Long haul flight with 14 mth old

[Zohop76]

I am travelling to California in September with my hubby and son who will be 14 mths. I am slighty anxious as the furthest we have flown is Malta when he was 5 mths and that was OK but 14 hours with a mobile toddler is a different ballgame!
Does anyone have any travel tips, prefered airlines etc?

There are a lot of previous threads on this sort of thing.
I've gone to CA a lot with toddlers about that age.
I am the annoying parent who lets them walk around a lot, you're supposed to anyway to avoid DVT, right?

If you book a flight for their night-sleep time you will get a lot more peaceful flight, but be prepared for horrific jetlag afterwards, when they are wide awake and you just want to crash. If you do fly when they should be asleep, drink some wine to make sure you nap a bit too.

I've flown with BA and Continental, and BA wins hands down.

OH, and Big Tip for the outbound flight, fly as far as you can with a baby-cot option (so direct flight from UK into LA/SFO whatever) if at all possible. Because you'll have somewhere to put them down right when they are most tired. You don't want to end up with them on your lap only for say, a leg from NYC to LA, only to have them exhausted and crying their heads off because they can't sleep properly in your arms.

Go to your local poundshop and randsack the place. Lots of cheap toys, and interesting bits and pieces (even things like plastic balls threaded onto a shoe lace will amuse). Wrap each one up in cheap wrapping paper, and allow one to be opened every half hour or whatever. He'll probably get more enjoyment out of opening/shredding the paper but hey ho

Lots of snacks - although veer more towards bread sticks/rice cakes/sandwiches rather than jelly tots/smarties etc

Although the longest flight I have done with ds (nearly 3) is 5 hours, I found that having a little schedule helps - break it down into half hour/hour segements. First 1/2 hour, settling in, looking round, 2 one little snack, next one opening a present..etc etc for the full 12 hours.

Dont count on much sleep, anything is a bonus. Dont worry about what anyone is thinking of you - chances are you'll never see any of these people again.

Oh and a dvd player and couple of cbeebies dvds can be a life saver - especially for quiet/getting off to sleep time.

I went to Barbados (8 hour flight) with DD when she was 15 months old. It was actually brilliant - we went well prepared and she behaved herself through out. Take lots of finger food, Ella's Kitchen pouches, etc. And a couple of new books and games to be presented to your DS on the plane. Something like Aquadraw is brilliant.

Get bulkhead seats (we went Premium and it was definitely worth it imo) and more than anything, make friends with your fellow passengers...them playing peekaboo with your DS could well distract him for ages. Definitely agree that taking him for lots of walks up & down the aisle is a good idea.

I was still breastfeeding DD at that time and just offered her milk on take-off and landing and any time in between that she wanted it.

Good luck, and it is highly likely to be less bad than you're thinking.

We've just returned from Denver with a 15 month old.

We were in premium bulk head seats and basically made a little play area for her which was great. I know on BA you have to pay to select your seats now but i think it is worth paying if you have a little one to guarantee the bulk head.

We kept her awake until the flight and she fell asleep on take off and i'm sure if it hadn't have been for the hostie shouting at my husband that she was so cute sleeping she would have slept for longer than 45 mins. We then entertained her for the rest of the flight, she had a slight wig out about an hour before we landed but after that she was fine.

I agree with Rindercella just go really prepared with toys! We also had an iPod touch and played her fave songs and she danced in front of us for quite a while!

On the way back she fell asleep after the lights were dimmed and slept all the way. BA crew on the return were FABULOUS!! on the way out terrible.....

A really good friend said to me just remember one thing; you will never see the people again so if your little one screams - who cares! in 8 hours time you will be in California and on holiday!

Have fun!