Travelling with children must rank high among stressful travelling situations. The following tips may help make the journey an enjoyable experience for you and your children.
Try to organise flights near your child's normal bedtime.
Let the airline know in advance if you are taking a baby or need children's meals-you may bring your own snacks on board. Make sure you request a childrens meal in advance as otherwise fussy eaters may go hungry and subsequently get a little bit grumpy.
Air conditioning on planes is dehydrating. Give small babies a drink at least every four hours and make sure toddlers get lots of water.
Sucking on a bottle sipper cup or breastfeeding will prevent small babies getting earache on take off and landing. Boiled sweets are ok for older children
Pack favourite toys as well as a few new novelty items-take enough activities to make delays bearable.
Pack a change of clothing in your hand luggage for yourself as well as your baby.
Travelling with an infant is not actually as bad as you would think, sometimes the thought of taking a trip are actually worse than the reality.
Get to the airport early and request a bulkhead seat with bassinet as this will help with toddlers although infants over 15 months will struggle to fit into the bassinet physically while it is unlikely that they will like lying down unless they are asleep. I have taken two trips of late with my 9 year old and now 11 month old baby called Rose. I flew to both to Dubai and San Francisco from Dublin and the experience was not as bad as I thought it would be.
One suggestion I would have is possibly to look at staying at a hotel close to Dublin airport before you travel. When we travelled to Dubai we stayed at the Bewleys hotel Dublin airport. They have a good "Park and Fly" which allows you park for 8 nights when you book a room. Good value for money all round and enables you to travel somewhat refreshed as you dont have to get up too early to hit the road.
"Stephen of Gohop.ie thoughts of travelling with children"
Japan
New Zealand 
UAE