we're going to operate shifts between my husband and I to amuse her!! Might see if I can find the valerian preparation again, not sure.

ETA: Can't find a valerian preparation for under 6 year olds, but it was five years ago so perhaps recomendations have changed.

[kiwidebs]

We did UK-NZ-UK when dd was 9 months old. She was a fantastic baby and flew really well. The funniest thing was walking into the departure lounge and hearing the sudden silence as all eyes fell on us and you could just see people praying they weren't sat near us!! I turned to hubby and said 'we've turned into the people you used to hate!'.

When we flew UK-Singapore-NZ this time with dd 4 and ds nearly 3, we deliberately booked nightflights. They both fell asleep before we took off at Heathrow and slept two-thirds of the way to Singapore. The other 4 hours were filled with trips to the toilet (what a novelty for the 4 year old), food and a very special friend of mine had given me a load of cheap toys/books/stickers/playdough etc all wrapped to bring out at various moments of the flight. The toys didn't last long after we got here but boy did they help for the flight. The kids love opening the presents and then spent time playing with the toys. My four year old especially loved the miniature tea set she got.

I would highly recommend Singapore Airlines - they were fabulous for all of the above flights. Especially when my nearly 3 year old had a high temp all the way from Singapore to NZ, they couldn't do enough for us.

Debs

[jdbob]

I thought this clip from "Family Guy" would be appropriate: http://www.certsoft.com/CryingBabies.mp4

[jo-and-jeff]

I was told by a friend that if both of them screamed the entire time then don't worry - it is unlikely you will see the people on the plane ever again!!That's really inconsiderate of the other passengers.I have to speak up in support of jdbob (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/member.php?u=1428) here. Whilst those of you here may knock yourselves out trying to keep your kids entertained and quiet on flights (and good on ya' for that!) I can't remember a single flight in the last 10 years (probably a couple of dozen) where there wasn't at least one set of parent/parents with a child/children who made no effort whatsoever to entertain their children, keep them quiet, or teach them to behave (and a lot of these children were 2-6 years old, old enough to be taught how to behave). Most of the times these parents just tuned out their kids' screaming, hollering and climbing over and/or kicking seats, and ignored them, whilst everyone else on the plane had to suffer.

So I can understand jdbob (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/member.php?u=1428)'s sensitivity to the idea "if your child screams, don't worry, you'll never see any of those people again", because that attitude seems all too common these days. When I see so many parents not even making an effort, it's very difficult to feel sympathy or understanding for them, and those irresponsible parents are the ones giving all the rest of you a bad name.

It's a delight to see responsible parents actively planning ways to keep children happy and entertained on flights, and asking others for their methods. I give all of you big props (http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20010213) for that.

Jo

[tigerlily]

I can just ignore my kids on the flight? Oh, that takes a huge amount of the pressure off! No just kidding. I think there are some really great parents and some people who really don't care much about parenting- the worst I've seen yet was when I was taking care of my son in the hospital pediatric ward. I heard a baby crying and crying for more than an hour. I asked the nurse and she said that the parents had elected not to stay the night with their sick little one. I was shocked that anyone could care so little for their child.

But- airplanes! When your child is crying there is a real biological pain that the mom (maybe dad too?) feels to comfort the child. A plane is a loud and strange place for a baby, so it's hard to comfort them. Nursing is so great as a way to calm them when the are really little- but bigger kids have a lot of "are we there yet?" kind of questions. I've flown a lot with our twins- having two means neither mom nor dad gets any break. But I do book night flights because I know my kids sleep well on planes.

But really some ideas now!
I love the idea of the wrapped presents!
Reading familiar stories (in a quiet voice) is great too. (One time, a mom sitting 3 rows behind me was reading Harry Potter to her kids. She was 50 pages in front of me in the same book I was reading!)
This link:
http://www.twinslist.org/flying.htm
has given me lots of ideas too. It also has a page about long distance moves with kids.
http://www.twinslist.org/moving.htm some of it is even applicable to moving across an ocean!

I think the best news is that you will spend more time worrying about the flight than there will be tough moments on the ride itself. There are also lots of free games that you can play together with a 4 year old- like "I'm thinking of an animal..." or "I spy" using a picture book.
Or making up an imaginary story together.

Writing letters is a big favorite with my kids (who are 3.5) so maybe some postcards that he/she could color on one side and write a message (with your help) on the other. Buy stamps and mail once you arrive at the destination or stopover?

I once put some black felt which had a sticky backing (bought at a craft store) on the back of one of the favorite picture books. I then cut out some small felt shapes. The kids had their own and loved making arrangements. I got huge compliments from the flight attendant because if they threw the pieces no one was bothered and if they fell at our feet they didn't roll like a crayon does.

Order a kid's plate from the airline so they don't have to eat the adult fare- and also their meal will come first.

Just playing with the headphones was a big treat for our guys and entertained them well much longer than some of the toys!

Do let them stretch their legs, take a trip to see the "kitchen" etc.

If you are in business class there is plenty of room to play on the floor in front of the seats. Hopefully you will take up a whole row with your family so no one will be next to you.

If it's a little girl, would she enjoy some new clothes for a doll- like pajamas, or a costume? Imaginary play is really big at age 4. My little boys love to pretend to cook. I might bring a small pot to do some cooking on their seats?

Captive audience- does he/she know all her numbers or letters? Might be interested in learning to write their own name or last name?

I always bring a small spiral notebook because it's hard enough to draw and color on and has a built in spot for a small pen. We play the "guess what I'm drawing" game sometimes.

Well, got you started at any rate.

[jdbob]

It took me a while to remember which episode this was from, but here's the baby on the plane: http://www.certsoft.com/BabyonPlane.mp4