Any tips for long haul air travel with a 16 month old ?

premiercounty

Hi all,


Does anyone have any tips, do's or don'ts or whatever for long haul travel with a 16 month old.

(Apart from dont go that is !)

Heading from Ireland to New Zealand in a weeks time. One stopever for a few hours midway.

little 'un has never even been on a plane.:eek:


Thanks

Lola92

New toys to keep them distracted (my daughter loves the cheapy little matchbox cars).

Lots of snacks.

Make sure to have at least 1 full change of clothes and pj's, you don't want to have a leaky nappy and no spares (speaking from experience).

Make sure to have enough nappies & then more spares again.

Bring a favourite blanket so they are more likely to nap.

Slings are brilliant for holding them on the plane so maybe consider one of these too.

Keep your buggy with you and bring it to the door of the plane, your arms will most likely be broken otherwise :P

It your child is walking I would seriously consider getting a set of reins to stop them running off in the busy airport if they are out of the buggy.

That's all I can think of for now but I'm sure other posters will have plenty of suggestions. If you do a forum search the topic may have come up before so would be worth checking there too

fox_1973

I travelled to australia from ireland with a six year old and an 18 month old, (unfortunately the baby started being sick in heathrow and was sick the whole 3 flights over) but the most useful thing i found was to bring enough food that they like for the journey, they were not happy with the aeroplane food.

I filled small tubberware boxes with their favourite cereal, blocks of cheese and nuts and raisins for snacks and had prepacked pasta dishes for them that they were used to...

once they were full the rest was easy enough

good luck with the flight

Knit wit

We travelled to oz a few years back with a 5 year old and a 20 month old. Long flights are not as bad as u imagine. Make sure u get a sky cot (the baby cot in the front row of seats)... We didn't on the way back which meant having ds on my lap from kl to London ... Not fun! Other than that as other posters have said lots of food, nappies and drinks ... My doctor recommended a good dose of phenyrghan (spelling?) before we took off to combat travel sickness/make them sleepy. Happy travels!

Rosy Posy

We've been over and back three times, once with a 14mth old (and pregnant), once with a 10mth old and a two year old, and once with a two year old and a four year old.

If you're travelling with Air New Zealand get the sky couch- best $400 you'll ever spend. http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/economy-skycouch

If you're travelling with your child on your lap be aware that they most likely won't have a meal allocated to them. When we went with under two's they only gave us a jar of baby food which my kids would never touch in their life...bring snacks but be aware that you may be asked to dump fresh food at biosecurity on your stop over. Also bring a water bottle that you can refill after you've gone through security.

If your child is fairly steady on their pins then trunki bags are great for them to play on in the plane and the airport. http://www.trunki.co.uk/categories/trunki_2

Bring basic medicines with you- calpol etc. Our son burst his eardrum on the plane and was in terrible pain and the airhostesses are not ALLOWED to give you anything...nightmare!

Bring a change of clothes for yourself. On the same trip our son also vomited all over me (and himself but we had packed spares for him) I left the plane wearing a t-shirt cadged from first class and a skirt fashioned from a blanket.

Pack a bag full of new (to your child) toys- not precious so it doesn't matter if they get lost- from the pound shop or similar- wrapped in paper so they have lots of little 'presents' to unwrap as the flight goes on.

Bring lollipops to help them equalise the pressure in their ears on ascent and decent. Bring wet wipes to clean up the sticky lollipop mess.

Cultivate a thick skin regarding other passengers. Expect filthy looks from the people around you and ignore them.

Best of luck!

ZX7R

hi all just wondering can anyone tell me if it is safe for babys that are 5 months old to fly on a plane hoping to fly to poland in september to show them to the granparents they are twins and were born 5 week preamature there due date was yesterday:D:D
thanks...

Mr Johnson

If you have a smartphone or an Ipod or something that can play video files, copy lots of episodes of Peppa Pig or whatever the child likes on to it, so they can watch them on the plane with the get antsy.