19 month old on a plane?

[Natalie_89]

im got a 19 month old any tips on how to keep him entertained durin the flight

 

[mommy-on-the-move]

We have a similar issue- my kids will be 19 months, 4, 5 (who has special needs) and 10 when we fly and we're flying from England too... I am presently scratching my head on how to keep myself sane with it! I'm hoping they might sleep for some of it.

 

[Natalie_89]

im flyin from the uk too..im prayin he will sleep some hes really energetic tho and will want to walk around he cant sit still on a lap for longer then 2 minutes dredin the flight

 

[bas71873]

My DD has been flying since she was 18 months (she's almost 5 now). First, I buy her her own seat. For me, it's a life saver. She gets to be by the window, I can pull up the arm & she lay down if she wants AND, during the flight she can stand up in front of her chair if she wants here and there (I know she's supposed to be buckled in the whole time, but I don't have an issue letting her stand up...it's a sanity saver for me). My DD is NOT into watching movies on a DVD, so I take coloring books (those color wonder ones are great because the markers only work on the color wonder paper), I take some of her little figurines to play with, snacks of course and I'm even the crazy mother who takes little things of play-dough......it's kept her entertained on every flight. I always have wipes and usually get a little on me, but she likes to play with it on her own tray and it's worked for us.

 

[SarahTel]

Yeah- we generally make sure they'll need a nice long sleep on the flight. I wouldn't exactly call it sleep deprivation, but we try and stretch it out before getting on the plane.

 

[Abharmagic]

EEK!!! I did it- do you have a car seat- sometimes it helps if they are stuck- lol.

Anyhow- take walks- if your flight is not full, ask to spread out.

Try to help them sleep- some people swear by Children's Benadryl on the plane- says it makes them sleepy. I asked my sons Dr. and she gave me the proper doseage for his age/weight, said it was safe, but she warned that it can also have the opposite effect so we did not try it.

 

[camtheriot]

I am a nurse and, yes, I have seen benadryl have an opposite effect on some children. However, you can try it on him before your flight kindof as a test dose to see how he will react to it. I always use benadryl with the children when we are taking a trip via auto, but we will be flying this vacation - I'm not sure if I will use it (only 2 hr flight)

Never underestimate the power of Benadryl

 

[monorailsilver]

My kids never slept on the plane & I did the flights during nap time each time (they were both between 1 & 2 for their first flights). They did fall asleep right after we got off the plane & on the ME bus go figure!

My summer flight I didn't plan around nap time just for that reason-early am.

Anyways, my flights are shorter then yours but my kids watch DVD's mainly. I do bring lolipops & gummy type treats too & that kept them occupied & I will do that for my 2 yo this summer.

I brought markers, sticker books, some crayons, magna doodles, small aquadoodles & probably a few other things & my oldest last trip watched a movie (she was 4), my ds (22 months at that time) had the lolipops & gummy candy (MY dh made out as he had the 4 yo movie watcher) & my youngest was cooking in the oven so she wasn't any problem other then making my bladder was to be in use.

Good luck & have a safe & fun flight.

Oh, I spy books too.

 

[katied]

DS just had his last flight a few weeks ago - we were flying home from Athens, Greece (through London). Going there was over 24 hrs of travel (with the layover). Coming back was about 20 hrs of travel.

DS was 12 months at the time. He had his own seat, and I brought the car seat on. It was a life saver. I also had given him Tylenol before takeoff and landing.

He only slept about 2 hrs in total each way, so I had lots of time to entertain him. For a while, I would sit on the corner of my seat, let him have the rest of my seat, and put all his toys in the car seat. This gave him a little room to move around, and play with his toys. I also made sure he had some new toys he just got to see on the plane. The simplest things also entertained him - crinkly paper, the empty bottles from water, etc. THis helped stretch the entertainment value.

When he got too restless, we'd start walking around. Since it was an international flight, we were on a 777. There was lots of room in the back to hang out with him, walk him around, and even let him walk a bit.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

I definitely say get baby his own seat and either bring the carseat or get the CARES (www.kidsflysafe.com) harness. Those straps over the shoulders seem to remind my DS that he has to stay in his seat.

Bring a bag full of cheap toys so you can pull out something new every now and then. The Magna Doodle (though not a super-cheap toy) is a big hit with us.

And don't forget your own super-sized bag of PATIENCE!

 

[emmababy]

My dd has been flying since she was 3 months. Our last flight was when she was 19 months. Bring lots of snack, coloring items. Honestly the things she liked best was playing with the magazines on the plane and playing peekaboo with the people behind her. Thankfully we had nice people behind us. We never bought her a seat, but we only had a 2.5 hour flight.

I would strongly consider buying a seat if I was flying from UK. Good luck!!

 

[wlwilliams9]

I posted the same question not too long ago and got a lot of great resposes. Here is a link to that post!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1771517

There are a lot of great ideas here!

 

[Natalie_89]

thanks for all the info everyone got some good ideas now...wish i had got him a seat really

 

[laluna]

DONT WORRY!

I was dreading taking my 21 month old. But we survived the 9 hours with ease! Before we boarded I just let him run around as he wanted to. I was las on the plane (could bear the thought of sitting with him on the runway for more time than I had to) and I took the advice of my pharmacist re anti sickness medication as my daughter suffers badly. Gave him a big dolop of piriton just before we went and he slept for about two hours (we had tried it before). He then had his lunch (which we strung out for as long as we could) and then combined walking around the plane with little activities. The small Thomas the Tank aqua draws were FAB. Books, colouring, little cars etc. He was fine. On the return a delay on an overnight flight meant it was his normal bedtime and he slept really well.

 

[Natalie_89]

DONT WORRY!

I was dreading taking my 21 month old. But we survived the 9 hours with ease! Before we boarded I just let him run around as he wanted to. I was las on the plane (could bear the thought of sitting with him on the runway for more time than I had to) and I took the advice of my pharmacist re anti sickness medication as my daughter suffers badly. Gave him a big dolop of piriton just before we went and he slept for about two hours (we had tried it before). He then had his lunch (which we strung out for as long as we could) and then combined walking around the plane with little activities. The small Thomas the Tank aqua draws were FAB. Books, colouring, little cars etc. He was fine. On the return a delay on an overnight flight meant it was his normal bedtime and he slept really well.

thanks that really helps i can see myself walkin up and down the plane alot with mine..he cant sit stil for long periods of time really energetic..think the planes the only thing im not lookin forward to bout this holiday lol...but hey its worth it goin to disney after all

 

[Traci35]

Scotch tape! When we flew with Ds at 18 months he had more fun playing with scotch tape then anything else!!!

 

[Redbudlover]

When we flew with my 19 month old DGD last fall we got bunkhead seats - her parents and me - with her on our laps. She spent most of the time standing or sitting in the bulkhead area playing - I could block her exit to the aisle with my legs. I brought stickers, pipe cleaners which were a hit, a doll, crayons which were not a hit, and what she really loved was my neck rest that I bring on every trip. She wore it like a hat, played hide and seek with it, etc. Grapes, crackers, cheese sticks, dried cereal all were welcomed - and, being up front she got lots of attention from the flight attendants. We read her books, played peek a boo and sang songs. We counted her toes and her fingers - and our toes and fingers. Basically she had three hours of undivided attention from three of the people she loves the most. And no fussy moments. In part I credit a lot of that to the freedom of the bulkhead.

 

[dsneygirl]

DS has been on several flights and I am always comforted that on most Orlando flights you will be surrounded by many other toddler and thus understanding parents

Good luck.

 

[tjlovespooh]

We planned an early morning flight hoping DS (then 17mo) would sleep - didn't happen We had to get him up at 4am in order to make our flight and the child was wide awake - as if he had had a full nights rest. He made it through the entire flight and bus ride to the hotel before finally falling asleep at noon. Still amazes me! He was an absolute angel on that flight though! It was the flight home that was horrible - a night flight (8:00pm). I had hoped he would fall asleep but no way - he was wide awake and screaming almost the entire flight That was the one day we didn't take the time to make sure he had a nap in the afternoon (having to check out of the hotel and the fact that DS has never slept in the stroller). I think he was just far too overtired. Sooo, if I had to plan it all over again - I'd ditch the night flight idea.
As far as entertainment: I packed a carry-on bag exclusively for DS FULL of little toys, puzzles, stickers, books, mini-magnadoodles, mini-aquadoodles, and other small trinkets. We also brought a portable DVD player just in case nothing else worked but DS was quite happy with the "toys".

 

[DevilDuckie]

Scotch tape! When we flew with Ds at 18 months he had more fun playing with scotch tape then anything else!!!

And if you're really lucky, he'll get tangled up in it and stuck in his seat. Took my kid an hour to free himself when he did that at age 2. Fortunately he was completely absorbed in the process.