Travelling on a 7hour flight with a 16mth old

red fraggle

Hi All,

Just looking for other peoples experiences and tips. Myself and my husband are thinking/hoping to bring our 14month old to new york. she will be 16 months old when we do. we are going to visit my brother and will be staying with him.

Just wondering does anyone have any experience of this ie what happened on the long flight, how were the kids, problems with ears popping. would you do it again or run a mile before considering it;)

Thanks in advance!

pwurple

Is it a night flight? If they sleep it will pass easily. Snacks and playthings are good for flights. Just let them drink on takeoff and landing for the ears.

How mobile are curious are they? You can bring them for walks up and down the plane... Kids love that.

Hope you are going for a reasonable amnt of time. Their routine may be messed up for a few days with the time change.

How Strange

We brought our son on a 4hr flight when he was 13 months. He was crawling but not walking so while he wanted to get down on the floor we couldn't let him. A battle of wills ensued and a few passengers were probably temporarily deafened

If she's walking then that's great as you can let her walk around a bit. Bring a DVD player with her favourite programmes. Bring some new toys and books she hasn't had before. Bring lots of little snacks. Depending on your flight time try to get her to sleep for a bit if you can. We had an early morning flight in the way over to Tenerife and he was out of his mind with tiredness but refused to sleep. On the way back the flight was a few hours later so I settled him on me as soon as we got on the plane and didn't let him get wound up and he slept for 2 hours.

Above all try to keep calm yourself (easier said than done!) as she will definitely pick up on your tension and react to it.

I think the best way is to be prepared for lots of short bursts of entertainment. As pwurple said, she'll probably be a bit put out for the first few days so don't be surprised if she's extra cranky. My son was like this on our summer hol at 18 months but he settled down after a few days and then had a great time.

Hannibal Smith

a dvd player! we flew during the summer and brought a bag full of toys and books which was grand on the way there coz of the novelty...but not so good on the way back. 2 children in front of us had a dvd player and were content the whole flight.

Oral Slang

We flew to Tenerife 3 weeks ago, my little one was 16 months - flights were 4.5hrs each way. She's walking since 10 months, but I was advised by others to avoid standing up & walking for as long as possible, because once they realise they can get up & walk, they'll want to be up & down constantly.

I bought a mini laptop for €10 in Tesco, a mini etch-a-sketch for €3 in Smyths, a pack of crayons & paper & a new book.

Also brought loads of snacks - goodies bars & crisps, raisins, grapes, drinks etc.

She was great I have to say, flew 1st thing (left the house at 4am!!), so she slept for 1.5hrs on the plane. Coming home we left at 7.30pm & didn't into the house til 1am, so again she slept a good bit on the plane.

littlemissfixit

I have loads of experience of this, my family is in Canada, my in-laws in the North and we are in Cork, so long car journeys and flights are something we have to do a few times a year!
I have been to Canada a couple of times now when my daughter was 5 months and again at 14 months. The flight schedule will probably be the same, daytime going, night time return. We made sure we chose a front row seat, so she could be on the floor surrounded by toys and was kindda confined with the wall in front and my husband's legs on the aisle side. Bring one carry on luggage just for distractions, and take one out at a time to make it last. And loads of snacks... forget about proper schedule for eating, its not gonna happen!
I make it very special for her, with her favorites things, maybe a couple of new cheap toys/books and her favorite snacks (doesnt need to be all junk, she loves the organix treats and little fruit custards that dont need refrigerate). Its very long for them so we spoil them rotten and time actually flies. we do the same for the 7h road trip to the North, and that even worst they cant get out of their seat!
For ears popping, she had a soother when she was smaller, that certain to help, and now its a good sippy (straw) cup with a drink she will have a good long drink from and it seems to work.
I am not generally for the disposable stuff, but I make an exception for this, so disposable tubs, bibs, etc.
Have nothing planned for about 2 days when you get there, just relaxing and getting the little one accustom to the new time and new people, etc.
Hopefully you will have a direct flight, the time or the sprints in the airport are the worst of it to be honnest.

I'm doing the trip to Canada again this June, this time on my own with a 2.5 yrs ols and a 1 yr old :eek:

red fraggle

thanks guys for the tips!!

she doesnt watch tv. but maybe she would! few new toys would be a good idea. and shes loving pens at the moment so maybe some paper too! she is walking now so should be flying it when we go. my husband will be with me so we can share her!!

poor might is sick now hopefully she doesnt get travel sick!

Oral Slang

My little one is the same, no interest in tv either. There will probably be inflight entertainment (possibly ones at the back of each seat), so you could get comfy headphones & throw on a cartoon or two? Otherwise, if you have smartphones, I'd download a few games & stuff & then let them play with the phone when it's on flight mode. My daughter loves watching angry birds, fruit ninja or even just photos on my phone.

Zil2011

I travelled to New York with my little one at 18 months and it was fine! Like littlemisfixit says book the front seats so there is room for little one to play on ground and the air hostess will give you a cot (box) for little one to sleep in if you need it (only thing is, once cot is in place you can't move out of your seat so be prepared!) There is a little TV for them to watch if you are flying with aer lingus. Lots of 'new' toys (or ones they haven't seen for a while, colouring book and crayons went down a treat with my little one). As for the ears, I gave mine the dummy or a bottle on take off and landing to help their ears. Have one bag with bottles/food, change of clothes (include a spare set for yourself too, just in case!) and another bag with the toys/distractions in it, so you can find what you are looking for with ease (the only downside to sitting at the front is that the bags MUST go overhead for take off and landing.) You will be fine! Plus side with travelling with small kids is that you are generally one of the first to board the plane. My experience was that good that I went out again last summer with my then almost 3 yr old and a 3 month old baby - minus my husband! Again had absolutely no problems! Kids were great and air hostess even commented on how quiet the kids were.

Loonie

We flew with my daughter to Canada at about that age. Stickers were great, she loved sticking them all over the tray and window - we were good and cleaned up behind her. The metallic ones are easier to remove than the paper ones. She learned quickly that the man with the trolley was the 'juice man' and held out her cup whenever he went by Also new books and toys, we had in seat TVs so she watched some of that. She didn't have trouble with her ears any time we've flown, we just gave her her dummy. She slept the whole way back.
I second the change of clothes for yourself, just in case. Also ziploc bags are great for dividing things out. We split everything between two carry ons, one for under the seat, things we'd need during the flight, and the extra emergency stuff (Extra clothes, nappies, food) in the overhead locker. Although we fed her regular food on the way we also brought a toddler meal or two and lots of snacks, in case she wasn't fussed on plane food. I've never had trouble getting baby food or bottles on a plane, it's accepted by all airports I've been though in Canada, US, England and Ireland. I always bring more than they'll need for fear we get delayed.
I think the airplane bassinet is too small for a child this age? We flew with a 7 month old and he only just fit in it. Also United doesn't give priority to children for boarding, or at least not out of Newark - We had two sleeping children to carry on board and was told 'children are not a disability' and to wait in the queue. I'm not sure if that was United's policy or Newark's.

Love2u

I'm heading on hols In a few weeks with my 20month old, I'm excited and at the same time I'm dreading it, as the flight could be a problem. How do you get a toddler to stay sill for that long, and will other passengers get fed up of him

Love2u

Loonie wrote: »

We flew with my daughter to Canada at about that age. Stickers were great, she loved sticking them all over the tray and window - we were good and cleaned up behind her. The metallic ones are easier to remove than the paper ones. She learned quickly that the man with the trolley was the 'juice man' and held out her cup whenever he went by Also new books and toys, we had in seat TVs so she watched some of that. She didn't have trouble with her ears any time we've flown, we just gave her her dummy. She slept the whole way back.
I second the change of clothes for yourself, just in case. Also ziploc bags are great for dividing things out. We split everything between two carry ons, one for under the seat, things we'd need during the flight, and the extra emergency stuff (Extra clothes, nappies, food) in the overhead locker. Although we fed her regular food on the way we also brought a toddler meal or two and lots of snacks, in case she wasn't fussed on plane food. I've never had trouble getting baby food or bottles on a plane, it's accepted by all airports I've been though in Canada, US, England and Ireland. I always bring more than they'll need for fear we get delayed.
I think the airplane bassinet is too small for a child this age? We flew with a 7 month old and he only just fit in it. Also United doesn't give priority to children for boarding, or at least not out of Newark - We had two sleeping children to carry on board and was told 'children are not a disability' and to wait in the queue. I'm not sure if that was United's policy or Newark's.

"no priority for children" :-(. That's difficult.

LegacyUser

flew to australia with 20 month old boy. we had kindle fire with us, worked great....he could watch all his favouite shows and also do some e-painting.

a tablet is ideal......the battery lasts much longer than dvd player, you can bring 100s of tv shows that are easily changed, and the brightness is easily changed too. dvd player can be very bright on a night flight

he was quite happy most of the way, but the jet lag knocked him for six for three days there and coming home

LegacyUser

Love2u wrote: »

I'm heading on hols In a few weeks with my 20month old, I'm excited and at the same time I'm dreading it, as the flight could be a problem. How do you get a toddler to stay sill for that long, and will other passengers get fed up of him

Honestly, you won't care what the other passengers think. If they are stupid enough to travel without earphones, that's their problem.

Also, if you have had the sense to book the top of the aisle, you can't really see anyone else.

We had hoped there were plenty of other babies near us, so we wouldn't be the only ones kicking up a stink. Wrong....the other kids kept waking our boy up.

We made it to Australia with a 20 month old........we'd go again tomorrow morning.

It won't be anywhere near as bad as you think.