Posted: 13/12/2011 at 07:44
This is a tricky one. A slightly different situation but when my DD was 4 - 12 months I took at least 2 (sometimes 4) flights a month (from Scotland down South). I've never forced a routine on her BUT she has always had a routine of her own creating (if that makes sense). I'd always try and book flights that meant she would have just woken up in the morning or could have a nap in the car in the journey to the airport but it didn't always work out like that. The result is that, sometimes by the time we were boarded she would be over-tired and well meaning people sitting next to us would try and entertain her, over stimulating her even more. I absolutely knew she needed to sleep and the only way I could get her to do this (her naps at home are always in her dark room, in her cot/bed) was to hold her to me, cover her face with her blanky (she slept like this too!) until she gave in and went to sleep. To everyone else though, it must have looked awful! So, it may well be the case that your friend's LO needs to sleep. I think if it were me though, and that was happening every time, I'd question what either of us were getting out of it as it just sounds pretty stressful for them both!
K x
