Toddler on Plane advice

[Sooze]

I'm sure there is already a thread out there about this.. if so, show me the way!

I'm traveling in September with an 18 month old. We have about a 2 hour flight (DIRECT, thank the Lord) from Indy to Orlando. I have always avoided taking any child under the age of 4 on a plane, but I am doing it... ugh!

Any tips? Advice? Stories? I'll take anything I can get to make sure she doesn't ruin everyone else's flight! She's pretty low-key right now, but we still have two months to go, and you know how toddlers change over night!

Our flight leaves Indy at 9:15, lands at 11:30. Returning home, we leave Orlando at 11:50, land at 2:11. We did buy a seat for her, and plan on bringing the car seat to strap her in... unless we hear otherwise!

Thanks everyone!

 

[belle&beast]

Our DS turned 2 on our trip and I was going to suggest to bring her carseat. My kids knew when they were in their seats, they had to sit and stay there until the trip was over. We had lots of snacks, sippy cups for take off and landing to help with ear pressure and I bought all kinds of new things to pull out during our flight. It went really well and we had no problems, in fact he even slept for part of the flight. I am almost more worried about our next flight with an almost 4 year old busy boy!

 

[Ariel8676]

I have been flying with my girls since my oldest was 8 months.
Stickers, pipe cleaners, the new Crayola that only writes on the special paper are all good to keep busy. Make sure you have snacks and a drink.
You can buy one or two small "gifts" (dollar store is good for this) and wrap them seperately, with either wrapping paper or aluminum foil (which would give you another "toy"..lol
This is just a few things, im sure everything will be fine. If she cries oh well, dont get stressed...you will be on a flight to Orlando and chances are there will be a lot of children.

 

[Sooze]

Thanks, good stuff so far.

Shannon, the names of your daughters are absolutely beautiful!!

 

[islandmum]

for just a 2 hour flight she'll probably hardly notice it.

after the thrills of taking off, loking out the windows, seeing the clouds fly by, a little bit of colouring, maybe a walk up and down the plane, see the loos etc.. you'll be sitting back down ready for landing.

 

[Ariel8676]

Thanks!

 

[stacy6552]

YES YES YES. Bring the carseat and use it. You shouldnt give any thought to doing otherwise.

Bring juice boxes to serve up during take off and landing. Two for each part because she could be more or less sensative at different alitude changes.

Get yourself a carseay dufflebag for the airport, its worth whatever you have to pay for it.

You've had a lot of great ideas, but I think a portable dvd player is the way to go. You'll have time for one Disney movie during the time you can have your electronics on. Plus its great for the long stay in the airports too. Bring the AC adaptor and plug in at the airport and save the battery for the plane.

 

[KandiB47]

I am in the same boat coming up this fall. I don't think people will be able to bring juice boxes. Remember no liquids or gels?

 

[Alicnwondrln]

my son turned 3 in FEB and he has gone 3 times already
we always use the car seat and fly jetblue
hes never really been bad (knock on wood)
the TV helps on jetblue and I bring snacks, his cup with the straw to help when taking off and landing. THis year I plan on bringing some paper and markers to.

anyone use earplanes for themselves or the kids?

 

[k386trl]

Just want to thank you guys for planning in advance to make your baby/toddler comfortable on the flight. I feel so bad when there is a child upset on a plane and the parents just ignore them or have nothing to entertain them with, or let them run up and down the aisles to keep them busy (happened on my last flight, the parents suggested her kids "race" flight attendents loved that one). I agree with the portable dvd player, I've seen people use them with a lot of success. They get to watch their favorite shows and 2 hours will just fly by, heck I use it to keep me busy

 

[las3888]

We have taken our 27 month old on 8 flights now...most of them to WDW and we are not far from you, so our flight is about 2 1/2 hrs each way. It seems like a short time, but when you are in the middle of the flight, it just couldn't go SLOWER! Anyways, our best trick BY FAR has been the DVD player. Our DS won't watch tv continuously for 2.5 hrs, but it is good for at least an hour and sometimes more. We throw all TV rules out the window and just go for it. We bring a variety of tapes. We have found the shows he watches at home often are not what he wants on the plane (go figure?). We have used earphones with him since he was about 14 mos. successfully. He does get a little irritated with them after time, so make sure they are lightweight and comfy. It's not ideal, but we have found it's really the best thing. We also bring some food or purchase a meal...this eats up a little more time. The rest of the time, we do books, stickers, magnet scene books etc. They work really well, especially if they're new.

Good luck!

 

[Sooze]

I was thinking about the liquid thing myself. I thought I'd bring an empty sippie cup, then purchase some apple juice once we're past the security checkpoint. Sound good?

 

[sebastian75_99]

All of the suggestions have been great. I think you, the parent, need to relax during the flight because your child will detect the slightest bit of anxiety and will react accordingly. Of course, you can't relax so much that you are not taking care of your child's needs. Please don't consider medicating your child. Benadryl can backfire and has been proven unsafe in children under 2. In children over 2, feel free to medicate especially if your child gets airsick. Benadryl helps with nausea. Good Luck and enjoy your trip.

 

[Sooze]

Geesh... I didn't even THINK of medicating her.. YIKES! That sounds a bit... dog-like!

It's funny, but I don't do really well on airplanes.. but when I'm flying with children (I've flown with DS several times) I am so different. When we hit turbulance, instead of grabbing the armrests and holding my breath, I'm saying, "Weeeeee, isn't this FUN!?!?" And actually, the flight goes by much faster, because I'm tending to the needs of a little one, not just playing mind games with myself So I agree, the behavior of the adult definitely helps the child!

 

[Blondiex46]

there are 6 of us going to be on the plane hopefully andrew will be ok, know my daughter hasn't thought about this one.

 

[chris4disney]

Our son has flown to WDW from Akron, Ohio at 18 months, 2.5 years, 3.5 years and will be 4.5 this coming trip in October. At 18 months we did not purchase a seat for him, but flew first class so we had a lot more room to let him stand and move around in front of us. Definitely not in the aisle though. I just don't think that's right to the other passengers. At 2.5 years, we had his car seat. That was a pain getting on and off the plane with it, but made the actual flight very easy for DS because he was familar with HIS seat. And if he fell asleep the higher straps would hold him up comfortably. Last year at 3.5 years old, we took no car seat. We did bring his Leap Frog Leapster game with several different games to play and he was just fine. Although we also had our new baby girl with us and she was 7 months old at the time!!! DH and I took turns holding her on the plane.

All of the suggestions people have given so far have been great. The one other suggestion I will give when it comes to toys... make sure that you pick toys that are not round so that if they are dropped on the floor of the plane (and they will be!!) are less likely to roll three rows back!!

Good luck! For our October trip this year, our kids will be 4.5 and 18 months. I'm not worried at all about our son at 4.5, but when we purchased our tickets several months ago we did not buy one for our DD. Technically we don't need to since she will be just 18 months when we fly, but she has really grown (she is in the 95% for both height and weight!) and become so much more mobile the past couple of months that I'm concerned she'll be a handful on the plane. The one thing going for us is that our flight down to MCO is at 6am and our flight back home is in the evening, so hopefully she'll do some sleeping on the plane!

 

[eeyore3847]

Ok, so I am traveling with my 6 yr old and 3yr old girl. My husband and I and our 11m old who will be turning one at the park. so we are flying from phx to orlando non-stop! ANy ideas on how to keep the 11m old calm for an over 5 hour flight. oh and we did not buy him a seat!

Lori

 

[SnowWhite12]

We just flew 2 hr. direct flights going and coming with DD2. Definitely use the car seat. She slept most of the way both times. Gave her dum-dum suckers to suck during take-off. Took empty sippy cup, and the flight attendants put water in them for us as soon as we boarded. (They warned us NOT to drink water out of the bathroom faucets on the plane.) She was content with her baby doll. She did get scared for about 1 minute taking off, and for about 3 minutes with bad turbulence. But we talked her through it and closed the window shade so she couldn't see during that part. Also take snacks such as animal crackers.

 

[Hoosier Mom]

I think we had the same flight with our 18 month old last September. It was his first flight. We didn't have a seat for him. He cried at first, but I pulled out a new toy (a little toy cell phone) and it caught his attention. That and cookies did the trick. We had a non-stop from Indy to Orlando. I took stickers but he didn't understand playing with stickers at that age.

On the way home, he had some cookies and he fell asleep. Be sure to pack a little stuffed toy and a blanket.

We just flew again with him last week to Buffalo (he's 2 now). We purchased a seat this time and having the carseat really helped. Gave him his Tigger & blankie and he fell asleep. Had some color wonders to entertain him while waiting to board the planes. I didn't bring the markers back out in the plane because I didn't want to hunt them down on the floor.

If you will be at the Indy airport early, there's a nice little seating area behind the chick filet. We fed him his chicken nuggets at a table beside the windows. He enjoyed watching the planes.

After we got beyond security, we got his sippy cup filled with ice water.

They searched our diaper bag. I had our liquid hand sanitizer in a little plastic baggie, but forgot about the desitin & neosporin (first aid kit). It was not a problem. However, on the way home, I tossed those 2 tubes in the little baggie as well.

Noticed you're from Avon, we're from Plainfield. Hello neighbor. Have fun on your trip. We did WDW last September. We were glad we had our mister fan along. It was hot hot hot.

For us taking the DVD player was not an option. We have one for car trips. He cries terribly when it gets turned off. Since the attendants make you turn things off to prepare for landing, we did not want to deal with our son crying.

Our trip report from 2006:http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1233888

 

[Sooze]

Thanks, neighbor! We actually live on the southern edge of Avon, so we are ALMOST in Plainfield! I'll PM you later to see how close we really are!! I'll also check out your TR!

You all have given me some great tips... and of course, I have to wait over 2 months to use them! But it will be here before I know it!

Thanks again.. keep 'em coming!