flying with 1 year old alone

tinawife

I am going on a 3 hour direct flight I will be traveling alone with my 1 year old, he will be sitting on my lap.  Any suggestions to keep him occupied? or any flying suggestions? he does not walk yet

thanks so much I also posted this on the 6-12 month board..

I appreciate all your commetns I am getting very anxious!

Descanso*Bride

I just got back from flying alone with DS last week.  Our flight was only an hour each way and luckily he slept through the entire flight.  I brought a bottle and bought some water once we were past security.  that plus some cheerios/goldfish kept his ears okay, but he still cried during take off and landing.  Books and toys kept him occupied before he fell asleep.

My surprises with airport travel were the following: TSA made me take off DS's shoes (baby shoe bomber??).  At Burbank they inspected the stroller separately but in Phoenix they made me fold it up and put it through the machine.  That was a pain since I was holding DS and I had to put him on the floor.

I made sure I had plenty of time so I never felt rushed.  I wore slip-on shoes since you have to take them off at security.  I put all liquids in a plastic bag like they require.  I found a quiet corner at the gate and let DS crawl around on the floor to burn off some energy before the flight.

One tip I got but didn't need to use was to put some wipes and a diaper in a plastic baggie and put that in the seat pocket right when you board.  Then, if you have to brave the lavatory to change DC, you don't have to lug the entire diaper bag with you.

GL!

ANJ410

I flew with DS 7 times during his first year.  The last two times he was 10 and 11.5 months old and it was very challenging trying to get him to sit still on my lap.  He wanted to get down and crawl around, which led to quite a bit of squirming and crying since I couldn't let him down.  If you can, I suggest buying him his own seat and bringing your carseat. 

Read2Me

I flew with Eva when she was almost one and she did fine (even after we got stuck in JFK for 7 hours!). ?I had her on my lap and she was content to play with the seat back tray table, the emergency/safety instruction thing and an empty water bottle. ?It also took her about a half and hour to work her way thru two animal crackers! ?Both flights were not full so when I checked in the gate agents were nice enough to close off the seat next to me. ?I let Eva sit in it while we were waiting to take off (it was perfect when we were leaving JFK because we sat on the runway for another 1 1/2) but I held her when we were actually flying. ?I agree with the pp- be prepared to remove your LO's shoes and fold up a stroller if you are bringing one. ?I found that everyone at the airport was very helpful- someone who worked there or another passenger always stepped in to help me when I needed a hand. ?Most airports have a children's play area too which was great for getting the wiggles out before boarding.