How to get a busy toddler to sleep on an overnight flight
Trying to get an active little one to sleep on a red-eye or long-haul flight requires exhausting them before boarding and maintaining normal bedtime habits like pajamas and routines. Parents face the difficulty of keeping a busy baby calm in cramped quarters without their usual crib, which prevents the child from settling into deep sleep while held as a lap infant.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1using a baby carrier
- 2maintaining a bedtime routine with pajamas and stories
- 3using a cloth and safety pins to make a light-blocking tent
- 4taking shifts with a partner
- 5stretching wake windows to get the second nap on the plane
- 6keeping the usual schedule unchanged and relying on airport distractions and plane sleep
- 7offering a bottle or breastfeeding during landing to deal with ear pressure
- 8Rocking and holding the child
- 9Letting the child try to self-soothe in the crib
- 10Staying next to the crib during bedtime
- 11Co-sleeping and sitting in the room for hours until they fall asleep
- 12Cold turkey sleep training with timed check-ins and returning children to their beds
- 13Using a dog gate or barrier at the bedroom door
- 14Leaving the house or leaving the bedtime duties to another caregiver
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Oldest 2 have always needed to sleep in my bed all night and have me sit there with them to fall asleep. They take HOURS! To fall asleep, no matter how exhausted they are. They wake up multiple times.”source ↗
“Will scream the house down if I try to leave the room at any point.”source ↗
“How do you have your (very busy) little ones get to sleep on a red eye?”source ↗
“I’m going an overnight international flight with my 9 month old in a few days. I’ll have him bathed and in his pajamas before we leave home, brush his teeth and do the normal bedtime routine. My plan is to tire him out as much as I can before the 11 hour flight and have a carrier that my baby can try to sleep in.”source ↗
“I’m wondering whether I should try to stretch her wake windows a bit that day, for example, have her first nap around 11am and then try to get her second nap on the plane shortly after takeoff.”source ↗
“But I’m not sure if that’s actually a good idea, or if I’ll just end up with an overtired, even fussier baby 😅”source ↗
“Now going down for any sleep is a war.”source ↗
“It takes roughly now 30-45 min of settling with crib attempt, rocking, or holding.”source ↗
“I tried to leave the room tonight as I was reaching breaking point and they screamed for 1.5 hours.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 9Why won't my baby sleep in the crib?
- 5How to get a toddler to sleep alone without hours of bedtime battles
- 2How to sleep and stay calm on long flights?
- 2Is my toddler getting enough sleep on a low sleep schedule?
- 10How to handle puppy night potty breaks in a two story house
- 3How to get a toddler to play by themselves