tips for flying with toddlers - longhaul flights

[lunarx]

next week, we are off to the US for 18 days with our 16 month old son in tow. its an 8hour flight there and 6.5 hour flight back.
we've never flown with him before.

so any ideas/suggestions/help/anything on how this may be? to keep him busy?

trying not to stress!! but when ds cries, he will not doubt get me some very dirty looks!

thanks!!!

We have taken DS on 4 11 hour flights. Bloody awful. Take it in turns to be 'off duty'. Save any sedation for yourself. Remember how you felt in labour: this may be horrible, but it WILL end, and the result will be worth it.
Take a few thin plastic bags (the ones supermarket fruit goes in or similiar) for collecting half eaten sticky snacks, or for when your child upends an entire drink on their or your seat and you need to sit on a plastic bag. Don't take a beaker which has a tight pop-up or flip-up lid (such as tommee-tippee.) Thay are sealed, and when you undo them the pressure has changed and a bloody great fountain erupts.

yep, we've paid for the seat to use a carseat in...
i hope the flight isnt so bad... i am only hoping that waking early and keeping him awake until we are in the air helps him want to sleep.... oh gods..i do!!!

good idea on the plastic bags.. must write that on my list of things to take on the plane!! and about the beakers too!!! i wouldnt have thought of that!!!

Standard bottles and 'anywayup cups' are fine and do not explode!

Just noticed this and thought I would add my twopenneth. I took ds1 at 9months on a 14 hr flight to Hong Kong - got him to sleep just as wide-assed air hostess knocked him awake! He also threw up as we reached altitude so take spare clothes for all of you, not just him! Despite that he was fine for the rest of the flight. Planes are surprisingly noisy.

Also - develop a thick skin, don't worry about other people's attitudes, some will love to play, some won't...

Took all 3 of mine twice to NZ (14hrs + 3 hr gap + 16hrs I think!) Top tip for tiddlers - go to macdonalds in the weeks before you go and buy their toys for £1, stash loads of little, new toys like that in a rucksack for them - dole out as necessary.

The first time I went to NZ, dd was 20 months and on the advice of a pharmacist I used vallergan. Its a pre-med (sorry can't remember if prescription or not but it was no trouble getting it). It's a step up from phenergan. Do try it out first in case there are any side effects you don't want to discover at 30,000 ft. On a night flight it kept dd asleep soundly. On the returning day flight it kept her 'good' IYKWIM ie placid, happy, which has got to be a good thing for all concerned.