To not think flying with a 18month old will be that bad?

[Hadriansfall]

Am needing some guidance from parents who have experienced an 18 month old!

I am turning 30 next year and the plan has always been to go to the Bahamas for a couple of weeks to celebrate.

DD is our first and is currently a very well behaved baby, but as I don’t have a crystal ball I’m wondering if DH and I are crazy to think flying for 10 hours with her will be fine.

She has flown a few times already (one trip being more than 10 hours), but she slept for most of those flights so not a fair comparison.

AIBU to think an 18 month old won’t be a total nightmare to fly long distance with?

We can’t wait much longer to book as the hotel is already holding a room and has given a deadline to book of next week (they sell out quite far in advance so are lucky to have a hold!)

YABU - 18 month olds are usually awful flyers. Don’t do it

YANBU - should be fine

It is hideous travelling long haul with a toddler - tests the absolute limit of any parent and sets you to wondering why you've made certain life choices! I did it several times with mine as my family live very far away, and my god is it hard work. Just very hard work for every second of the 10 hours or however long the flight lasts. But having said that the trip on the other side always made it worth it. I don't think I would bother for 2 weeks though, you'll need 5 days to recover from the trauma and another 2 to gear up for doing it again on the return leg!!

Have you considered Center Parcs? 🤔😉

Also to those suggesting screens - beware! My current little screen addicts had no interest in them at 2. It's not an age known for sitting still for episodes of Peppa pig unfortunately, that comes later (and at that point travel becomes a breeze lol).

Bubbles on a plane?

I don’t think an 18 month old would watch screens for hours either. They just want to move/walk around.

Mine were both really good fliers. We took ds to NY at 18 months and Mauritius at 2 and he was a dream, then took them both to Barbados when dd was 18m and ds was 4 and again, no issue. We didn’t even have iPads in those days!! Take plenty of snacks and books, colours, favourite teddy etc. They will likely sleep a good chunk on the flight if they still nap anyway.

London to Cyprus when DD was 20 months. 4 hour flight. It was fine but we needed to constantly entertain her. I wouldn't have gone on anything longer, tbh.

I've done Indian Ocean with an 20 month old and Asia with a 2.5 year old. No issues

Oh yes! Poonamis! Do take changes of clothes in your carry on. I forgot DS had a mega poonami when we were still a solid 14 horus out from our destination. Thankfully I had wet wipes and many changes of clothes.

we are flying 14 hours with ours soon - shes been on heaps of flights already - its not that bad! some are a bit crap if shes in bad form but I see it as just one bad stressful day and sure then your there and on holiday so its worth it!

When my daughter was 2, I remember 2 flight attendants very sternly insisting that I must put the seatbelt on Dd before take off. I told them I was trying and they were welcome to help me. After 2 very long minutes they gave up (and one was a bloke, quite a lot bigger than me).
I don’t think I would have committed to anything over 2 hours at that age, but my kids have never been too chilled.

@Anyonebut generally people who can't get their children to comply with basic safety requirements are asked to leave the aircraft so you were lucky to be allowed to fly.

It will be worth it for 2 weeks away and that’s a long time to be away from such a small child. I think it’s a lovely time to take a child away if they’re an only child. I’d say night flight too I did it when my first was around 16/17 months and it was fine there and on the way back I was flying alone as stayed an extra week. Also 10ish hours. Night time he was still breastfeeding which helped resettle him quickly so that was a bonus. I remember some passengers on that flight super annoyed with an infant that cried and I felt really sorry for the parents. A day flight would be harder so if you can avoid that it would be ideal.