Overseas trip with a 3.5 year old?

[mim1]

We're thinking about going to the US in 12 months time and Josh will be 3 1/2 by then. We've just had a holiday in Queensland and the 2 hour plane trip was dreadful and so we're a bit concerned about how we'd manage a day of travel each way.

Can you answer the following questions if you've done this?

1. How did your child manage the flight? Did you use phenergan (or similar) or just wait and see.

2. What about the time zone change issue? My ds wakes at the same time each day (give or take 1/2 hour). How easy was it to force your child to change time zones in both directions? Did it ruin the first few days of your holidays and the first few days at home?

Thanks!

[mim1]

anyone?

[Refresh]

We flew to Germany via Dubai and Singapore last year with our 8 year old, 4 year old, 20 month old and I was 7 months pregnant.

We had no probs whatsoever, the plane trips were great...there was heaps to keep them occupied and having night flights was good because the 2 younger ones slept alot.

I would not consider using phenergan :no:

Our kids adapted to the time changes ALOT easier than I did! It didn't take long for them to get into routine. After the trip home was worse than the trip there which was good because we were in our own home.

I would plan to have the first couple of days after you arrive fairly free to sleep and whatnot.

Have fun! I am sure you will have a great time. We were so proud of our kids on our trip.:goodvibes:

[2littlemonkeys]

we flew to fiji so time different wasnt that much only 3 hours and flight time 5 hours but it does make a difference it took us a few days to adapt so 8 months later we flew to perth again only a 5 hour flight and 3 hour time difference so about a week before trip we changed our routine to fit into perth time so when we got there we would be already adapted it worked really well , as for the
phenergan it is proscribed as a hayfever medication not a sleeping tablet so i would say not to use it but i know sometimes traveling with small children can be hard if you absolutly feel you need it i would try it out first before you go as it can have opposite effects sometimes and make them over active instead of sleeping if you go on night flight and take plenty of things to keep him amused im sure you wil be fine , also by that age he will be into dvds so maybe a portable dvd player would be a good investment

good luck

[Refresh]

Depending on who you fly with, they may have individual movie screens in fornt of each seat....we flew Emirates and they had playstation type games too!

[2littlemonkeys]

oh a playstation how come i wasnt invited on your trip
hahahahaaa
''jokes''

[Refresh]

lol, it was great!

[NonnyMouse]

Did you use phenergan (or similar) or just wait and see.

If you consider using Phenergen PLEASE do a trial run on your child first!!! For some kids it actually hypes them up rather than making them drowsy. It was like this for our DD when she was 2, on a 3.5 hour flight, and instead of settling in she screamed blue murder for the first three hours before finally vomiting and then falling into a deep sleep.

We only used the phenergan on docs recommendation, as DD was a very active kid who didn't handle sitting still very well at all, so we were told it would help her to stay calmer while in the air.

Not fun for anyone on board with us that day... and by the time I arrived at our holiday destination I was an absolute nervous wreck from the stress of the flight.