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By this time tomorrow morning, my little family will be in the sky above America on our way to Denver, CO. We're going to be spending the next week skiing in Winter Park.
Part of the family is an 18-month old toddler.
What began as nervousness about taking him on the plane has become mild fear. We keep hearing horror stories about taking small children on planes. Please tell me this is not always the case. Only stories about perfect little angels calmly staying in their seat will be allowed in this thread.
We are, of course, taking precautions. We'll make sure he is eating or drinking something during ascent and descent. We have scheduled our flight to have a 2+ hour layover on the way to give him a chance to stretch his legs and wear him out some. We even have benedryl to knock him out as a last resort (w/ doctor's approval of course). We've gathered some new toys for the trip that he's never seen before, but not ones that make a lot of noise.
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If I were going skiing in Colorado.... I'd probably find a babysitter/granny/nanny to leave an 18 month old at home with so my skiing could be worry-free!
But.... no, unfortunately I have never been flying with a toddler, so I have no tips.
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My sister's husband works for southwest, so her kids have been on a plane many many times. They behave beautifully for the most part. Looks like you have the right idea.
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Farmgirl, we've chosen a place that it family friendly and has great daycare facilities. We're also meeting K's sister and her family there, so we'll be able to take turns skiing and spending time with the kids.
Icarus, I should have asked a week ago. I'm not sure he'll get there before we leave.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Thomas is a veteran flyer. We just tried to have toys or animals to play with, and keep him drinking during take off and landing. He loved to look out the window, too. His daddy, on the other hand, is getting mildly ill just thinking about it. I'm sure he'll do fine.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Most kids need to be entertained- so make sure you've got a lot of things for him to do. A lot.
Best case scenario: He falls asleep.
You might want to encourage this if it's a long flight. After the excitement of take-off, and after the plane starts to seem boring sort him out some way of sleeping and encourage him to lie down and doze, if not sleep.
My little sister flew aged one year and this is the way my mother encouraged her to be.
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My son flew a lot when he was little and he was always wonderful.
I'm not looking forward to flying with his sister next month, though. Every kid is different. If Ryan is not prone to making you crazy most of the time on the ground, he's not any more likely to make you crazier in the air.
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Sleep is the best, if you can swing it. T's first trip was very much about sleep, except when he was trying to read my magazine. The next few he was more awake, and really trying to get to the people in front of us. Good thing everybody was understanding. There was that whole barfing thing too, but that was my fault, not his. Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Ryan is very good in his car seat unless we make him sit there for too long. That's one of the reasons we didn't get a direct flight.
As far as sleep goes, unfortunately our first flight starts right after he would normally wake up. The layover occurs just about the time he would be taking a nap with the flight taking off about the time he would wake up. We'll see how that goes.
Thanks everyone. I feel better now.
The best thing is that we're flying first class. All those years of shelling out money for the "priviledge" of having an AMEX Delta SkyMiles card are finally going to pay off.
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My friend just took her...20 month old on his first trip by air, and he did fine. Honestly I'm more curious about how they make skis that small...
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I got here too late, and you already got all the good advice you need. Don't worry too much, you and the little one will probably be fine.
We flew to California with JaneX when she 14 months - she was a bit restless, at one point, so we took her for a walk up the aisle of the plane and back. I always packed lots of toys to entertain small children while traveling, and developed a regular collection of them. And lots of snacks, and some drinks, too.
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I'm currently about 40 miles from Winter Park, I love the vacations I take up there; aside from the plane plight, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time.
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Hey, Zan... for you and K: start hydrating. I don't know if you're big water drinkers, but when I go to Denver, one of my "survival" techniques is to start drinking lots and lots of water a couple of days before, and keeping it up through the end of the first day there. You and I are both from humid climates, so the same idea may work well for you. My job is in Denver, so I have to go there fairly frequently, and if I *don't* do some serious hydrating before I leave, I'm usually the worse for it for the first several days I'm there. Headaches and general not-feeling-very-good-ness. The change in climate and altitude really makes a difference for me and being really well hydrated seems to help a *lot*.
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Ketchup princess and I went on a plane twice last weekend, and she was absolutely fine. I used a Baby B'air to restrain her, and it worked wonderfully, and we brought a portable DVD player with Baby Bach and Baby Beethoven, books (okay, technically Baby Bug magazine, but she doesn't know the difference), and some toys, as well as a sippy cup of juice and some cookies to snack on. It was just fine, really. The Baby B'air was a much better choice than a car seat because, first of all, a rear-facing convertible seat would not have fit in Delta's coach section, secondly, it allowed her to feel much freer and less restrained while allowing me peace of mind, and thirdly, it was ever so much cheaper. It was a wonderful trip, really, and even the plane rides didn't spoil it. (Ketchup princess is 11 1/2 months old.)
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What's with the discussion about having them drinking something while taking off and landing? (I have never flown with little kids) Is this for the benefit of the ears? (popping while changing elevations?) or what?
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Swallowing helps clear the ears. And it's a nice distraction from any fears or discomfort the child may have on descent. I don't think during ascent it's nearly as necessary.
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Oldest flew at 9 months and was fine. I think the boy was a bit older when he flew. I can't really remember, though. He was a little tougher because it was a red-eye on Jet Blue, and he wouldn't go to sleep because of the little TVs.
Posts: 2010 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Joe, we'll be gone for a week. I appreciate the offer, but I don't think there's anyway I could get it anyway. We leave at 7 am tomorrow and I'm still at work trying to get things done.
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I'm sure he'll do fine.
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