Top tips for long haul with 12mth old please!

[DetentionGrrrl]

We're flying to San Fran in June, DS will be almost 12mths then.

I've heard that packing little presents for him to unwrap on the way might help with boredom.

Any other ideas for what we can do for him?

Hi, is it a daytime or nighttime flight and have you booked it already? I find when we fly to SA (10 hours) it can be very tiring (for parents) but hugely exciting for kids. We take flights as late as possible in the evening (8 or 9pm departures) and we run him around the airport (no pushing in pram) to tire him out before boarding then board right at the end (he can't keep still and runs up and down the aisles which is a scary issue). And no, the seatbelt doesn't stop him. He usually falls asleep once we take off and then we can eat in peace. If its a daytime trip try and see if you can get a seat near the screen so he can watch the tv or if its a 747 with screens in the seat you are styling because you can distract with a bit of TV. We walk up and down the aisle looking at the people and stopping to talk to little old ladies etc and look through the window to see if we can spot other planes etc. The present idea sounds great, I would make sure they are simple and will keep your DS busy ie a pen and a picture to scribble on, little board books that he can read himself. Good luck.

Another vote for scheduling night-time flights if possible!

Can you afford to fly up front? It makes a huge diffrence when you have a little one.

We're flying in the day.

Have booked a night in Heathrow for the day before we fly and the day after we get back to UK, to ease the travelling.

We're flying with Virgin, so we have a screen per seat, which should help.