Flying with an 18 month old - tips?

kayteatrudeau · December 2011

We have a couple three hour flights coming up over the holidays.

Our LO is very active. It's hard for her to stay in one spot.

Any suggestions?

Katlin010 · December 2011

We fly alot from NM to MN and our go to's are books and lots of little car toys. If you have an iphone or ipad I suggest downloading apps like peek-a-boo barn, fisher price learning apps, and toddler lock (they have saved my sanity many a times!) Also if you take a few plane friendly toys away now they will be like new for your plane ride!

Bring a paci or a bottle/sippy to suck on during take off and landing for ear popping. Otherwise good luck!

P.S. I suggest a window seat it saved us! Most airlines frown upon walking around with LO's and so the window seat gave her something to look at and then she could see she couldn't get up!

Temp937723687505543 · December 2011

DRINK HEAVILY. Wink

Okay, here's what I did when I flew with DD when she was 15 months:

I took her car seat and strapped her in, so to her it wasn't any different than being in a car. I had enough snacks to feed the entire population of Louisiana. At this age I would probably have better toys than I had taken to keep her occupied. I would just try to take something that's going to keep her attention focused- hopefully 3 hour flights won't be too bad. GL!

Katlin010 · December 2011

Yes I totally forgot snacks!! They are the best. And yes if you can buy her her own seat it will probably work best. We fly with her on our lap and its been rough. But that being said with enough snacks and toys its managable.

hmp1 · December 2011

We have flown with DS a handful of times and half of the flights he was able to get his own seat without purchasing a seat for him. If it is a possibility to get his own seat, I take his carseat all the way to the gate check. If the flight is full and we will not have a seat, I check it before security.

I did end up with a seat for him this weekend and didn't have his carseat. I buckled him in the seat next to me and he sat there like a little dude, it was really cute. I packed new books, snacks, sippy cup of milk (American doesn't serve Milk after 10am so bring your own if you need it). I brought a portable DVD player but didn't need it. He always falls asleep for most of the flight. I run him around in the airport the entire time before we board.

rodiesmum · December 2011

bring a reading/coloring material.

bring a blankie for peek a boo if your LO is still on to that game.

bring a digital device where your LO can watch videos or see a slideshow of her photos

Bring some snacks too.

GL on your flight and have fun

mlkwmu · December 2011

Glad you asked.. I was interested in this also since we have a 2 hour flight next week and we have twins. My husband & I are bring dvd players, snacks, sippy cups and their car seats. (they each have their own seat and we're planning on strapping them into like they are when on a car trip). Then we're keeping our fingers crossed ;-) GL.

LaurelBee · December 2011

We just flew to Disney last week w/ our 18mo old and he did great! The flight was booked, so we had to sit him on our lap. We booked our flights for lunch/nap time, which was awesome. As soon as we boarded, we gave Ds lunch (fresh fruit, cheese stick, crackers, etc) and gave him his milk during take off. I also brought emergency animal crackers and teddy grahms just incase he started to get fussy. I brought a dvd player, but he didn't really care about it. I also brought books and brand new toys to play with (a puppet was the best toy bc I could play lots of games with it.) He ended up sleeping most of the flght. Oh, and if you think your LO will sleep, put them in a night time diaper! Ds leaked through his diaper while sleeping and it got all.over.me. luckily I was wearing yoga pants so it dried quickly and I could get out of my seat to change pants w/o looking like I had an accident.

GL!

mamainseptember · December 2011

We just fly from NJ to TX last week with our extremely active 15 month old. I fly there and back just him and I so it was an experience. If you can afford it, get him his own seat!!! It is totally worth them being able to sit in their car seat. We flew out at 9am so I woke him up at 3am and kept him awake until the flight. He slept the first 2 hours and it was wonderful! I brought brand new toys that he had never seen before, TONS of snacks (fruit, puffs, etc) and the IPad to watch his favorite show and play some baby games. He was PHENOMENAL. The flight back, we had to reschedule a day earlier and also had a connection. Unfortunately, the first 40 minute flight he was on my lap because it was a totally full flight and we lost his seat due to rescheduling and he cried the whole time. He hates being confined so being stuck on my lap was horrible. The second flight was 3 hours and only 70% full so we had 3 seats to ourselves and he slept the whole way home. Honestly, in my opinion, having that extra seat makes the entire trip! Good luck!!

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