Tips for taking an 11 month old on a 4 1/2 hour flight!?!

[REIDmylips]

title says it all really. I'm taking ds on his first holiday next weekend. There will be lots of family members on the flight (12 of us in total) but tbh i am dreading the flight!! any tips/suggestions?

Find out if its a busy flight. If not its worth getting there early and see if you can have an aisle and a window seat, leaving the middle seat free. Yes he is too young go officially sit in it, but at least he can stretch out on it. Other than that, yes loads of food to keep him munching. Oh and be very very nice to everyone else on the flight ( not so difficult if loads of relatives there) you may need their help.

hi there
i am flying for the second time from malaysia to UK (13 hours) in a few weeks... i am also dreading it!

the first time she was 9 months and did not sleep mre than 2 hours in total..

now she is 16 months and just learned to walk... she is a light sleeper and so even tho it is a night flight i doubt she will sleep much... my doc gave me phenargan... my sister swears by it.. have anyone had bad experiences with it? some people say it can give the kids nmightmares, or make them hyper...

I flew to the UK from Australia on my own with my 10mo and used phenergan. It really helped.

You need to test it on them a couple of weeks before the flight in case they do have a bad reaction (you don't want to find that out on the plane).

It didn't knock dd out completely, which would have been a bit worrying, she was just really drowsy and easier to settle to sleep.

I booked a bassinette when I booked my ticket. Your travel agent needs to state that it is 'booked' and not just 'requested', otherwise you might just be on a waiting list for one.

dd was too long for the bassinette in the end, and stayed in my arms but it was a handy place to store stuff, plus you get a bit of room in front of you.

To the original OP though - I would only recommend phenergan for long haul as effects last for a while.

Agree with all other posts, but would also add to get some saline nose drops. I find the cabin air dries dd's nose out which can be very irritating and nose drops help this a lot.

Take a change of clothes for yourself - ds vomited all over us in Brisbane just after we checked in the bags - which was a very stinky and sticky next 5 hours for us.

And with 12 adults and 1 child I really don't think there will be a problem keeping him occupied.

I've just done NZ - UK - NZ with ds (who admittedly is 4, but I did it at 6 months too) - now that's a long flight!

Having all your baby fluids and food in one ginormous resealable plastic bag does seem to endear you to the security people. They were only impatient with the people who kept finding yet another thing in their luggage.

Thanks for the advice! i think the drowsiness depends on how brave you are with the amount given... The doc gave me three different amounts i could give her, labelled, for runny nose (least), for sedation (double) and if i am really brave, for flight (triple!!) what state would one be beyond sedation?! am not too sure about the triple dose... but will def bring on the flight in case, and yes, i will def try it out first. what do you think abt giving it to her the first couple of nights once we are there to help with adjusting the jet lag?!

My 18 month has flown a few times already. I would suggest extra outfit, something to suck on at take off and landing (helps with ears), plenty of snacks, a blanket, and a couple of his favorite small toys.

Was going to suggest Calpol to help with sleep, but prob won't need it on 4.5hr flight. Useful on longer haul though if you have a baby who finds it hard to sleep in strange places...

Take him/ her to play area at airport, let them crawl as much as possible in waiting room so that a) they are tired when it comes to the flight and b) they have got the need to wriggle a little bit of their system!

If you have something comforting eg. a dummy, or a special teddy. My ds has a muslin cloth - we took that and it worked a treat, plus playing peek a boo with cuddly toys kept him occupied for at least 30 mins.

A sachet of calpol is always useful to have in your bag - if he really starts crying and seems uncomfortable then calpol is useful.

Sashasmama - the bottle says not to use for more than 7-10 days. But personally I wouldn't use it other than for the flight as a one off. It's safety for use on under 2's hasn't been tested, so even though GP's say it's ok I'd still be cautious.

I was advised by pharmacist to give trial dose of 2-3mls, and not exceed 5 mls on the plane.

Hope you have an easy flight and a good trip!

Am really interested as trying to decide whether to go to Boston with 6 month old in october. Main worries are - possibility of flying with him on my own as husband on business trip there, and also how to deal with the time difference (5 hours behind I think). Have images of getting fractic with luggage in airport, a screaming baby all journey and then trying to find things to do with him when he wakes at 3am while people in next door hotel room get angry! Any ideas for coping with jet lag? Does it all work out ok or is it a real nightmare? And is it easy to get back on track when you return home? Help!

Went to Canada with my dd at 12 months. was great, no problems, based on the following tips!

book night flights where possible

buy those straps that attach toys to pushchairs/car seats and use them to attach a few toys to the plane seat/the tray in front of you and the buggy at all other times, saves bending down all the time when they fling them on the floor and/or losing things

medised....can't stress this one enough!! but do put it in a small bottle as per the airline rules on taking meds/liquids, the bottle must not exceeed a 200ml capacity.

ready bottles of milk and disposable bottles (if yr baby is not breast fed)loads of wet wipes and changes of clothes/sleepsuits worked well for us. remember it is actually often hot on planes, i forgot this and took too many layers for our dd. she did get filthy dirty though!

paper disposible bibs, saves carrying around dirty milky cloth ones.

sorry if these points have already been made, i didn't have a chance to read all the posts!

PS BrightonNm.....don't worry about the jetlag, just get a night flight and dose him/her up with medised. the younger they are the easier the jetlag. just get them out in the sunlight when you want them awake...this is really important. use dark/light to get them to sleep or be awake to get their diurnal rythms going!! don't stress, your jetlag is much more likely to be the problem than theirs! also read Tracy Hoggs books on travelling with baby. (not sure if its the baby or the toddler one but lots of helpful tips)

hope this helps!!

BrightonNm, we are just back from Boston with 16mth old. We have done a few flights with him and can honestly say it is much easier travelling with a 6mth old than it is when they get a bit older.

DS coped really well with the jet lag. We all woke up super early the first two mornings, but that was partly because we rented an appartment for a couple of nights and the blinds didn't block out the light that well. On the way back he slept for a lot of the flight but was quite wriggly so we didn't get much sleep, however we had arranged in advance to go back to my Mum & Dads so they looked after him whilst we got some rest. Next night he slept from 7pm to 10.00am and was completely back to normal after that.

I haven't travelled on my own with DS but on the flight was a lady on her own with a 4 year old and a baby. I think it would be fine once you have off loaded your luggage, people are generally very helpful when you have a young baby. I drove and took a ferry to visit relatives with DS on my own when he was about 6 months.

Oh and try and get a direct flight, I think it would be a bit stressful if you had to change.

I'd say go for it, its really worth it.

hi brightonnim,

yes i also agree that at 6 months it is a lot easier because they still cannot really fight the urge to sleep yet, unlike a toddler... if i am travelling alone i will definitely leave the pushchair and just use a baby carrier. I used an Ergo baby carrier and it was brilliant. only thing to watch out for is that her legs stick out on either side of me, and i crashed her feet into quite a lot of things by not thinking about the space i needed to pass thru narrow spaces, etc!

when we flew Emirates from Kuala Lumpur to UK, during the transit at Dubai they provided complimentary pushchairs... but i don't know how common this is. on my flight to uk there was a lady who was travelling solo with her 6 month old form oz to UK... now that's dedication! she coped brilliantly tho, had the baby attached to her all the time in a baby bjorn (even when he slept) and had both hands free to carry all the luggage, eat, read books etc...

hi kazza25:
about your comment on ready bottles of milk: how long in advance would you say is safe to prepare the milk (i use powdered formula). it was definitely a kerfuffle making the milk on board cos we had to ask the stewardess to fill her bottle with warm water, and explain that it should be not too warm etc, then she'll come back with boiling hot water, then we'll say a bit cooler and she'll come back with stone cold water...! am thinking this time to just use stone cold water since she didn't seem to mind it!

Hi Sashasmama i mean the ones that you buy ready made, eg my dd was on aptamil and they do little mini bottles of made up (uht i guess) milk of 200ml. they're already at room temp. i know you can also buy cartons of 200ml. hth

Great thread as I'm flying to Australia with DD 8 months next week. Spoke to some other mums who have said some good points:

Water on plane isn't boiled but 'heated'. Therefore best to use bottled water and then sit in their 'heated' water.

Apparantly you can reserve baby stuff with the Boots past passport control.... I am going to investigate this and will report back. Therefore I'll buy cartons and get them to open on plane if possible.

Have been through when asked to open cartons and again when they've been fine to let me go through.

Just called Boots T4 Heathrow and they will make sure there is stock in if you call a few days before flight. They do SMA, Aptamil and Cow & Gate

Phenergan - must try it before flight. Friend immigrated to Oz with 3 under 5, two of which were hyper on phenergan and didn't sleep for the entire 36 hours, just got increasingly agitated. 3rd child slept the whole way, so you never can tell.

Have masses of tips about flying long haul with 6-12-18 month babies, but not about my person.... will add if it hasn't all be done by this evening.

I've also heard about Phenergen backfiring, even when tried out beforehand.

I think giving a child something to make them sleep on a flight is an ethically grey area.

Kazza - Can you tell me where to get those attaching straps from? Sounds like a great idea as I had dropped toy scenario on short haul which was very boring!!

You can get the toy straps in some Tescos and also at John Lewis.

AM flying to US on Monday with 21 month old! We have a seat for him but does anyone know anything about taking car seats on board? In the states it is standard practice to take it on the plane and the kids goes in it in their seat. Can we do the same? We are flying BA.

I'm flying back to UK from NZ with 10 month old daughter. Planning to take pre filled bottles of water and adding sachets of Formula later - will they let me on the plane with bottles already filled with tap water as I understand that you are not supposed to use bottled water for Babies formula due to high levels of carbonates, sodium etc?? Re flight - we leave at 2pm arrive singapore at 8.30pm and then leave for UK at 9am following morning - thought this would allow us a decent nights sleep couldn't face doing this flight in one go, has anyone else had experience of travelling from NZ to UK - if so would love to hear from you

I have flown between Australia and the UK twice on my own with DD, who was 5 months and 10 months on each occasion.

They are more relaxed re bottles of water etc when it is for a baby. I took pre-boiled water in a 500ml bottle and it was no problem.

I flew Qantas and the crew were really helpful - even taking dd for a walk round the plane so I could have a little break.

If you are arriving at Heathrow, there are porters at baggage collection who can help you get your bags and wheel them through customs and arrivals for you. It is free for people travelling with children.

The flight probably wont be as bad as you expect. I actually found having a baby to look after made the time pass a lot more quickly and the flight was a lot less boring.

Mostly other passengers are very understanding as well, and just want to make a fuss of your gorgeous baby!

Agree with an earlier post re jetlag - very important to get your dd outside when it's daylight, and keep it dark at night.

thank you for all your great suggestions. On the milk idea: unfortunately only powdered milk is available in malaysia, no one sells the pre-made stuff, maybe because things spoil too quickly in this heat and also it's a bit pricier.. never mind, dd will have cold milk!

toy ties are a really good idea!

what would you say is the best thing to wear (ourselves)?

I am thinking slightly stretchy yoga trousers but it's not the best look and does not flatter my bum...

or maybe a long flared skirt?...

If you don't fancy your yoga pants, have you got any thing like cargo pants or even fishermans pants? A skirt might not be quite as practical and it can get a bit cold on the plane so a bit draughty as well!

Try and wear a colour that wont show spills and muck as much, and if you have enough room in your hand luggage pack spare clothes for you as well as your baby.

A friend's dd did a massive poo at the airport before their flight. When she picked her up it squelched out her nappy and ran down my friends trousers. She had to go and buy a fresh pair!