Our vacation was this past February. Just thought I'd comment on previous posts as an update on how things went for us flying with our 17 month old....
children that age tend to be easily entertained.
just buy a few new CHEAP toys so he has something new and interesting to discover.
also bring a few of his favorites that he enjoys playing with all the time.
also a child that age will likely tire easily on a plane ride that is a few hours long so he should sleep for I'd say a good half of each flight.
if he does start getting into either coloring, play dough, or movies/tv shows by then then I'd bring those things as well but don't "force" them upon him.
as I said a 16mo old should be very easily entertained so even playing the "I'm gonna get you" game or peek a boo should entertain him for a good 15 minutes each as long as you're up for it lol.
He did NOT sleep much on the flights. On our first leg, he fell asleep for about 10 minutes before we landed. That's it. No other sleeping on the plane in any of our flights.
My precious daddy (RIP) loved kids. Anytime someone complained about a crying baby, he would say, "You were a baby once and you bothered people."
Do what you can to occupy your little one but don't let rude or unkind people get to you.
Have a wonderful trip.
Thanks! We lucked out and no one was rude to us. Though to be fair, I tried not to look around when my son was getting upset/loud. I didn't want to see if people were glaring at me. Thankfully he only cried/got mad a little on each flight (except the last one where he was pretty upset most of the time.)
On our first leg, our son got sick and threw up all over me, himself, and the aisle. His vomit almost got on the guy behind us. I said sorry and he was like "nah, you're fine." No one near us seemed to mad or anything. I think they could tell how flustered I was as I cleaned vomit up. Our son wasn't technically sick, thankfully. We think he got air sick from watching a video on the tablet. Needless to say, we did NOT let him watch anything on any other flights.
After I was back in my seat, in fresh clothes, and my son was happier. An older gentleman in a cowboy hat tapped me on the shoulder. He said "your son is really cute." I said "oh...thanks." Then the guy next to him asked how old my son was and said he had a toddler at home too. It was really nice of them.
You'd be surprised! Leg room is zilch and my son could almost reach the bulkhead wall in front of us, he would have totally reached the seats if we sat behind a seat.
Thankfully, his legs didn't reach the back of the seat on any of our flights. Woohoo!
A friend gave me some good advice:
Save the "trips" up and down the aisle for the last-minute-I'm-going-insane option or better yet, not at all.
Her youngest (20 months) drags one (or both!) parents up and down the aisle like he's training for a marathon. Back and forth, exhausting his parents and annoying every passenger next to them. He's darling and adorable but he thinks flights are his personal exercise time and can barely make it through being seat belted for take off and landing.
He FREAKS out being seat belted because then he can't be aisle-pacing, but only in planes, not cars. They used to fly frequently to visit family that lives fairly close (1 hour flights) but now they are thinking of driving, even though it will take longer, just so the trip can be more relaxing for them.
Our son did okay in the car seat for our flights TO California. He wasn't out of his seat much except for when he wasn't feeling well and we held him. The flights home, however, he was not wanting to be in his seat. I think it's because the whole week he spent so much time in his stroller. He was just sick of being belted into something. We didn't let him go up and down the aisle at all because of your advice...so thank you! He mostly sat on our laps.
My kids aren't stroller nappers at all. I have been able to get them to nap at DL in the stroller, but it took like an hour of just walking.... And then they would sleep for 30 min. My fave place to stop when (if) they nap is the walkway between Rancho Zolcolo and the frontierland shops. It is a steady background noise, but no one stops. Whenever I would head for a quieter spot, someone would come through loudly and wake them. The Frontierland spot has that constant hum of activity, but it is enough to absorb any louder things that may come through.
As mentioned above, our son didn't really sleep on the plane at all. He did sleep briefly in the car on the way to the hotel. He didn't nap a lot on our trip. A few days, he napped back at the hotel room. But other days he napped may 30-45 minutes in his stroller in the parks. A lot of his park naps took place in the area you mentioned. And you're right, quieter areas were definitely worse. People always came by screaming. At one point, and adult practically stuck their head in our stroller and was like "is he sleeping??" People are dumb.
So yeah....as suspected, our son didn't sleep on the airplane. Not even on the way home when he was super tired. He didn't even fall asleep on the 30 minute drive home at midnight.
His favorite activities on the plane were the books we brought, a small bead maze (Melissa and Doug,) and the pill organizer with Cheerios. On the way home, he also enjoyed taking magazines out of the seat pocket and putting them back in. At the hotel, we mostly played with his cars, his books, and a ball we brought.
I am so glad we brought his car seat on the plane and I cannot recommend that to people enough. I am also happy we gate checked our stroller.
The one thing I would change...I would make our return flight earlier in the day. Leaving at 4pm wasn't great.
and 16 months may sleep if they sleep in cars. Mine hardly ever sleeps including no more naps anymore but he did at 16 months. The movement could potentially put them to sleep. But I think you'll be fine. I know I was terrified the first time flying with him how unhappy he'd be but he was an angel. And everyone knows kids cry so I wouldn't worry if your concerned about that.
