Ideas please for 8 hr flight with 18mth old

[flossythesheep]

Has anyboby got any good ideas for keeping an 18 month old amused for part of an 8hr flight we are about to take. He has his own seat as as per a suggestion we are putting his car seat onto the seat in the plane so he has somewhere familiar to sit in.

why are you putting his car seat on the plane?
i travelled a lot with my first baby, and the car seat idea seems horrific. why would you want to tie your child in so he cant move for that long?/
my suggestions are,
1 get the seats at the front of a cabin, more leg room, and when he falls asleep you can put him in the cot they give, assuming it is the one that fits on the floor or the table, and not the ceiling thing.
2, colouring book and pens/pencils/crayons.
3, book to read.
4, fuzzy felts from elc.
5, his own little pram blanket type thing as it gets vry cold on planes and the blankets they give are itchy,and it will be nice to have something familiar.
6, snacks he likes, eg cheesesticks etc.
7, bottle of milk, unless you are still breastfeeding, in which casse very easy.
8, hi juice cup.
9, a relaxed attitude, willingness to let him walk up and down the aisle to stretch his legs.
10 lots and lots of wipes, and nappies, and at least two full changes of clothes.
good luck

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plane seats are uncomfortbale enough,
sorry,m the idea of te h car seat is just horrifying to me.

also, would be an idea to have the little pushchair with you as well.

I looked into this when we flew to the US and discovered that car seats are by far the safest way for children to travel on planes for take off, landing and turbulence. The seatbelts on the regular seats are not designed for children and there were studies which showed they could actually be harmful. US based carriers don't even offer the seatbelt that attaches to the adults for infants on laps. On our flight I had to hold DD on my lap and try not to think of the film 'Fearless' (Rosie Perez can't hold onto her baby when the plane crashes).

DS wasn't tied into his the whole time, he sat in it like we sat down, wandered around but was fastened in when we had to put our seatbelts on.

I would recommend getting a new toy to give him on the plane something he has never seen before. Also if you take a small selection of toys don't give them to him all at once, let him play with one and when gets bored swap for something else and rotate them. From my experience flying with DD most people on the plane were friendly and talked to her and staff too. One even took her for a walk round the plane to give us a break. Really wasn't worth all the stressing I did before hand. So long as you have food, drinks and toys you will be fine.

the car seat idea is fine flossy, if he's comfortable in his car seat it will be much more comfortable than the booster seat they provide...the cots are too small for an 18 month old, they won't give you one if he's that old. i've just done a return flight to NYC with 16 1/2 month old boisterous ds, it was fine. expect the worst and it will be great. have a bag with lots of little new things in (the biggest hit of mine was a thomas the tank engine sticker thing, with vinyl stickers taht he could take off and put on the background bit...but any little pocket money toys that you can pull out for novelty will be good. bring some snacks and drinks (you don't know that he may not like the airplane food, and frankly feeding him will take some time). bring some medised, if he is really in a state and can't get to sleep cause of all the stimulation and noise, give him a spoon. he will sleep for some of the flight, he'll eat for some of it, he'll toddle around the plane with you in tow for some of it, and he'll play for some of it, and yes, he may cry a bit, but you'll all be ok. remember that planes are really noisy (the background aircon hum and the engines...even if he does cry for a bit, only the peopel in v close proximity to you will even hear him, and frankly they'll have their earphones on watching films. make sure he has a drink on take off and landing and his ears will be fine. if he's into tractors/lorries etc he'll love the airport as it's full of them...you'll be just great hth

my sister recommended a toy/book/thing for every 15 mins of the flight, they only have to be tiny things (my ds occupied himself with a contact lens case for half an hour!, needless to say an empty one), but i think that's good advice.

One of those magnetic drawing boards would be good - then you're not constantly retrieving bits of paper and lost crayons from the floor.

We took dd on several long haul flights when she was 15mo. Agree with the others here - loads of snacks, little toys including a couple of new ones and some familiar stuff. Plenty to drink. Be prepared for very cramped changing facilities.

Just thought, when I flew I had a bag with lots of compartments and made sure everything was organised eg. all the changing stuff together and all food together, I knew where everything was so could grab what i needed quickly. Also sophable's right about the noise I took a noisy toy as a last resort and when I got it out we couldn't even hear it on the loudest setting.

Thanks everybody. We are flying with a US carrier and they reccomended the seat. I think that "Stitch" got the wrong idea, its not to tether him in for the full 8 hrs, the reason is as gem13 said. The cots are far too small for his age, more for a small baby. Medised...... from the gods! great for teething too.

yes, i actually did think you were going to let him sit in it for 8 hours. glad thats clarified.
But i still think it is a bad idea. taking the car seat with you will be awkward. whilst most car seats are not particularly heavy, they are awkward shapes to carry, and where do you put it when it is not in use?
and as for the plane crashing scenario? well, plane travel is statistically the safest. you are far and away more likely to die of something in the home than the scenario described. in my opinion the negative bits ofthe car seat outway iany possible advantages.

My DD is familiar with her car seat and sleeps well in it -- it makes a great space for her on an airplane. If she's not sitting in it, it stays in the seat and she moves around. An airplane seat without something in it is far too big for her.

And airplanes are very safe, but unrestrained babies are much less safe than other passengers. Studies show that unrestrained babies die 9.6 times as often as restrained adults.

Gin. For you, obviously! Not being unhelpful, but I've travelled a lot with 4 kids (dd notched up country 24 - Estonia - this weekend). The best thing you can take on board is a relaxed, flexible attitude - kids pick up so quickly on your stress (!) so try to avoid it (!!) I'd echo the hints given already, but hand out a NEW BOOK, MINI TOY ETC EVERY HALF HOUR OR SO and don't panic if they have more than usual junky food. It's only 8 hours, not a lifetime and you need to retain your sanity. It may all go perfectly ( more often than not it has for me and I often used to travel alone with 3 under 3s) but if it doesn't you'll never see the other people again, and you can bet loads of them have been in the same boat as you at some time. Ignore any negative stares - if they aren't prepared to put up with kids they should have flown club at the very least. I'll never forget someone refusing to sit next to me and 3 kids only to have an old lady chuck up all over him! Laugh? I even stuck my tongue out at him (not recommended). As a well travelled mum (dh's job, not wealth unfortunately) I've found most people are positive and helpful.