Advise for flying with 21 month old

tlwhitfield1

In a couple months we will fly from Seattle to Wisconsin with our 21 month old. He has flown a couple times with no problem (2-3 hour flights during nap time), but never this far. The flight with layover is 6 hours. Any advise on keeping him (and our fellow travelers) happy on the flight?

RebeccaS91

We always buy a seat for her. Being able to put her in her own car seat on the plan is much more comfortable to her than sitting in my lap. We also rear faced her car seat once again out of comfort more of a recline for nap but also I didn't have to worry about her kicking the seat in front of us. Snacks! Every snack I normally never let her have or only as treat not candy though. We loaded our iPad with her favorite shows over all she did great. We used the ergo through the airport and the stroller carried the car seat and luggage however I saw a carseat cart with the seat attached with the kid in it really cool! Good luck!

tlwhitfield1

Thank you both. I like the iPad idea, but my son is not interested in TV, movies, or games yet. I am afraid he is going to want to get up and run around. I cannot keep him still. I like the snack and shape sorter idea.

kerbear135

DD is considerably younger, but before we flew, we took some of her favorite toys and "put them away" for a bit. Then, when we were on the plane, we gave her 1 at a time and they kept her occupied for longer because she hadn't played with them in a while.

APendola

Well, my daughter was a lot easier to fly with before she was mobile!  For the layover, a lot of airports have play areas for kids that are safe and interesting for them.  So you can probably kill some time there.  I let my little one run around a lot during layovers because she can't on the plane.

I agree that games or videos on a tablet or phone are great for entertainment.  Also, new toys and favourite snacks.

LSU628

Ditto the snacks. We use the go go travel mate for the car seat. Makes zooming through the airport a breeze and DD always falls asleep on the plane in her seat. I think the white noise just knocks her out.

LSU628

Oh and ditto letting the kid run around as much as possible during the layover. We always try to schedule it around lunch time so we can eat and she can run before we get back on the plane.

sschwege

They often let people traveling with small children board first, but I've always done just the opposite and board late.  If you board early you are probably adding an extra 20-30 minutes!  

fanofanne

well we just went out of town for xmas (3 hour plane ride) and if you can, i would highly recommend getting an extra seat.  we didn't, as my in-laws purchased our seats and we were too cheap to purchase another one.  (as an aside...it was a booked flight anyway and we had to be separated b/c they don't allow two lap babies in a row b/c of oxygen masks.)  anyway, run them wild, and i wish i had thought of boarding last, b/c as priority ticket holders we were seated first and even before the plane took off they were getting antsy.  the new toys/books is  a great idea too.  good luck!