Flying long haul with babies and toddlers can feel like running a marathon you didn’t sign up for. I say this as someone who has criss‑crossed the world since my twins were just six months old. I’ve had 10‑hour flights with an 18‑month‑old on my lap that went miraculously well… and others where time stood completely still.

From experience, the biggest challenges — in order of impact — are sleep, food, mood, and finding even a shred of comfort.

The truth is, travel with little ones becomes much easier when you focus on controlling the controllable and surrendering the rest. Strategy helps (like choosing — and when necessary, paying for — the right seats), but preparation is your real friend.

Below are five products* that have made a genuinely measurable difference to our long‑haul journeys. These are items I’ve tested across multiple trips, and each one has eased a pain point I know every parent of babies and young children will recognise.

Starting with my favourite of all…

Stokke bed boxes. If you have children 2-5, these are worth every penny. They are dual purpose - a ride on suitcase and a fold out bed for the airplane. They are particularly useful for the awkward years when your toddler/young child can generally manage without a buggy but cannot walk the (sometimes miles) to the gate. They allow you to pull your little one (or twins, in my case) along behind you - great fun for kids and great for getting from A to B quickly without the hassle of checking a buggy at the gate and hoping it arrives undamaged on the other side. Most importantly, they have genuinely increased the comfort and sleep my kids have on airplanes.

Top tips:

Check the Stokke website to ensure your airline accepts them. They cannot be used on aisle seats, so sit your child at the window or the middle of a row of 4.
They have to be stored in the overhead compartments for take-off and landing, so take advantage of pre-boarding for families with young children to ensure you get a spot in the overhead compartments near your seat. Especially helpful if your little one sleeps until landing, so you can quickly pop it up and aren't walking the length of the plane to find space in a compartment - they're bulky.
They have 19L of storage (3L extra if you include the lid). I normally pack a little stuffed toy, eye mask and small fold out toiletries bag (see below) with small toys and snacks.
These are for children age 2-7 and not worth it if your child is under 2 (stick to a baby carrier). I made the mistake of taking them on the plane once while my twins were under 2 and didn't have their own seats…my twins were too small to ride safely on them and there were no spare seats on the plane to put them up in, so they were a hassle not a help.

Travel toiletries bag, ideal for airplanes

2. Small hanging toiletries bag, available here, are one of my favourite travel hacks for flying with kids. I use clear plastic travel bags to store things in my backpack (opaque will not help you when you're scrambling for wipes in the dim cabin lighting!) and pack a small hanging toiletries bag for each child. There are often little hooks on the side of the seat ahead where these bags can hang, making them easy to access. I pack snacks, a few small toys (fidget toys, little figures, paw patrol pups etc) in one pocket and snacks in another. I also love inkless colouring books for planes. I never take favourite toys on the plane - they will inevitably be dropped and sometimes are very hard to retrieve between seats! For the sake of the planet I try hard to avoid plastic tat, but for one long haul flight I bought the magazines with little plastic toys inside and they were perfect - novel with little toys and activities, which kept the kids excited and interested. They continued to play with the toys are our destination.

On the topic of pouches/travel bags, it's also worth seeing if the airline you are flying has complementary little travel pouches for children at check in - colouring pencils and paper are always a hit, and the British Airways child size eye masks have helped my kids stay asleep for longer.

3. Inflatable foot pillows. These are useful if you don't have the Stokke Bed Boxes or if your child is older and just needs extra comfort sitting/sleeping on the plane. They fold up very small, so are perfect if you are travelling light. They were not technically not allowed on the airlines I flew on, but I surreptitiously blow them up after meal service when the cabin lighting dimmed, and I have never been told to put them down.

4. Yoto mini with headphones . Even if you are not limiting screen time, there is only so much airplane TV toddlers and young children can watch if you want them to fall asleep. Airplane TV keeps my twins wired and awake, regardless of how desperately tired they are. I bring the physical Yoto cards as you may not be able to play the ones linked to your phones. I have a headphone splitter and 2 sets of headphones so my twins can both listen, but if you travel a lot or have children of different ages who will want to listen to different cards, it's worth having 2 minis.

5. An excellent backpack. There are many, many options, but my top requirement is: enough zipped compartments to keep things organised, and a solid black colour, and something that can be used post-nappy-bag phase. There is nothing worse than rummaging around in a large, cavernous bag when you desperately need a single, specific item. My top pic is the Skip Hop black backpack - it is robust, clips so it can easily hang on a buggy, has a great number of zipped compartments, changing mat, easy access water bottle holders, it's easy to wash/dry and can fit a laptop. Fits easily under the seat on an airplane. I've used ours for 4 years and it is still going strong.

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Products to ease the pain of long haul travel with babies and young children