Flying to Canada with a 1 year old, any tips and what do I need to know ie formula etc!

[mummytowillow]

Were flying to Canada on a 7 hour flight with our 1 year old daughter, she isn't crawling yet but does bum shuffle so isn't that thrilled about sitting on knees!

So has anyone got any tips on how to entertain her for 7 hours, I'm hoping she is going to sleep for most of it but what do I do if she doesn't!! Someone said to give her a dose of Medised but I thought that had been banned for 1 year olds and I'm also worried about altitude and its effects if I did do that?

What am I allowed to take on the flight, food wise and can I take water in her bottle with formula measured out or do I have to take ready made cartons? Do they have changing tables in the loo's or is it a knee job? Should I take her buggy to the plane or put it in with the rest of luggage, it seems along time to carry her around?

I'm so nervous about taking her, so any tips would be gratefully received!

we did an 8 hr flight to aruba with DS when he was 11 months, you will be fine!
there will be changing tables in some of the toilets but they are just fold down wooden things over the toilet so taking a mat is a good idea. we always ask to keep the buggy until the gate and then try to find a helpful steward to put it somewhere on the plane where it can be retrieved easily so we then have it back straight away rather than waiting til baggage reclaim. Entertaining your DD will be hard work (no sitting back watching films for you!) but it is do-able. We took DS for lots of walks around the plane, looked at the clouds out of the window, read stories, sung songs (sorry to the people sitting near us ) played silly games like peekaboo and round and round the garden, 'watched' snippets of a brightly coloured kids film, did pretty frequent nappy changes just for something to do and fed DS loads. Breadsticks are good news. And silly things like empty plastic glasses amused DS. Just keep changing activities.

Flights make babies thirsty so take more than you'd normally expect to use for 10 hours.

You can buy ready-made cartons from Boots on the other side of airport security and take water/powder separately for the rest.

Check your buggy at the gate

If you have a sling you still use or carrier type thing, take it as hand luggage - it's a long walk without a buggy at the other end.

Ask for bulk-head seats so that they can put up a sky-cot/crib, if they offer them.

You've had some good advice on in-flight entertainment!

Take your UK brand of powdered formula in checked luggage, European brands are not available in Canada and the Canadian ones are confusing.