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Maryland Babies
Travelling with a toddler
Hi mommies (and dads)...we are planning a trip with our daughter and she will be about 18 months old. It will be a long plane ride (about 8 hours) and unfortunately where we live the only flights to our destination are overnight (boo!). We were going to just buy tickets for the two of us and hold her in our lap but gate check her car seat so that way if there is an extra seat hopefully they would let us bring it on. Anyone had experience with this? Also guidance is a little confusing...does anyone know if you can gate check a car seat and a stroller OR is it one or the other?? This will be our first plane ride so I am just trying to get some advice. Thanks!
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Re: Travelling with a toddler
We flew with DS once, he was about 18 months. Luckily for us it was about a hour and a half flight and both were right around his typical nap time. Like LLHR said, it's highly recommended you purchase a seat and bring your car seat on, that is what we did and it was so much easier and actually enjoyable. On both legs of the trip DS fell asleep in his car seat before or during take off and woke up right before landing. He slept the entire time both flights and when he woke up was so intrigued by the plane, the sounds, and looking out the window, we had several people comment on what a great traveler he was. It sounds like your trip wont be as short, but I think you have an advantage flying overnight, if you get LO a seat and bring the car seat on it should be familiar enough that LO might sleep most of the time and then you wont have a toddler on your lap and can relax somewhat and get some sleep yourselves. Plus it's just safer to have them in a seat.
If not I would pack very strategically. We typically drive on 7+ hour trips with DS for vacation and keeping it simple has helped. Do you have an iPad or iPhone? There are a ton of fantastic free or cheap apps for toddlers. You can also download video's and I know there are special headphones for toddlers out there (so they can't crank up the volume, etc). Bringing a few board books is good too, things that have a lot of pictures that you can read over and over again and point out different things (shapes, colors, numbers, letters, etc) each time you read. And pack a few snacks, one's you know LO loves, and an empty sippy so you can buy water or juice once you go through security. Having a paci or drink during take off can help with the pressure in their ears.
You should be able to check both, if you end up with a lap baby, at the gate, I have seen other parents do it before.
Is this a non-stop 8 hour flight or are their layovers? If its a non-stop, you really will need to pay for the extra seat. You'll be miserable and so will your LO. At that age, she will need some room to stretch out and sleep or even just walk back and forth between you and your DH.
Pack a lot of different things in a backpack - some new, some old favorites. My DD wouldn't have played a game or watched a show for very long on a computer at that age, but she would have played any kind of activity game for hours - so pull a string/squeeze something and a the toys makes a noise type of thing would have been great. I'm sure it would be slightly obnoxious to other passengers, but a crying hysterical baby is far more obnoxious. Bring several changes of clothes for your LO and at least one for yourself. I'd pack some snack foods too - some that are new (maybe lolipops?) and some that are faves. I don't think it really matters where you sit on the plane, but I would try to get on as late as possible and let your LO run around teh terminal as long as possible.
Just keep an open mind, be flexible and try to get through it!
We have flown quite a few times with our son who is now 15 months. He has always been on our lap. However, the last flight was at 11 months and he was definitely starting to get restless and that was just to FL. We are flying again at the end of the month to my family up north, and we plan to have him sit on our laps again, but it's just a 1 hr, 20 min flight. I don't think I could imagine him sitting on our laps for an 8 hour flight lol. You can gate check the carseat and the stroller. I highly recommend getting a cover bag for both - even though you gate check, they can still be a little rough with them. We bought the cheap red GATE CHECK bag at first for the car seat, and by the time we got in home from that first flight last summer, it already had holes in it. If you are going to be traveling more than once while using a carseat or stroller, I highly suggest investing in a more solid case. Luckily my parents finally bought a carseat now so we won't have to deal with that this time!
I think this time we will bring our portable DVD player to help entertain him. The other thing is that he has never eaten/drank as much as he has before than his last flight back from FL! He had so much milk and snacks, lol - which was fine by me since it kept him happy and quiet. So, make sure you have enough of that stuff
Oh, one more thing about where on the plane... it may not really matter... but I always like to get near the front. That is because it makes it faster and easier to get OFF the plane. If there are two seats together, I'd defintely do that - that way you have the aisle right there to quickly get up and walk, but also the window since when he sleeps on his daddy, he normally curls up and lays on a cushion against the window.
Just another tip if you are carrying luggage on.... you can always have your DH (or you) board earlier in order to get overhead space above you and then have your LO board closer to the gate closing. That way if you need to get things for your LO, you don't have to deal with tracking it down at the back of the plane - same when you land. Good luck!
I flew back in 2010 with DD#1 when she was just 12 months old on our laps. The flight was only 2 hours long. She did great, ate during take off and sleep through landing. Actually both flights people were shocked that we had a baby in our laps. She mainly snuggled with us and played with her stuffed animal.
In September we plan to fly with both kids (DD#1 will be almost 3, DD#2 six months). DD#1 will have her own seat, in her car seat. DD#2 will be in my lap, I know it's cheaper and safer to buy her a seat, but my child screams in her car seat. I plan to nurse/bottle feed DD#2 during take off and landing (and I plan to bring her paci too). If your LO doesn't take a paci, I bring a sippy cup and some snacks for the take off and landing.
We actually have purchased first boarding, so I hope to be in the front of the plane in September. We plan to gate check both DD#2 car seat and stroller. I purchased this travel bag for her car seat (it's very cheap today). Back in 2010 when we flew, we checked the pnp, and car seat at the counter. We just gate checked the stroller.
Good Luck!
Ditto on the car seat bag! And we did the same bag for our umbrella stroller. I have the same problem - my LO hates being in the carseat!!!
If you are visiting family, it might be easier to order a cheapo carseat that they can keep rather than lug yours through the airport, kwim?
My mom has a Cosco seat that she bought for $40 - when DD was 18 mos and she can use it up to 40 lbs - and at almost 4 yos, she's nowhere close to 40 lbs.
We flew on a 6hr flight when DD was 17 months. It wasn't bad. We had a middle and an end seat on the way out. The trip out DH & I did not sit together - he was near the back and I was near the front.If you are near the back, it will be harder for the other passengers to hear your kid's crying
We gate checked the stroller and the car seat (with the car seat bag). We weren't able to get an empty seat, so DD was a lap child.We brought a TON of snacks and DD loved eating the crackers/cookies from the plane. She also tried to steal/drink from my drink, which meant she almost knocked it over. We also brought some toys and she was marginally interested in some of them - even the new ones. I wrapped up a whole bunch of toys and for the most part, she could not care less. We also had Nook that we let her play with - there are two specific apps - an animal sounds and pictures and a coloring app that kept her fairly entertained. We also walked up and down the aisles and I sang to her. We don't do tv (and she isn't particularly interested anyway), but you could do videos, too.We also looked through the catalog and colored.
My DD is considered an "active" child. She really HATES sitting still/down. However, she has stranger anxiety, which helped.
Honestly, I would have preferred a red-eye. I could get DD to sleep on the plane. We flew in the morning and the afternoon. DD did manage to nap for 20 minutes on the way out and 1 hour on the way back.
It definitely wasn't terrible, though the flight home we were all tired and cranky.
This was last month, so it's still fresh in my mind.
We are visiting family. A has the Cosco car seat and that's the one we are taking with us (and using on the flight). As for C's car seat (she's till in the infant) and no one in our family has babies. We are renting a car in STL, so we have to take the car seat and I don't trust the rental car places.
We took D1 to Australia as a lap child when she was 14 months, you can totally do an 8 hour flight. And a red eye makes it even better. D1 slept most of the flight from LAX to Sydney but Baltimore to LAX she was up for all of it. We looked through the skymall mag, looking for puppies and kitties and read the Southwest mag. I brought stickers, which were a huge hit and something she didn't have often.
We didn't have an ipad/iphone back then, so we did it without any video entertainment. Even the international flight, which had tvs she didn't want to watch them.
I agree with the covers for your carseat and stroller. They are really rough on it all.
Take extra snacks, new toys (make sure they don't make loud noises or roll), some treats. And suspend most rules that you have for her - don't let her go buck wild crazy but if something is going to entertain her/calm her down/stop her from crying and its not something you do at home, let it slide. These flights are all about doing what you need to do to get there in one piece.