Long Flight with a 3 year old

If you can take a red eye you would probably be best off so she can sleep most of the way. I brought my now 18 yr old on a 7 hour plane trip when he was 3 and just OMG. He talked and talked, and played and went on and on for 6 hours. He fell asleep an hour before we landed. By the end of the trip everyone on the plane knew his name. I had plenty of toys and things for him to do but he was just bored.

I traveled from Dallas tx to Venice Italy with a 2 yr old, again when he was 4 and again when he was 5. Try as hard as you can to get your flight during bedtime. My flights were always at about 6-9am and my son was awake the WHOLE time!! So if you think your little one will sleep in a strange place then def go at night. But if she has a hard time sleeping anywhere but her own bed it might be better to go during the day because there is nothing worse than a cranky, sleep deprived toddler. Instead of bringing toys from home, go to the dollar store or walmart and get all new Noise Free toys so it will be something brand new, she has never seen and it will keep her interested longer. An idea is wrap each individual gift and give her a new one every few hours. The unwrapping and a new toy will be real entertaining for her. Carseat and stroller are tough. I would get a lil umbrella stroller, and bring her carseat. you can put them

(cont) both under the plane. the carseat at the desk, the stroller at the planes door. Bring favorite snacks and put them in small siploc baggies. Bring small trash bags, the flight atendents never come by often enough. And trust me! Pack a change of clothes for you and your LO in your carry on, my 5yr old spilled his OJ on my legs and I had to wear wet pants for the next couple hours til they dried, then had to wear them through LAX to SLC to RNO.

Bring at least a couple old favorites, and a couple of new toys. Coloring books, story books, electronics. Bring plenty of snacks. You can check the TSA guidelines before packing them, but as long as it's not liquid they let you bring most things. (We just flew with crackers, beef jerky, oranges, and pistachios in our carryon... most snack foods are ok.)

Ok so I have gone on a flight with DS1 at 1yr. DS1 and DS2 at 2yrs and 4months and in 2 weeks I am talking DS1, DS2, and DD ages 5yrs, 3yrs, and 2yrs,(with my moms helps). All the trip are from ca to fl or fl to ca. Its not that bad!!! be calm and you can get through it. LOTS of snacks! Lots of toys. Some favorites and some new. If you can gift wrap a new toy. It will takeher a min to unwrap the new toy so thats one more min of peace. if she plays card games like go fish. I use kid headphone so that you dont have to fix them every 2 min. I dont use their carseats on the plane. I bought a CARES Harness. (look it up on amazon. they also have the best price to buy one) Its awesome. It is an added strap that turns the plane seatbelt into a 4 point harness. So DD gets to seat like a grown up. I have more tips and what not Because I have reading every tip I can get my hands on. So few free to PM me.