I am taking my about to be one year old daughter on some long haul flights soon and I am really starting to panic about it. I have never taken a child this age before, she is a wriggler, not yet walking, but crawling everywhere. Our journey is going to take us over 3 flights and 24 hours of air/airport time.
So far I have bought a musical toy cell phone and a bead toy, they are going to get about 20 minutes of distraction. I need some more ideas! don't say phenergan, it's not like I haven't thought about it

anyone got some great tips for me? stories of how well it went for them when they did it

TIA

I spent most of the journey in the galley between the loos at the back. The key thing is to not care about anyone else, as bad as that sounds.

That's doesn't sound bad You have to remember that while it seems like a lifetime to you, it is in fact ony a few short hours of everyone else's lifetime. By all means do the best you can to distract etc, but even if it all goes horribly wrong, the worst that can happen is that you become a dinner party story amongst some for a while. Nothing wrong with that!

Toys, snacks, and any tricks you have to get her to nap!!

When you have your stops, let her go nuts and burn off some energy in the airport.

Does the airline have good inflight entertainment? Some of them have excellent on demand kids movies/tv shows and music.

Good luck, you will survive. honest...

I am sure we are still being talked about for the one 8 hour flight that AJ managed to kick the seat in front just as the passenger was nodding off... we saw him go to do it and just couldnt stop him in time... we also got a couple of shitty comments cos he escaped and ran down the aisle... just put your thick skin on for a few hours....

we have an 8 hour flight coming up and we are very worried about Lily on it - though I guess in a way it is good that the flight is at 11am, she will nap for a wee part of it, playhouse disney for some - but that is still a looooonnnnng day (to then arive at night time, so trying to get her to sleep will be fun).

SO i don't envy the 24 hourness of it BBB!

Lily will be fine Felicis, 3 is a good age, last time we did it when DS1 was that age he was fine.
I am mentally blocking out the fact there are also another 2 children coming with me, I am just assuming they will be fine, they better be anyway DH can deal with them!

I like having some cheap disposables - so you can chuck when they get boring (and so you don't mind when they dissapear under the seats!)

Little thing of bubbles (of course declared as liquid) and or balloons esp for the transit time.
pipecleaners - to bend into shapes, and wrap around clothing/hair, make into people/animals/ squares/circles/flowers
Pegs - to clip onto everyone and everything (clothes, blankets seats)
some of the work/swipe tag retractable string things - to clip onto toys or to just enjoy pulling out and retracting (found 6 for $2 at the $2 shop)
stickers - cheap and cheerfull and lots of them! Sticking them into little mini notebooks always seems more fun.
little mini cocktail umbrellas (put some sticky tape on the ends so they aren't sharp)
Some sort of posting toy - a little container with holes cut out - home made letters/envelopes? you could make these first - with stamps/drawing. and then post them or deliver them over and over again. Then you can play the other way by pushing things through the holes to them.

Go nuts in the $2 shop! or Kmart have some good toys in the "pocket money" section.

And don't forget the stock standard oldies for when she is scratchy and needs to sit still - "this little piggy" and "round and round the garden", peek-a-boo and pattacake (maybe too young for that one!)

For your older kids, we had great fun with a pack of playing cards and a small roll of tape and sticking them together into card houses(the cards were free from the airline, I didn't think of this one!)

Have fun!

The only other thing I would add is to make sure you take plenty of snacks and drinks. I've found the kids pretty good on long haul flights because you are right there and can pay attention to them the whole time.

Getting them to move around as much as possible in the airport can be good too.

oh and get onto the plane last, not first like you usually can.

Balloons are great too, they take no space and you can inflate them when you're in transit somewhere.

If your little one is into watching dvds, a portable dvd player (with long battery life!) with some Baby Einstein/Brainy Baby-type dvds can be great. Most on-flight entertainment is for slightly older children. Cathay planes have power points (UK-type)on all seats so you can plug the portable dvd player during the flight, saving the battery.

Research the airports you're travelling through - some have play areas for little ones (like Hong Kong). I found a stopover for a few hours enabled little legs to get tired running around the play area, rather than running around the plane

Pick your airlines carefully - some are great with kids (like AirNZ), others hopeless. Also, airlines all have different policies regarding bassinets - do check on their websites.

Try and get night flights so your bub is more likely to sleep and less likely to want to crawl everywhere.

Check out this blog for some true horror stories about travelling with children, if you dare!

http://www.alittlepregnant.com/alittlepregnant/2010/08/come-fly-with-me.html

I figure that nothing your own children can do could possibly be worse than what some of these parents went through, and it does give you an idea of what to take along with you in your carry-on luggage (mainly many changes of clothes, snacks, toys, formula and spare nappies).

Good luck!

hahaha, they are fab! This one is the best in terms of advice:

Ours loved audio books on a CD discman (or you could put them onto an ipod) we bought some special Sony kids headphones so they fit properly. I really recommend investing in some because the plane ones slip off and my kids always got really annoyed with them.

I bought sticker books and colouring in books, and some food they wouldn't normally get like chippies.

We tend to read lots and lots of books on the plane too.

Lots of good ideas Cookie Monster!

LOL Felicis. That's my philosophy too. It's going to suck the big one, but it's only one day and then you're on holiday!

Check out what there is to do in the airport on your stop overs. Some like Changi and Hong Kong have heaps of things, playgrounds, swimmming pools etc for transit passengers which may tire your child out enough to get them to sleep on the next leg.

We took our 4 month old daughter to Singapore (11 hrs) recently and it was fine until the last 10 minutes. She got a lot of fuss from the airline staff (we were on Singapore Airlines) and there was quite a lot for her to look at with people walking past, the food we were eating etc! We are preparing for a 7 hour flight to Japan in December when she is 10 months old and I am feeling much happier about the whole process - remember you never have to see the other people on the plane again!

Thanks for the great advice, there are some awesome ideas here.

I fully expect it to be hell, so I am hoping that it can only be better for what I have psyched myself up for

People have told me so many horror stories about other passengers being rude to them and getting annoyed, that is the part that worries me the most to be honest, need to work on that thick skin part I think!

How about a snappy reply - at least the 1 year old ruining YOUR flight doesn't know what it is doing, unlike the adult currently ruining MINE! :evil glare:

Hi! Some great advise here. I'll have to save it incase we ever fly somewhere again!!

I recently went to SA with my two kiddies, DD just about 3 and DS just about 1 - 48 hours of traveling both ways, on my own. And it was a peace of cake!! I've found DD was brilliant most of the time. She did get a bit grumpy at the end of it. 1 is a difficult age, cause they just want to be off all the time. Book a bassinet if you can. I saw some enormous kids in bassinets - they must've been close to 2. (it was with Emirates) It also means you've got more space infront of you cause you're at the bulk head. We were at the window seats for 3 of the 4 flights. I had my handluggage at the end of the aisle and he played around on the floor for ages. Or he was buckled into my seat and I sat on the floor - that amused him for long! And they can't kick the seat of the people in front of them. That seams to be the biggest problem of kids on planes. And the chances that you're between other parents with kids are a lot more - and they'r a lot more understanding and helpfull!

Snacks are brilliant. It keeps them busy and they're not always hungry when the food comes around. DD slept through all her meals. I just filled up his bottle at the little water fountain. A lot of the time he wanted his bottle NOW, and the cabin crew couldn't deal with him immediately. I'm lucky he drinks his bottle cold. Have enough sets of clothes. And change him into jammies when its night time.

Don't take too much stuff - I didn't use 3/4's of the stuff I took, and it was just another thing I had to carry around. I guess if you have DH and two older kids with you, you can take more things. I just found it easier (coming back) to have minimum amount of things. I had a couple of books to read - for both kids, crayons, stickers (loads of them) and a little notebook, 2 little cars for them to play with, 2 small containers of playdough and 2 random gifts wrapped up.

I've found that once on the plane they're great, cause you're there all the time. And lower your expectations of how they should behave, DS and DD crawled up and down the stairs of the business class for about 2 hours. It was fine cause I just sat there and stopped them when they went to far. I didn't get to stressed out (too tired by then) to worry about it, and I think because we "didn't pick any fights" they were a lot easier and well behaved in general.

Good luck!! I had the most amazing people with me on the planes that helped me A LOT and that did make a huge difference!

Oh - I think it may have been mentioned, but just in case: have a change of clothes for both of you.
When DS and I flew to France in May, the little girl behind us got sick and threw up everywhere. She and her mum had to spend the rest of the flight (and disimbark) wrapped in Cathay Pacific blankets... Not fun...
I was VERY grateful for our spare clothes when BA lost our suitcase (which took 5 days to arrive) and I didn't want to go shopping straight on arrival, after 40 hrs travelling with a 20-months old (who was brilliant).

Lots of good tips here. We just got back from the UK and the travelling was hell. In some ways easier than when we did it a year ago though. I found that last year C wouldn't wear the headphones at all which severely limited the entertainment value of the Wiggles!

One of the hardest parts of the journey for us was passport control and security, because on the outward journey they took the buggy off us in Dunedin, and we had to make it all the way through Dndn, Auckland and Hong Kong without it. It was a collapsible one that fits in the overhead lockers. On the way back, I printed out the AirNZ webpage that specifically said we could take that kind of buggy on a 777....and lo and behold we did and it was SO MUCH EASIER! So my big tip is take an 'umbrella style' buggy and don't let them take it off you.

Oh, and check out the bassinet rating for your airline - we found the Singapore bassinets could take a much heavier child than the AirNZ ones (we didn't care that C's feet stuck out the end, he was asleep, hooray!). But don't get yourself stuck in the bulkhead seats if you aren't going to use the bassinet - the armrests don't go up, so you can't get your child as comfortable for sleeping plus you have to fold away the screens for landing and takeoff, which you obviously don't have to do in other seats.

Yes, that's a very important thing - only book bulkhead seats when you are going to use the bassinet, otherwise the armrests are a pain.
Also, AirNZ says that the bassinets only fit children up to 11.8kg or so - but when I flew to Perth with DS it was offered to me, even though he was nearly 13kg at the time. The crew jsut said it was ok...
The bassinet on Cathay would take up to 20kg, but the length was still pretty tight.
Air Canada will not let a child who can sit travel in a bassinet. It means any child above 6-7 months has to travel on a parent's lap.
Oh, and don't hesitate to make a nuisance of yourself, insisting on the pram to be there at the gate on arrival.