15 month on a plane

[Joe_Mac]

Can anyone suggest some ideas for keeping an active 15 month old busy during a 2 1/2 hour plane ride to Disney??

 

[josierac]

Read books to them. Get a travel size magna doodle and etch a sketch. Coloring book and crayons to doodle with.

 

[Jordan's MOM]

Try fun snacks, teddy grahams, fish crackers, animal cookies etc. Play and eat at the same time. Also eating helps with air presure changes hurting ears.Also take along a non-spill sip cup if he is off the bottle. They have to suck to get the juice and that will help with air presure changes too. Lets see; try puppets, a not too loud interactive electronic toy, color forms for the window, a favorite stuffed toy and a new wraped surprise or two. His best toy will be you. You might have to spend most of the time keeping him happy. Sing, tell him stories etc. Bring his car seat and favorite blanket and he might take a nap!!!

Have a great trip!
Jordan's mom

 

[POOH&PIGLET]

We let DD run around as much as possible before a flight so she gets tired and falls asleep. She hates to sit still for a long time. One thing that worked for us was taking our video camera and playing home movies on the small screen. You can also tape your child's favorite shows for the trip.

 

[MinnieGi]

We arrived at the airport very early and walked DD all around the eating and shopping areas. So by the time we were ready for takeoff she was ready for a little nap. We gave her a bottle during take-off to realieve ear pressure and luck had it she fell asleep for an hour! When she woke up we played with a travel magna-doodle, looked through the airplane magazines, had snacks, played with a few stuffed animal friends. We had just a little over a two hour flight and she did great. But she was also definetly ready to get off the plane and move around again when we got off.

Our return flight was timed just right. After spending our last day at MK we took off around 7:00 from Orlando and again gave her a bottle for ear pressure and she was so tired she slept the enitre two hour flight home!!!!!!! Mommy and daddy caught a little shut eye too.

Hope you are just as lucky on the plane!

 

[Prezli]

We took our laptop with us. The laptop had a dvd player in it and we played disney videos. Also, a bottle worked wonders for ears on take off and landing. Another trick we used is keychains. We bought multiple keychains that had different games or characters and put them together and let our little one play with it.

 

[kozmo]

My 18 mos old grandson has such ear problems ,i worry about flying with him??

 

[Pink Flamingo]

Another light weight, quiet activity suggestion for the plane:

Stickers - my kids have always loved playing with stickers & it keeps them entertained for quite a while. You could also pull out a sheet of stickers if you find yourself waiting in a line at WDW.

 

[jiggerj]

definately request the bulkhead seats. If they are not taken they will let you sit there. It is nice because you dont have any other passengers in front of you and you have alittle more leg room.

 

[josierac]

Originally posted by kozmo
My 18 mos old grandson has such ear problems ,i worry about flying with him??

Get him earplanes from a drug store. they have children sizes. They were great. They don't have to weare them the whole plan ride. Just on take off and landing. My 2 yr old didn't want to weat them until his ears started hurting. I told him that if he put them on for a couple of minutes his ears wouldn't hurt anymore. I guess he didn't want to deal with the pain so he put them on. Now as soon as we sit on a plane he asks for them.

www.earplanes.com

 

[Hunnybee]

Our son flew for the first time in February. He was 18 months also. The BEST thing we took was the video camera to play movies on. If you don't have one that has a screen, you may want to consider borrowing one. We taped his favorite videos on to tapes and he watched Baby Mozart over, and over, and over... Also, wrap up a bunch of little toys (McDonald's toddler toys are great!) and give him/her one every half hour or so. Then, not only do they get the toy to play with, but they also get to spend time unwrapping it -- which is just as much fun at that age! Books were great too. He loved the Touch and Feel books. And, surprisingly enough, the in-flight magazine was a big hit! Good luck with your trip! Our son did much better than I was expecting (although we did have to take his shoes off because he kept kicking the seat in front of us.) We did get earplanes but they didn't really work for him because you have to do something to clear your ears out and he was too young to do that. They worked good for me though! Thankfully, he didn't have problems either way. We had the sippy cups and dum dum suckers for him to suck on (he didn't take a pacifier). And, we didn't have the bulkhead. With him, once he's down he's off and running -- he does much better if he's confined in his carseat! Then he knows he can't get out until we let him out -- just like in the car. Are you buying him/her a seat or are they sitting in your lap? We thought it was definitely worth getting our son a seat! Also, be sure to check your stroller at the gate rather than sending it straight through with luggage -- then they'll have it waiting for you when you get off the plane.

 

[jlima]

I highly recommend buying your baby his own ticket, rather than carrying him on your lap. We had a 3 hr + trip from Las Vegas to Orlando back in July, and our 16 mo old was asleep before the plane left the ground, in his own car seat. He'll be safer and you won't have a wiggle worm to deal with.

BTW, we have a portable DVD player, and it came in very handy when we travelled at Christmas time to visit Grandma! DH used it to play movies on our flight.

 

[jiminyfan]

WE have been flying with our son since he was 6 months old. We make sure he has his buddies, snacks, juices handy at all times. All th e ideas submitte dbeofre are great, escpeically the tire them out trick!!!

If you can get them tired and take a nap this is the best. We tell him that if he falls asleep and takes a nap Disney will get here sooner - usually works does the trick.

Make sure thast your child has something to drink, eat or suck on during take-off and landing - this is the biggest challenge of all with a child - ear equalizing.

Have fun and enjoy your trip.

inkbounc

 

[skeezixspud]

At least, most of them won't, because the armrests are fixed in place. Not that you are too likely to actually get a bulkhead in any case; these days they usually go to Elite status folks or passengers flying full coach fare.