Flight advice with a 23 month old?

[nicolemomof4cuties]

P.S. I am wondering on the sticker thing to because in my experience just about every child 3 and under that I know would have the seats around them pretty decorated up with all those stickers.

 

[disneymom225]

This may be a dumb question, but how do you play with your little one using stickers? DS is 16 months old and I have never bought him stickers. He did use to play with clothing price tag stickers when he was much smaller, but then he got bored, so I haven't bothered with buying stickers for fun. Do you also buy one of those sticker books?

DD is 18 months and loves stickers. She gets a big sticker after mommy & me class and spends the next hour looking at it on her shirt. We also bought a sticker book for our trip (4 days!!!) that has lots of different stickers/ For older kids, you would use the book to make pictures and really follow the directions. For us, probably just stick them whereever! I don't know if this has been posted (maybe I did???--Jimmy Buffett last night-brain fried!) but tape--just a roll of plain tape--can be a good entertainment. Just pull off a little and let them go!

 

[cruiserkaren]

but tape--just a roll of plain tape--can be a good entertainment. Just pull off a little and let them go!

Got a good laugh out of this one! I have 3 rolls of tape packed right now. One for each flight and one for the room, in case of emergency....like trying to get dressed!!

 

[magicmato]

My pediatrician suggested that I give my DS (first flight at 20 months) some decogestant about an hour or so before boarding to help keep his nose/ears clear... helps with the popping, etc... Best of luck!!!
I know... I know... medicine for "no reason"... but it works and it's a lot better than listening to him cry in pain and agony!!!

One quick comment on this. If you are going to give a decongestant, make sure you try it on them before that day. With our oldest, she can take a decongestant fine... our youngest cannot take it because it gives her severe stomach cramps and she screams for hours after taking it.

I would hate to have someone give their child this medicine and then have them react badly as our daughter does. No one else in the family has ever had an issue with decongestants, so it was a major surprise to us.

So, perhaps it would be wise to do a trial run? Just something to think about.

 

[staci]

thanks magicmato! i would not have thought of a reaction to decongestants!

 

[Scotch]

Unless your baby has an ear infection or other known ear problems, there is no need to give any unnecessary medicine to your baby/toddler just to prevent ear popping, etc. Just make sure they are swallowing -- bring snacks, a bottle, sippy cup or nurse them at take off and landing. We have never had a trouble with DS and he's been on 5 roundtrip flights starting from the time he was 4 months old. Aside from the "giving unnecessary medicine" aspect, you just never know how your child may be affected by even the most common medications if he/she has never had them before. I remember before our first flight with baby I was all worried and I contacted our pediatrician to ask her about some posts I had read where parents give their babies Benedryl before flights to "knock them out" for the flight. (Can you believe I even had a travel agent tell me to do that on the phone!) My ped said that is a bad idea because some children has the opposite reaction to Benedryl -- it makes them hyper. I then recalled my brother telling me that he cannot take Nyquil because it keeps him wired like caffeine.