Originally Posted by
voracious violinist
If the parents of the misbehaving/upset/crying child/baby are not reacting sufficiently to the discomfort their child/baby is causing to other paying passengers, then that is the point where the flight crew or, if necessary other passengers should step in to attempt to restore peace and calm.
Originally Posted by
flygirl68
I have asked in the past, if there is anything I can do to help. I have offered to hold the babe to see if that helps. Sometimes a strange face (I'm not that strange!) can cause a distraction to the baby, like "hang on, who are you?" and that can can stop the crying.
Sometimes it seems they almost forget why they are crying, and that distraction gives them a chance to calm down. It all depends on why they are crying, which obviously can be impossible to know.
I know when that's happened to mine in the past, they've just needed that chance to calm down, and within minutes, (sometimes!) they've been asleep.
I was reluctant to wade into this thread, but I think that this is a very practical part of the solution.
I have seen an apparently-inconsolable baby, who started crying again during descent, picked up by cabin crew after we were put into another Sunday evening LHR hold, and walked gently around the cabin: Asleep within half a lap. Personally, I don't think it's the distraction or a stranger - babies can often be distressed by being taken away from familiar mummy. But many cabin crew feel completely at home and relaxed on board an aircraft in flight, particularly when there's no work to be done. That gives the baby a really calming influence, which will rapidly induce sleep.
We had one near-miss with a boisterous small child in WT+, which made us move back one row in all our future bookings. But as it happens, all of the small children that we've encountered in that cabin have actually been good as good once in the cruise. Again, I think that the calmness of the W cabin is part of this.