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June 2011 Moms
pooksmom
member
Traveling with a 1 year old
pooksmom
member
I know we've all talked about this before but I never even contemplated traveling with DD until now. My mom is having surgery at the beginning of July so I was thinking about visiting her. I live in NJ and she is in Tampa. I am soooo nervous about flying with DD though. How did you do it? How did you handle not having all of their stuff when you got to where you are going? I need encouragement. I am a wimp : )
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Re: Traveling with a 1 year old
I wish I could help...I posted about this yesterday and didn't get many replies
I'm traveling to England in a couple of weeks....I'm a terrible flyer to begin with and the stress of traveling with a (almost) one year old makes me very nervous. I've got MANY checklists of what I need to bring...that's helping me to feel like I have some control over the situation lol
We traveled with LO at 8 months....I think I made it out to be such a huge stressful event that in comparison, it was much easier than I had anticipated. I called ahead to the hotel and they were able to provide a pack-and-play for LO to sleep in (which saved us lugging that around.) We were able to gate check the car seat and stroller, and to be honest, in retrospect, I would have left the stroller at home and just taken my Beco carrier (LO doesn't stand to be in the stroller for long periods of time anyways).
As for the flight, we had a short (2.5 hours) one, so it wasn't too bad. I just held out her nap so she would falll asleep on the flight, nursed her as we took off and she fell right asleep. The descent didn't seem to bother her, as she was awake for that part of the flight.
Just take lots of stuff in your diaper bag to keep them entertained during the flight, and you will be fine.
We will be flying to HI just after LO turns one. I'm shipping the essential items ahead of us to ensure that we have the same brand of everything. My dad has been looking and can't find any of the normal items we use and since DS is gluten-free, that makes a huge difference. I'm sure that going to Tampa is much different than Kauai regarding availability of items.
When we traveled last summer, I did the same thing - shipped diapers, wipes, etc. It saved a lot of stress finding what we needed then, too.
This time for the flight, I'm packing a ton of finger foods, new toys, a few favorite toys and having my dad pick up a couple of new items, too.
We will be gate checking the car seat and stroller and using the Beco to carry DS.
Is your LO trying to walk? We took LO to London when he was 7 months and we had a one year old behind us trying to walk. I felt so bad for the mother. She was constantly moving around the plane up and down the aisle. And this was on our way home so a 9+ hour flight.
My point is, if your LO is really mobile, try to get the seats right behind 1st/business class. There's more room to move, enough for you and LO to sit and play. Buy/make new toys (I just made some "shakers" using my old breast feeding storage bottles and added pasta). I know a lot of ppl suggest "quiet" toys, but if your LO likes shakers and such, bring them. It's better than hearing a one year old scream.
As for stuff, just bring the absolute necessities, such as favorite blanket, special stuff you can't find in Tampa. The rest just get when you're there. We also used an umbrella stroller. That helped when our hands were full. You'll be fine. Most of us have traveled with kids - before having our own or now that we have our own.
I hope that helps and have fun!!
How long are you staying? I meant to reply to your og post but had to leave. Anyway, I read that you wanted tips on time change?
When we were in London we didn't adjust LO's time as there's an 8 hour difference and we were there a little over a week. It was not worth it to me. I just had a friend come back from London with her one year old. They slowly adjusted their LO an hour each day (from L.A. to London's time). They were there for a month. She said it took about a week.