Occupying a 1 year old

[Disney Princesses LW]

Hi there was a post a while back on tips to entertain children on the long Florida flight

We travelling with Virgin so hopefully the kids tv Bd food will occupy for couple of hours


Any more tips for travelling with a 12 month old?
We have ordered a sky cot on the Virgin flight so praying she's sleep

 

[scoobydooby]

I think not allowing them to get overtired before hand so you have a hope of keeping them in a normal ish sleep routine. Not been funny in any way at all, but there is nothing worse on a flight than a screaming baby/toddler. Are they walking? Walking them up and down the plane would be a good distraction possibly.

 

[Mrs Stonfiesta]

We are travelling with our 11.5 month old in October and I am planning lots of snacks, a few small new toys, lots of walking round the plane, nappies changes for a change is scenery... I also have a ergo baby carrier so if he won't sleep in the sky cot (have heard that they aren't suitable for 1 year olds) that he will at least sleep in that. They also do a thing where you can pay £60 to book the empty seat next to you on some flights (available on both ours) so we might do that so we at least have some extra space. We have dd who will be 5 in sept so hoping she is some entertainment for him!

 

[flortlebap]

How many people are going with you?

When my DD was that age, we went as a trip of 12, so she passed her time crawling on any family member who would have her, lol.

IFE doesn't work too well at that age though IIRC. A big bag of toys and crayons and plenty of snacks should do the trick!

 

[poppyberry]

Mt DS was 14 months when we flew last year. He was entertained by the amenity pack, especially the toothbrush for ages! We took toys, books and colouring too but the amenity pack was his favourite! He ate, played with the flight attendants and couple of walks up and down the plane and a sleep. That with nappy and outfit changes occupied him the whole flight. He even stayed up our first night until about 8.30. We go again in 3 weeks, he's 2 and vocal now - I think this one will be harder!

 

[Elise79]

I would plan on her not fitting in the sky cot - DD nearly fit at 9 months. She was well under on the height but length was a big issue. On the day flight it was nice to sit her in it though and she could play.

I just took several small toys for her - some plastic keys, stacking cups, couple of touch and feel books. All new and small

 

[Disney Princesses LW]

Thanks for the fab advice
She's it walking yet so hopefully few crawls down the plane will wear her out
There is 7 of us so hopefully one of us will manage to get her to sleep - the baby carrier is a good idea

 

[Disney Princesses LW]

She likes the film despicable me (!!) how do I download that so she can watch on my iPad ?

 

[ninamouse]

I took my DS (now 8) to Orlando when he was 19 months old. I wrapped up some little presents for him (toy cards, books, chocolate buttons etc) and gave him one every hour. The novelty of unwrapping the little present, as well as something new to distract him very every hour, worked a treat!

 

[Wills Mom]

We brought our 14 month old last year. He was great on both flights. Made sure to have plenty of snacks, kept his hydrated as much as possible and encouraged naps as often as I could manage them. Keeping him fed and stopping him getting over tired did wonders! As for occupying him I brought reusable stickers and lots of different coloured post its and he stuck them every where. We had the skycot given to us but he was way too big for it obviously. We did find that the extra leg room was fantastic as we put him on the floor at our feet with a couple of toys or stickers or whatever and he happily played for ages. We also put him on the floor on layers of blankets for his naps and he was much happier there than he would have been in my arms. I also had finger puppets which he loved and a few board books, as well as a familiar toy or two from home!
On a separate note, I can't stress the importance of bringing a change of clothes for both you and your child. We had an incident on our return flight where a passenger dropped a bottle of whiskey from the overhead compartments and it drenched both myself and DS, if I hadnt had spare clothes we would have been in a bad way having to smell like a drunk for the rest of the journey!!

 

[pickers1982]

We brought our 14 month old last year. He was great on both flights. Made sure to have plenty of snacks, kept his hydrated as much as possible and encouraged naps as often as I could manage them. Keeping him fed and stopping him getting over tired did wonders! As for occupying him I brought reusable stickers and lots of different coloured post its and he stuck them every where. We had the skycot given to us but he was way too big for it obviously. We did find that the extra leg room was fantastic as we put him on the floor at our feet with a couple of toys or stickers or whatever and he happily played for ages. We also put him on the floor on layers of blankets for his naps and he was much happier there than he would have been in my arms. I also had finger puppets which he loved and a few board books, as well as a familiar toy or two from home! On a separate note, I can't stress the importance of bringing a change of clothes for both you and your child. We had an incident on our return flight where a passenger dropped a bottle of whiskey from the overhead compartments and it drenched both myself and DS, if I hadnt had spare clothes we would have been in a bad way having to smell like a drunk for the rest of the journey!!

Ditto the clothes shout. Vomit was not a good smell to be sporting!

 

[k8Davies]

We are travelling with our 11.5 month old in October

I'm Travelling with my 11.5 Month old boy in October as well. Heading out there for his First Birthday - leaving on the 7th October.

Actually I'm really anxious about the flight. Even upgraded to Virgin PE when I realised that he would be too big for the Sky Cot and we'd have to have him on our laps. Then on Friday had a bit of a nightmare trying to get seats we wanted. I finally got us two seats at the back out of the way as he's just a bundle of energy and I want to be as least disruptive as possible.

Have a feeling that its going to be a very eventful 8+hours as there's only two of us flying out (meeting the rest of our party a few days later) but it is good to know other people are attempting trips with little ones.

I do have a question does anyone know if you can ask them to stagger meals if you've got a little one? As I think it would be an impossibility for both of us to eat at the same time with him on one of our laps. He's very wriggle and I envisioning him kicking the tray table up in the air

 

[novice101]

Were heading out in sept for our little ones first birthday too!

 

[DisneyB2B]

We are heading out with our DD2 it will be her first time and ours as a family

 

[poppyberry]

I'm Travelling with my 11.5 Month old boy in October as well. Heading out there for his First Birthday - leaving on the 7th October. Actually I'm really anxious about the flight. Even upgraded to Virgin PE when I realised that he would be too big for the Sky Cot and we'd have to have him on our laps. Then on Friday had a bit of a nightmare trying to get seats we wanted. I finally got us two seats at the back out of the way as he's just a bundle of energy and I want to be as least disruptive as possible. Have a feeling that its going to be a very eventful 8+hours as there's only two of us flying out (meeting the rest of our party a few days later) but it is good to know other people are attempting trips with little ones. I do have a question does anyone know if you can ask them to stagger meals if you've got a little one? As I think it would be an impossibility for both of us to eat at the same time with him on one of our laps. He's very wriggle and I envisioning him kicking the tray table up in the air

We travelled in UC out, PE return for our trip, no problem for them to stagger your meals. The crew were really helpful

 

[khibs]

I have a DS who is now 2 and we have done 4 flights with him to Orlando since he was 10 months old & he has been great on them all. Don't get me wrong it is hard work keeping them entertained but fingers crossed so far we haven't experienced a bad flight with him! We make sure he doesn't get over tired & always give him and our daughter (5) calpol before the flight just in case it hurts there ears or anything! I also always give him his milk on take off which he tends to go to sleep on! New toys books are great as they keep them interested for longer, favourite snacks, stickers, magazine and on this last trip my son had a peppa pig obsession so we watched numerous episodes of this. The crew have always been super helpful with us & will hold your meal for you if you ask. At the end of the day even if it's the worst 8 hours you can imagine your going to be in DisneyWorld so it's all worth it!!

 

[Mrs Stonfiesta]

We are going on the 15th - shame we aren't on the same flight as they could have kept each other company! We travelled with dd at 6 months, 18 months, 2.5 years and 3.5 years and she has always been fine but harder work the older she got! Hoping that this will be her best yet at 5 years and that leaves us both time to tag team ds. Although I am hopefully he will do ok, this is our first time fly va as we have always gone with BA and we have always found BA fab for travel with kids but hoping va are better. Going to ring them tomorrow and ask what the protocol is with the sky cot as it would be useful to get bulkhead seats even if we only used the cot for storage.

 

[k8Davies]

We travelled in UC out, PE return for our trip, no problem for them to stagger your meals. The crew were really helpful

That's brilliant, thanks for the info