long distance flight with 1 year old.. please help

[neilsmum]

Flying to san francisco tomorrow with 1 year old son.the flight is 11 hours long and i am dreading it. how do i keep him amused?dont want to take any noisy toys to avoid being a nuisance to other passengers.tips greatly appreciated.

[purplemonkeydishwasher]

I took my ds on a flight to canada last year when he was 7.5 mo. it wasn't too bad. get some new toys that he's never played with before. food is always a good distraction. or when all else fails walk up and down the aisles with him.

[whizzymummy]

I took my 15 month old ds to Canada last month and was dreading it too but it wasn't that bad. Take lots of books and toys, try and get a bulk head so he can sit on the floor and play. Mostly though, once they had done serving food and drinks, he ran around the aisles and the stewards were great, no problem with him going in to see them. Way out was a day flight which was ok. If it is a night flight like our return I would recommend giving lots of time for him to run around in the airport and tire him out first. It worked well with us and thank god as when he woke up for 1 hour in the middle the whole plane was dark and it was very boring for him. Also take lots of extra food as ours hated the airline food. Good luck!

[whizzymummy]

ps don't forget he he has some fav. toys that are noisy that there is lots of background noise on the plane - noisy toys (and even crying!) won't actually sound that loud even a few rows back.

[Elsbells]

Lots and lots of snacks! We did the same flight when DS was 13 months last yr and we had lots of food handy and we let him sleep on us most of the flight (we didn't rest BUT at least he was ok).
Good luck

[PestoMonster]

Some airlines give out kids goody bags too, who are you flying with?

[barefeete]

Presents for him to open every hour helped me with my DS then 18 months. I gave him a new book to open every hour and then a few new cars (which was his passion at the time) the following hour. Also loads of snacks like sandwiches cut up into cubes and fruit sticks, fruit purrees like frutapura ones and homemmade cup cakes . I also took a beeny squishy pillow thing which helped him to snuggle up on when he slept and that helped alot (he slept for 4 hours in total) and i also took his fluffy all in one sleep suit to put him to sleep in, a nice blanket from home would work well though as it gets cold with the air con in the flight. Drinks were a problem for me but at the English airports you can get friut smoothies to take on board with you when you have gone through the departures and that worked well mixed with water.

[barefeete]

Just remembered running around the airport was a huge saver and knackered him out bigtime, also change of nappy before you get on the plane as the loos are so small to do it on board so if you do it before hand that will at least get 1 change out of the way!

Good luck, he will be fine and you will be just really knackered but!!

I did it with an 18 month old and a 3 week old baby [ ahhhhhhhh screaming and sobbing at the memory!]

[RBH]

I did the same flight with a 10 month old. A lovely lady from the reusable nappy loan place emailed me a list of top tips. Too long to post here but email me at [email protected] if you want me to forward it.