How to Help Kids Sleep on a Plane | Flying Long Haul with Toddlers

Last Updated on February 28, 2024 by Suzy McCullough

Sleeping on a plane is not my thing. I have been on more flights than I can remember and some of them have been overnight. I am yet to manage more than one hour of sleep on any of these flights. My son does not function well on little sleep so I was incredibly anxious about our return flight from Walt Disney World Florida.

I did a lot of research and flying back meant flying at night. There was no other thing for it, if I wanted us to go to Florida it had to involve an overnight flight back home. Well aside from staying that is but America doesn’t allow that for too long.

The main thing for me about trying to sleep is the lack of comfort. Flying economy means a seat that is not sleep-inducing. I was gifted a product to help with this in return for a review and I am so pleased to tell you that Jamie slept for virtually the whole flight. He was comfortable and I put that all down to our TravelSnug.

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What is a TravelSnug?

TravelSnug is basically a very soft and fleecy carry-on cushion that your child sits in. I say ‘in’ because when sat down the TravelSnug was just a bit bigger than Jamie. It has cushioned sides almost all the way around for them to rest their heads on. Plus it has been designed so that it is easy to still put their lap belt safely around them. The TravelSnug basically helps shrink the seat down to their size as it envelopes them in their own comfy environment.

The TravelSnug is lightweight and easy to carry. There is a carry strap that goes around the blanket with a loop that makes it easy to carry. It also comes with a lovely soft blanket for them to have over themselves, which rolls up inside. We struggled to get the blanket to roll back to how it looked before we opened it. However, with the carry straps, I just rolled it up and tightened the straps on it.

How to Help Kids Sleep on a Plane | Flying Long Haul with Kids | TravelSnug — It stayed with him at all times. He didn’t want anyone to take it!

What about baggage restrictions?

Virgin allowed us to carry it on with no baggage restrictions (we all had our own bigger hand luggage to carry on). I can’t speak for other airlines however I understand that there have been no issues with this as it is an aid for children.

If your child is going on a short-haul flight and you want to take this with you it does roll up small enough to count as their hand luggage. However, I doubt they will let you take it as a second piece of their hand luggage, for short-haul flights. Which is crazy as they are going to be sitting on them and not putting them up on the luggage rack.

What Ages are the TravelSnug blankets for?

Jamie is four years old and he had the size for children aged approximately 3 to 6 years. This is Size 2. It does not come any bigger than this, which is a shame. I’ve even had some adults ask me if there is a version big enough for them. The TravelSnug in Size 1 is for children aged 12 months up to 3 years.

(There is a handy guide on their website to help you choose which size is more appropriate for your child or children).

How did the flight go with a TravelSnug?

It went much better than I could even imagine. We immediately sat him in his TravelSnug and he kept moaning that the lights were too bright. Luckily I’d brought a spare eye mask along with me so he soon settled down with it on and looked super comfy.

He was asleep in no time at all and stayed that way until breakfast which was served some hours later. I honestly think that with just the airline pillow and blanket for comfort, he wouldn’t have gone off to sleep so fast. Our flight was at 8 pm which is his normal bedtime, however, he can easily stay up much later (and did all the holiday).

What a blessing! He found it so comfy that he asked to have it again even if he was not going to sleep on a plane.

Where else could you use a TravelSnug?

I would totally recommend taking a TravelSnug on your next coach trip or even on a train journey. Anything to help your kids to be more comfy. Happy child = happy parents.

And finally best of all the TravelSnug can be washed in a machine – it can even be tumble-dried.

If your kid likes to sleep in the dark take along n mask for them. Even if you think they won’t wear one take one. I never thought Jamie would tolerate one and he did.