Sleeping arrangements for children on night flights?

[Liquorice]

I'm flying back to the UK with my 1 year old for Christmas. It turns out there are no bassinets available on the flights we booked; both are night flights.

I am wondering how other people manage sleeping arrangements with children on overnight flights without a bassinet (soon we won't be able to squeeze him into one anyway), and whether it is better to take a day flight?

I have tried having him sleep on/beside me on a previous flight, but he didn't settle into it well at all.

Any advice or experience?

 

[MommyTo3]

Did you get a seat for him? Mine slept in their own seat at that point (head on my lap, pillows, blankets, etc.), never fit in a bassinet past 6 months anyway, at least not the airlines we flown at that age. There aren't many other options, unless you want to take a car seat on board, some children do well with that.

 

[carang]

no way would i EVER take a day flight if a night one is available! imagine trying to entertain a 1 year old for 10+ hours!!!
not fun, for anyone, parent, child or flight neighbour....

 

[Newbie_hk]

We have been lucky that even if we weren't able to book a bassinet or an extra seat, the flight attendants were nice enough to give us three seats provided the plan wasn't full. We'd request at check-in & even as we board. Your child might end up sleeping in your arms but you will be grateful for the extra space.

It also depends on what kind of sleeper your child is. If she /he sleeps in any condition (consider cabin lights on & in flight announcements) then you might get lucky with an evening flight. If your 1 year old is easily entertained, walking up the aisle & being passed on to flight attendants (I've seen this !!!) then you might be better off with a day time flight. Just bring LOTS of entertainment.

 

[nicolejoy]

Cara - I'm the opposite, I tried a night flight to Australia once (it's only 9 hrs though) and found that baby slept, but I didn't - and when we landed at 7am, I had to be doing stuff all day and couldn't rest - I was a wreck!! After that, I've always taken the day flights. Yes you have to entertain the kids, but they always nap a little, plus when we land we can just go straight to bed and be refreshed the next day.

This Christmas though, we're going back to Australia and we're going to try the night flight again. I have two kids now - age 16 months (when we fly) and 3. They are both great sleepers, generally, so I'm hoping they sleep the whole flight back, and we can too. My 16 month old has dwarfism and because of that will still fit in the bassinet (there are benefits to dwarfism!!), and we have reserved the bassinet row - so hopefully that works out. I know it can always fall through at the last minute... The 3 year old has her own seat.

I'm not holding my breath for it to be a great flight, but I figure it's worth trying it again... plus it fit better into our schedule this time...

(oh and Liquorice, my daughter doesn't sleep well when she is held either. I have to put her down for her to sleep. So if we DON'T get the bassinet, it is going to be a long night, I'm sure!!)

 

[carang]

when i took my two the first time, it was over 36 hours door-to-door. we got stuck on the tarmac on a plane for over 5 hours because of a blizzard. we could not get off, because it was a diverted flight and they didn't have security at the airport because they weren't expecting us. my kids were 2 and 5 weeks. i did: hk-tokyo-portland, or-vancouver-calgary-saskatoon (where we were diverted to)-regina.

i only WISH that it had been a night flight from tokyo to portland. it wasn't. so, my kids were awake right up until we were diverted to saskatoon. it was an absolute nightmare. i was by myself and so beyond tired, it took me hours to fall asleep.

the second time we did it, i took my helper. we had an evening flight to shanghai and then an overnight there. we were on the plane bright and early the next day (7 or 8 am flight). there was ZERO inflight entertainment for my then 4 & 2 year olds. i had to entertain them for 12 hours. then try to keep them awake for the next 3 legs of the trip once we landed in vancouver. by which point they were exhausted, i was exhausted and extremely grumpy.

the last time i did it, we left hk around 10am to beijing, then we had a couple of hours in beijing and direct to vancouver from there. my kids were now 5.5 & 3.5. because it was a 10-12 hour flight, and we borded at 3pm in the afternoon, they fell asleep at what would have been about 8:30-9pm our time. luckily this trip, we stopped in vancouver (no onward flights). when we got there, i was exhausted, but my kids were not too bad. they got some playtime in the playground with grandma and grandpa(we arrived in the afternoon) and i got to nap. the kids then woke up around 430am or so... the jetlag didn't affect them to badly... so i was able to recover much faster.

entertaining 2 kids for 12-36 hours in a small, confined space.. where they need to be quiet so they don't disturb others is NOT fun...

but it will depend on a couple of factors:
1) which direction you are travelling
2) how many timezones you cross
3) age of your kids
4) how well they sleep
5) if you will have help when you arrive at your destination to help you get over the exhaustion from the trip.

the length of the trip and the jetlag we all suffer going to canada is one of the reasons i will not go for less than 3 weeks...preferably more.

 

[Biggie]

We bought a seat for our then 18mth old last time we flew to US. He is never a good sleeper, but got so tired he fell asleep. But he slept lying down with head on my leg (instead of sitting in his seat) so really not much fun for me coz I can't move. But it's just one "night" and you'll get through it.

 

[nicolejoy]

I think also part of it is whether you are able to nap when you get there. When I first did the overnight flight, my daughter was only about 7 weeks old and was feeding frequently so I wasn't able to nap easily. It took me about 3-4 days to catch up on sleep!! This time, my two are older and can be looked after by other people easier so I should be able to nap when we get there...

 

[alfa]

I always fly during the day as i just cant cope with night flights and the lack of sleep.My daughter is very goon on long haul tho- last time she was 20 months we took an ipad and some new toys she hasnt seen before and she was fine. i find she was too big for the basinet at 10 months so never bothered with that. we got her a seat every time and i think that was a key to successs for both night and day flights. Why arent they any basinets? I assume you are flying BA? The have this great seats like Baby Bjorn for older kids instead of bassinets. Cant you ask to go on a different flight so they have thenm availiable? id not just take baby ergo or bjorn so you can strap the little one and its quite likely he will sleep on your chest and you dont have to worry about holding him etc.Plus it means yo have free hands to eat it will be ok.Ive done that flight 4 times on my own and althought i was exhausted it is doable

 

[Liquorice]

Thanks for your replies.

I was hoping that we wouldn't have to buy him his own seat for another year. On this particular flight, we can't really get him his own seat because we are flying business so too expensive. Anyway, the seat configuration is too separate for him to be near me if he's in a different seat. I doubt the company would pay for an additional seat for him. One thing we could do is get 3 economy seats.

Alfa, its Cathay and they only have 2 bassinets on that flight and both of them are booked already. Its our own fault because we changed our flight details quite late.The baby bjorn idea is a good one. I'll take that anyway because, yes, it will free up my hands at least so will be useful even when we aren't sleeping. I've flown on my own with him at 5 months, but different then because he just slept all the way. Now he is into everything I know it will be exhausting!

Still weighing up night flight versus day flight. If he sleeps former is surely better...but so worried he won't.

Carang - feel very lucky I don't have your journey to do!