No matter what you read on flying the red-eye with kids, the reality is, it'll always be a roll of the dice.
Every child is different, and every flight, you'll have a different child (temperament). We can't really pretend to have a 3-step how-to for a successful flight. But we can share personal experiences with different outcomes.
Red-eye flight from HONOLULU, HI to:
LOS ANGELES, CA // Flight time: 5 hours // Liv is: 7 months
Fell asleep in baby carrier before boarding. Swaying and singing while shading her head with a blanket helped. Transferred her across one of our laps easily and stayed tucked asleep during the flight, even though we forgot to put on her socks to keep her warm.
BRISBANE, AUS // Flight time: 10 hours // Liv is: almost 1 year
Cradled her to sleep before boarding using the same methods as above, except she didn't transfer into our laps well and cried. Might have been due to the delayed flight and steady stream of passengers. Thankfully, that drowned out her wails, and we continued bouncing her from our seats. By take off, she fell asleep with a bottle. Stirred a few times but eventually fell into a deep slumber for the rest of the flight! About 9 of the 10 hour flight, to be exact. No idea how, but we didn't question it. Just chucked it up to luck.
DENVER, CO // Flight time: 7 hours // Liv is: 1 year 3 months
Liv's older and more active. She's also been walking. Chased her around the gate to tire her out. Knocked out as soon as we took off. But woke up fitfully a few times. Gave her a bottle to soothe her back to sleep. Didn't need to get out of our seats for aisle bouncing. Did notice how much longer she is and how she stretches across both of our laps. A bit uncomfortable positioning–for all of us, but mostly for her. Questioned over the bouts of crying why we didn't get her her own seat, but then quickly remembered how great free things are (children under 2, sitting in an adult's lap, are free).
LOS ANGELES, CA // Flight time: 5 hours // Liv is: 1 year 3 months
Probably the most challenging red-eye. Fed her way too many fries before boarding. Thought it might be good for her to have a full belly. She fell asleep right away and also woke up right away, thanks to those fries–which she puked up within the first hour. Spent most of the flight cleaning barf, digging for spare clothes in the dark and wondering why we bought those fries. Never doing that again nor will we be eating fries anytime soon!
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