Tips for 18 month old on a Plane

joneve

So, next Thurs, we are travelling to Copenhagen as I'm doing an Ironman there (it's law that I have to mention this at every given opportunity )...

we are also taking our 18 month old son on a plane for the 1st time. 

It's not a long flight, but as he's a bit more aware nowadays, I'm sure it'll be hell on earth, which will please the rest of our fellow Business Class passengers (thank you Air Miles!), I'm sure  

Any tips on how to keep him occupied? We'll have food, books and a tablet loaded with endless (well, 23) episodes of Paw Patrol. But he's not one to sit in front of a TV aimlessly. Which is great for the majority of life, but would be really handy if he was, for this one occasion, as I'll have enough to stress about haha. 

It's 2 hours, so should be fine, and he might be ok (we've got him some ear defenders to help with the noise too) but want to try and be as prepped as possible! 

octatonic

Whisky.

Mark1960

The worst part will be when the plane descends, and the pressure builds up in his ears. Teach him to swallow when you tell him, and if possible teach him to hold his nose and "blow" gentley to equalise the pressure.

TTony

octatonic said:

Whisky.

Yup.

Many years ago, my (similarly young) son's first flight was UK to Hong Kong.  That was a fair old distance.

Whisky would have helped hugely.

(It's for everyone else on the flight -   you have to remain sober parents).

joneve

Mark1960 said:

The worst part will be when the plane descends, and the pressure builds up in his ears. Teach him to swallow when you tell him, and if possible teach him to hold his nose and "blow" gentley to equalise the pressure.

He's 18 months old. Whilst he's pretty switched on and can fetch stuff that we ask him to from his toy box, I'm not sure he'll comprehend this just yet  

AustrianJohn

joneve said:

... I'm doing an Ironman ...

Respect - good luck.

joneve

AustrianJohn said:

joneve said:

... I'm doing an Ironman ...

Respect - good luck.

thanks mate. With one good leg too....But I'm too invested to not at least attempt to complete it! 

LuttiS

Maybe try and time it for nap time?

joneve

LuttiS said:

Maybe try and time it for nap time?

Yep, fortunately we might get lucky. Flight is at 1pm (pending no delays) and he usually sleeps from 12(ish) til 2:30(ish). I'm sure it'll go to shit on the day though. He's not one for sleeping when he's told  

paganskins

joneve said:

Mark1960 said:

The worst part will be when the plane descends, and the pressure builds up in his ears. Teach him to swallow when you tell him, and if possible teach him to hold his nose and "blow" gentley to equalise the pressure.

He's 18 months old. Whilst he's pretty switched on and can fetch stuff that we ask him to from his toy box, I'm not sure he'll comprehend this just yet  

Chewing helps too, Percy Pigs or something similar might help. We've used starburst type sweets with ours but she was much older than 18mths first time she flew.

Branshen

octatonic said:

Whisky.

Not sure this is a great idea..

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/07/17/1-month-old-boy-dies-after-grandfather-gives-him-alcohol-at-party-report/23770544/

Edit: just realised that you meant for the parents. Don't mind me.

drofluf

You may be lucky. We took our son on a transatlantic flight when he was 9 months and he was fine.  Cried a little but not incessantly.

I've had far more flights with babies who've been fine than those who've made it a misery. If he's still using a dummy that can also help with the pressure changes - but I know they're a contentious issue!

stickyfiddle

I'm not a parent, but Ive flown a shitload. In my experience the best kids are the ones who are treated well by the parents, comforted if they start crying, but given plenty of attention and stuff to do and keep them actively occupied through the journey. 

The ones that cry incessantly are almost inevitably the ones whose parents to FA to stop them and basically just wait for them to shut up. 

I'm very confident that this thread's existence already puts you in column A...

joneve

stickyfiddle said:

I'm not a parent, but Ive flown a shitload. In my experience the best kids are the ones who are treated well by the parents, comforted if they start crying, but given plenty of attention and stuff to do and keep them actively occupied through the journey. 

The ones that cry incessantly are almost inevitably the ones whose parents to FA to stop them and basically just wait for them to shut up. 

I'm very confident that this thread's existence already puts you in column A...

Hopefully  

joneve

drofluf said:

You may be lucky. We took our son on a transatlantic flight when he was 9 months and he was fine.  Cried a little but not incessantly.

I've had far more flights with babies who've been fine than those who've made it a misery. If he's still using a dummy that can also help with the pressure changes - but I know they're a contentious issue!

Yea. We umm'd and aah'd about giving him a dummy when he was younger, but finally "gave in" and he's allowed one when he's sat with us relaxing or going to sleep. Not at other times, and it seems to work well, in that he's not dependant on it, but it tells him that it's time to relax (he will take it out and give it to us if he wants to start playing)...And it was about the only thing that helped get him to sleep when he was younger (we tried everything). 

So as it'll be nap time, he'll be allowed one in-flight, which will hopefully work in our favour too! 

boogieman

My stepson and his wife have literally just taken our 18 month old grandson on an 11 hour flight to Malawi, via Jo’burg. They feared the worst but he was apparently absolutely fine, so you might get lucky too. He’s normally wanting to run around all the time but the key seemed to be completely knackering him before boarding. They got him up earlier than usual, didn’t let him have his usual pre-lunch nap and took him to the soft play at the airport (they went out of T5 at Heathrow, I guess others will have one too?). Distraction was the best option on the flight, grandson had his favourite (Puffin Rock, baba-boo!) on the phone and lots of books. 

joneve

boogieman said:

My stepson and his wife have literally just taken our 18 month old grandson on an 11 hour flight to Malawi, via Jo’burg. They feared the worst but he was apparently absolutely fine, so you might get lucky too. He’s normally wanting to run around all the time but the key seemed to be completely knackering him before boarding. They got him up earlier than usual, didn’t let him have his usual pre-lunch nap and took him to the soft play at the airport (they went out of T5 at Heathrow, I guess others will have one too?). Distraction was the best option on the flight, grandson had his favourite (Puffin Rock, baba-boo!) on the phone and lots of books. 

Hopefully. He's a good kid most of the time. Prone to a few tantrums for absolutely no reason (what kid isn't), but is pretty easy going with most stuff (except sleeping at night ). So we might well get lucky, as you say. I guess we're just prepping for the worst and then anything better is a bonus. 

We're planning on getting to the airport a few hours early, as he's easily amused exploring and good to know there's a soft play in T5 too, we'll probably utilise that, and then get him to kip on the plane if he's worn out. Although if he's over tired, he turns in to an absolute loon.  

Zoolooter

I did it 5 or 6 times around that age. The only thing that works is keeping your child awake for a good 8 hours before you fly. 

boogieman

joneve said:

boogieman said:

My stepson and his wife have literally just taken our 18 month old grandson on an 11 hour flight to Malawi, via Jo’burg. They feared the worst but he was apparently absolutely fine, so you might get lucky too. He’s normally wanting to run around all the time but the key seemed to be completely knackering him before boarding. They got him up earlier than usual, didn’t let him have his usual pre-lunch nap and took him to the soft play at the airport (they went out of T5 at Heathrow, I guess others will have one too?). Distraction was the best option on the flight, grandson had his favourite (Puffin Rock, baba-boo!) on the phone and lots of books. 

Hopefully. He's a good kid most of the time. Prone to a few tantrums for absolutely no reason (what kid isn't), but is pretty easy going with most stuff (except sleeping at night ). So we might well get lucky, as you say. I guess we're just prepping for the worst and then anything better is a bonus. 

We're planning on getting to the airport a few hours early, as he's easily amused exploring and good to know there's a soft play in T5 too, we'll probably utilise that, and then get him to kip on the plane if he's worn out. Although if he's over tired, he turns in to an absolute loon.  

I’m sure he’ll be ok, the new experience might keep him quiet anyway.  2 hours will go pretty quickly too.   Good luck with the flight (and the Iron Man) 

We just got sent some pics of the grandson, they’re over there for a wedding (they lived there for a couple of years and still have mates out there). They’re doing a safari trip first. The little’un is having a ball spotting monkeys, antelopes, elephants and hippos in the wild. When I was a kid I just got to see puppies in the pet shop window    

Jalapeno

Worst time I had with an infant on a flight - baby was fine, but parent was a PITA - bouncing kid on his knee and elbowing me in the ribs, didn't see the need to apologise for waking me up

WiresDreamDisasters

Breastfeeding and sleep.