Almost 1 year old on a plane Question

Wanna be Ariel

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Jun 15, 2010
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Just wondering how everyone takes their almost 1 year old on a plane. Do you use a car seat for them? Or do you let them just sit in the seat? We also have a cares harness we could use. Look for some help on this. With our first DS he was 2.5 for his first plane ride and was perfect with the CARES, but now we are taking DS2 1 week before his 1st Birthday and we are unsure what to do with him. HELP
 
If you buy the baby a seat I would use a car seat. At under 24 months baby sat on a lap.
 
If you can afford the extra seat just use their car seat if it is airline approved. I don't think an almost 1 year old has the needed body strength for a cares but that is an option if they meet all the requirements.



A little off topice but Lap infants are really only safe in ideal conditions. If you hit bad turbulance it can be very hard to hold on to a little one. I still remember the poor baby who smacked their head open as we were landing because of the hard stop we made. Even adults braced themselves to not hit the seat in front of them. Turbulance can be just as bad if not worse.
 

We just held them at that age. And that is not the safest. If you can afford the extra seat, the car seat is a bit easier so you have a place to park the baby and the baby can be safely strapped in.
 
Yes we are buying him a seat no matter what. Thank you for all the info. I think we will just take his car seat with us. Thanks again :)
 
We put our son on our lap and will until he hits 2 to save money. It has worked out very well.
 
Our son was 13mo for his first plane ride and he sat on our lap. We lucked out with an empty seat next to us, so we had that. On the way home he bounced from my lap to DH's. This time around, he will be 28mo and have his own seat with the CARES harness.
 
Our LO was too big to sit in our lap the whole flight, so we got him a seat. When he was 9 months old, he slept in his infant car seat, and it fit fine in the seat. When he was 15 months old, we had the bigger car seat, and we needed an extension strap to hold it in place. The flight attendant can get you one.
 
We will be holding our then 11 month old. She despises her car seat, so for everyone's sake, I'll just entertain her in my lap.
 
Yes we are buying him a seat no matter what. Thank you for all the info. I think we will just take his car seat with us. Thanks again :)
before you leave for trip make sure carseat has the airline approved sticker would hate to get to airport and find it didnt have sticker. you cant use carseat it doesn't have the sticker.
 
We took oldest dd at 19 months and bought her a seat and just buckled her with the lap belt. That didn't last too long so we ended up just holding her for most of the flight. My dd's hate being in a car seat and I'd hate to drag it all that way and she refuse to sit in it
 
We will be holding our then 11 month old. She despises her car seat, so for everyone's sake, I'll just entertain her in my lap.
remember you will not be able to use your tray table with her in your lap plus not a lot of room for her legs either sitting sideways or forward in your lap. not sure how long your flight is but will seem like forever esp if seatbelt sign is on for most of your flight. been there done it but it was not as easy as I had planned.
 
remember you will not be able to use your tray table with her in your lap plus not a lot of room for her legs either sitting sideways or forward in your lap. not sure how long your flight is but will seem like forever esp if seatbelt sign is on for most of your flight. been there done it but it was not as easy as I had planned.

My flight is only 2 hours.

We are stuck at dance for a sibling most days so we are pretty good at the lap entertainment.

I'm actually hoping she'll fall asleep since our flight is around nap time, but we will see. I've got DH to trade off with if I need a break. A kid screaming like they're being murdered for 2 hours probably seems like an eternity as well ;P
 
If you are buying the extra seat already, I would just take the car seat to be on the safe side. On our last flight which was only roughly 2 hours, we hit pretty bad turbulence the whole flight and I almost wish my 3 year old had his car seat!
 
My flight is only 2 hours.

We are stuck at dance for a sibling most days so we are pretty good at the lap entertainment.

I'm actually hoping she'll fall asleep since our flight is around nap time, but we will see. I've got DH to trade off with if I need a break. A kid screaming like they're being murdered for 2 hours probably seems like an eternity as well ;P
mine was a 5 hour nonDisney flight and a screaming toddler who just wanted to move and nothing else. not a fun flight for anyone and it was naptime finally fell asleep just as we landed only to be woken up to get off.
 
We just got back from a trip with our 13 month old. I'm so glad we bought a seat for her. It was just a 2.5 hour flight, but I think even if your baby is very laid back, they will most likely want to wiggle away and get down. That was kind of our issue the whole trip- too much time in the stroller was not cool with her! I'd recommend planning lots of breaks and time in the hotel for baby to play, especially if they aren't walking yet like ours.
 
before you leave for trip make sure carseat has the airline approved sticker would hate to get to airport and find it didnt have sticker. you cant use carseat it doesn't have the sticker.
what does the sticker look like????
 


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