Tips on getting through a 12 hour flight and then jetlag!

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1sttimemom

Registered User
Hi Mamas,

I am taking my to-be 1 yr old back to Canada (15 hrs time difference) this summer by myself and am already getting (very) nervous.

Would appreciate any tips/suggestions on how to (as best as I can) get through the flight without going insane and how to deal with the jetlag!

We're taking a late afternoon flight, arriving early afternoon.

Thanks all!
 
1) patience
2) patience
3) patience
4) small bottle of vodka

lol, seriously, it isn't fun with a young one, but it is doable and may not be as bad as you expect.

when i took my two to canada a few months ago, i was VERY well prepared/

1) each child got a small insulated bag of snacks. raisins, rice crackers, indiv. wrapped cheese, a couple of sucking candies, and a couple of bite-sized chocolates, and an apple.

2) each child had their own backpack that they could pull themselves, and did! inside each bag, there were 3 toys that they chose themselves, their "little blanket", and a small pillow. also, there was an A4 sized zip bag that i prepared ahead of time, they knew there were surprises, but they didn't know what was in the bag. in each bag, i put a notebook, a small pack of crayons, 10 sheets of stickers, 5 ink stamps, a small water colour paint and brush, a reading book and some foam stickers. I also packed their homework from school, so they could do some on the plane.

3) each child had a small hand-held "tv" that i loaded their own movies/tv shows onto. they also had their own headphones.

4) in my carry on bag, i had a change of clothes for each of the kids as well as for myself. i also had their pyjamas, so that they changed into them on the plane.

5) i also packed a new toy (still in packaging) for each child. they were allowed to open them just before we boarded (so we could throw the packaging away before boarding.)

we flew through BJ and had a 2 hour stop over there. there is a small area in the airport that has a playground and my kids were able to run around and play between flights.

all of this might not apply to you, but i found it to be a great time and not so difficult... i actually found it much more stressful when daddy came back to hk with us... i wasn't as well prepared, and i felt it.

only other advice? do NOT fly china eastern or air china!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
LOL .. Thanks Cara. I am flying CX. We actually live in BJ now, so we're flying through HK (stopover of 4 days). She will be 12 months, so I am nervous that nothing will keep her attention for long.

I have started putting her in pj's every night ... since I can't exactly do our bedtime routine of bath, bottle, book. So I'm doing what I can to give her bedtime visual cues. The pj's and putting a small toy on her crib that I will pin/hang onto the bassinette when it's bedtime.

I'm thinking of buying her a small gift (wrapped) to open every 2 hours. I am trying to be prepared for the worst! LOL
 
Honestly, flying with my one year old was by far the worst age - I have flown solo with her at six months, one year, one year and 8 months and two years and two months all on long haul flights (to toronto). At one year old, she was not interested in the tv and she wasn't eating much so food didn't interest her. I can't think of any toys that were useful - I brought a handful, but they didn't hold her interest. She has a favorite blanket which was a necessity and I used my ergo baby carrier to try and calm her and help her go to sleep. The flight we were on at one year was full to capacity and we only had one seat. I think if we had a spare seat, it would have made things much easier. Are you sure she will be able to use a bassinet? I wasn't able to use one at that age as my daughter was over the age and/or weight limit.
As for jet lag - it's the worst. Best advice is to have someone on the other side who can help you. I was doing it alone and it was painful to be so tired and have to care for a little one. I haven't found a good solution for jet lag except to wait it out. If you are staying long enough, a week or so of jet lag won't matter.
In my experience, the timing of your flight is good - most of the flight you should be asleep - and once you arrive, you can stay up until Canadian bedtime and hope that you can get to sleep.
Hope this info isn't too discouraging! Best thing to think about is that it is a relatively short amount of time in the grand scheme of things.
 
Great thread. I will be flying to Toronto this summer with my then 2.5 yo and 5 mo old. Yikes! Carang had some great ideas.
The basinet will be too small for her by then. Still use it, just for keeping your things in. Or like we do, use the tray it sits on. Anyway, the key is bulkhead seats.
The last time we went to Toronto, my son was 4.5 mo. Jet lag was awful both ways. He was so confused he cried hysterically and inconsolably. One trick I did learn was to let him play in the middle of the night if he wanted, don't fight against the jet lag. Little by little it will get better.
 
yep, i didn't fight the jet lag either.

i was lucky, when i arrived in vancouver, the kids were so excited to see my mum that they went to the playground and had an early dinner @ 4pm. i went to bed at 2pm and i woke up at 7pm, just after she had put the kids to bed. i stayed up until about 9 or 10 and went back to bed. i woke up at 5am, when my son woke up. my daughter, on the other hand, slept until 9:30am.... she has NEVER slept that late in her life!

i made sure that the kids had a quiet time during the day and i let them sleep in until they woke on their own. if you try to fight the jetlag, then you are just asking for stress, trouble and not much fun.
 
Thanks all! I was wondering if I should fight the jet lag by getting all strict with the schedule or just go with the flow. Did you all do your best to keep the kids up during the day (with reasonable time for naps) so they'd sleep better at night or.... ?

@ nino - yes, I am dreading flying with her for those exact reasons. At one year, they aren't attached to anything really and they just want to explore. She can have the bassinette going, but on the way back I don't think they'll give it to us. So I will be the bed :) On the way back, we will have Daddy with us who cannot really sleep on planes anyway :P
 
One of the biggest reasons we got the iPad was for flights, there are loads of kids apps and we put on there some disney movies and elmo. My son doesn't usually get to watch TV much (only a little bit on weekends as a special treat) so that worked well for the flight. we're doing US trip in April and I also already bought some not opened yet toys and hid some other toys so that he has lots of "new" stuff to play with. My carry on is basically just a lot of books and toys.
 
I have an iPad and some apps do keep her attention for a bit, as do the Dr. Seuss e-books. Any recommendations of apps/toys for a 1 yr old? Thanks hkmom1!
 
no, do not fight the jet lag. it will just make you grumpy, the child grumpy and just cause too much stress all around. i, too, let my kids play quietly in the middle of the night if that was when they woke up... but i only let them play for about 1.5-2 hours, then it was "nap" time.... and they'd sleep again from 4 or 5am until 7am ish....
every day it got a little bit better.
 
thank you for sharing, we are going to visit family in Toronto / Vancouver next month and baby will be 6mth by then. to be honest really not looking forward to the long flight but his great-grandparents would be delighted to see him and we don't want them to miss the chance, we have blessed to still have them around in their 90's.

we did a trial flight with him 2 weeks ago to bangkok and he did very well, but for the canada trip we are concern on the time different not only from hong kong, but also between toronto & vancouver, once we get over one time zone it's time to switch again... any good suggestion for multiple time zone change? he's a good sleeper through the night, though taking very short naps only during the day.

also, since he's relatively young i don't think toys / ipad etc can keep him occupied too much, and these few days he has really started testing his high pitched voice and seems to be enjoying it, we are afraid that he will be screaming in the flight, any suggestion to stop this? he doesn't seem to understand "no"... sorry a bit off topic here...
 
For crying/upset six month old - I had my ergo and either walked around plane a bit or just stood in aisle and rocked back and forth. She ended up falling asleep in ergo, so I just kept her in it to sleep. Of course, this method was calming for her when we werent on an airplane too, so it may not work if the baby is not used to it. I found traveling at six months very different (and much easier) than one year.
 
we are flying back this summer with my 3 year old and my 8 month year old to the nyc. i am torn about the bulkhead seats as i like putting my bags under the seats in front of me. my 8 month year old will be too heavy/big for the bassinet so we cannot use it....do you think it's worth it to request bulkhead? i usually just request the seats together by the window so that my so can play to the left or right of me....

thoughts?
 
We just flew on a fairly long flight. On the way there, we got bulkhead seats and I hated them. First, somehow there was a constant stream of people going to the toilet which was both noisy and bright. Second, the two aisle seats don't have raise-able armrests and my two year old daughter likes to sleep with her head on my lap, so I had to move around a lot. Third, the tv was attached to the wall and I found this too far for me or my daughter to see comfortably. I also worry about my daughter hurting herself playing with the tray tables that swing out from the armrests. And everyone used the space in front of us as a corridor to get from one side of the plane to the other, regardless of where our feet were, we were eating, sleeping, etc. On our way home, we didn't have the bullhead and I definitely liked it better.
With older kids, I definitely prefer not the bulkhead. With babies who can have a bassinet, definitely prefer the bulkhead.
 
Peekaboo Barn and Peekaboo Wild are both great for 1+. Only ones which my son liked for a while. He now loves Monkey Lunchbox aged nearly 2.
 
carang said:
yes, 6 months is a walk in the park compared to the 1-2 year age bracket!
Click to expand...

Oh no! My 3 months old was so cranky when i brought her back home. That was not even 4 hours flight. I am thinking of bringing her (she now close to 6 months) back home again when she's one? Looks like it is not a good idea. :(
 
the problem with the 1-2 age is that they are explorers by nature. they are not ok to just sit for 15 hours at a time. there are only so many things you can do to distract them...some kids are walking by the age of 1 (my two walked at 10 months), and they want to do just that... walk. they also like to assert their independence at this age and are not always as easily comforted and pacified.
 
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