A travel influencer has shared a genius hack you can try to ensure your children sleep on a flight, which will no doubt be music to every parent's ears.
Brittany, from Vancouver, Canada, is a mum of a two-year-old son, and has completed 50 trips since his birth with her partner Phillipe Fernandez.
The content creator, who regularly shares her trips online, has now issued advice to other parents wanting to take their kids on a flight, having come up with a simple but effective trick.
She said that one of her biggest anxieties was getting her son to sleep on a flight, and has since shared what she does to ensure he catches those all-important Zzzs.
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In a YouTube video, Brittany reeled off some of the techniques she had tried in the past - which included packing a portable sound machine, having books and blankets - but none of them seemed to work every time.
In the video, she said: “As he got older, he got his own seat on the plane.
“What became clear to me on flights where I needed him to fall asleep was, yes, I do need to pack all of those items that I just mentioned...
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“But what is also crucially important these days is that toddlers need their own bed or some kind of place for them to fall asleep and stay asleep.
“My lap or just the seat itself doesn't cut it anymore.”
The 'perfect toddler airplane bed'
Essentially, it all boils down to creating the 'perfect toddler airplane bed' for your child - and realising whatever way works specifically for them, as there are a few options.
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For instance, if your child sleeps well in the car, sometimes you can actually bring their car seat onto the plane.
However, Brittany did mention some logistics that weren’t ideal, and it's obviously worth checking with the specific airline ahead of travelling.
She said: “There are a few big cons for me with this option - it's annoying to lug around and there's potential for kicking the seat in front of you which is not fun to deal with.”
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Brittany also suggested sitting in the extra legroom seats where there are no other rows in front of you.
She added: “If you're okay with your toddler being on the floor, you could choose to sit in this row.
“Bring some blankets and pillows with you on the plane and make your toddler a little floor bed.
“The cons here being that if there is any turbulence, you'll have to wake them up and buckle them back into their seat.
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"It's not the safest.
“It can be pretty bright and noisy in my experience because it tends to be closer to where the flight attendants are preparing food and people are going to the bathroom.”
The method Brittany swears by
Brittany said the option she 'likes' and uses mostly these days is to create a makeshift bed between the seats in the footwell, using an inexpensive inflatable foot rest.
"Bring your own toddler bed onto the airplane," she said, explaining that there are 'all kinds of toddler beds on the market' designed to 'extend your toddler's airplane seat'.
But rather than buying specialist equipment, she has a 'basic, inflatable foot rest from Amazon', which takes a couple of minutes to blow up.
She squeezes this in footwell, clipping jumpers and muslins around it to create a little canopy that blocks out the light.
Absolutely genius!
Mia Williams