Baby and Plane trip!!

[Mollyandtaysmum]

Hey all.
Don't know if this is the right spot (mods-feel free to move). We are going away to Darwin in march and DD 14mths has never been on a plane. What should I expect from her??? She has just started walking and i am worried she will just want to run riot:shame:!! The plane leaves vic at 8.00 pm and arrives at 12.30 am. She would normally be asleep but i don't think she will on the plane. She is one of these kids that sleeps in her bed or nowhere! Any advice would be great!:wave:

[V8]

If she won't sleep on the plane, and it is her usual bed time i guess she might be really cranky. I'd try making her have a nap before hand so she isn't tired and hopefully keep her happy with food and stuff, she may like to draw or something.

We have flown with DS to NZ and it was only a 3 hour flight, he was 13 months old and it was quite a challenge.

He's now 15 months and next week i am flying to Perth which is 5 hours, all by myself! I am s***** myself cause he is so darn active and will probably run riot! I am going to bring lots of snacks and his colouring in books. Oh and also if i remember i'll bring a cd player or something, he likes listening to music too and that keeps him pretty calm.

Goodluck!

[Chub Chub]

My DD is much like your won't sleep anywhere but only in her bed. But she is a bit of seasoned traveller and sleeps as soon as the plane takes off.

If she has a comforter (pillow or special toy) make sure you take that with you.

Take snacks as most airlines don't cater for kids. Include their bottle or sippy cup.

Kids ears on planes tend to hurt on ascent and decent so make sure they hace something to suck on the help their ears adjust. My DD always sleeps through this so she might be fine.

Enjoy your trip!

[Mollyandtaysmum]

Thanx for the replies. What are they hostess's like? If she wants to wander (holding my hand) is that ok?? Do they understand??
:fingerscrossed:

[connorlulu]

Thanx for the replies. What are they hostess's like? If she wants to wander (holding my hand) is that ok?? Do they understand??
:fingerscrossed: I've found it can depend on the airline (we've just returned from a weekend trip to Melb with 3yo and teething 5mth old). Qantas hosties are more likely to have seen it all before and are pretty unflappable and generally lovely. But then again, the Virgin Blue hosties yesterday invited DS up to the cockpit after we landed.

[Harmony83]

My suggestions would be:

- Take snacks, ones that take her a while to eat are good!
- Take toys she hasn't seen before or for awhile!
- Take a book for her to look at and read!

I think the air hostess are pretty good, they would carry some of the bubs around to show them things which they liked, my DS wouldn't have a barr of it though, and screamed even louder when they tried to pick him up!
You can buy some ear plugs for babies I think they are called airplanes or something, from the chemist, otherwise take something for them to suck on!

If she fussess and screams (like mine did :rolleyes: ) try not to stress out about what other people think, and remember this is a new think for her and she will either see it as exciting or terrifying (or bored)!

[Merlion]

Regarding snacks a good suggestion is put a little mixture of snacks in zip lock bags. Just enough to amuse for a little while. Make sure you don't bring fresh fruit (dried is fine but be weary of bananas) with you but if you do put in zip lock and if she doesn't finish it you can always ditch before you leave the plane.

New toys that she's never seen before something small that can fit in your hand carry easily. I know some people say get a bulk head seat eventhough this has more leg room its not very comfortable, if you travelling by virigin blue they usually try to get you an empty seat next to you so you want to be able to lift the arm rest so your child can lay down

[Nicpolsta]

I have read that you say to have something to suck on.

Will a dummy do the job for a three month old? or a bottle ??

Bub will only have her bottle in a pram or on a bouncer, She screams if you try to hold her to have it.

Any suggestions , advice?

[mumofcaleb]

We did the exact same trip when DS was 14 months old and he was pretty hard to control. I found it really hard to get him to sleep etc etc..
I just made sure that we had spare seats next to us :fingerscrossed:
Have heaps of extra snacks and toys to play with. The trip does go quite fast...but it does really help if you have your DP or someone else there to help you with bubs. I have done the trip ALONE and that was a complete nightmare and I will never do that again!

[bub7]

hey i went on a plane for my 1st time to sydney just before christmas and taking DD it was her first time also. I was a a bit nervous at first but worrying about what DD was going to be like settled my nervs. She was great on the plane, being 12mths she just sat on my lap and played with the books that were in the back of the seats,then had a drink of her bottle and went off to sleep, on the way home she slept from take off to landing. Ask the flight att if you could grab a colouring in book or something for you little one, or take some books to read, bit of nibbly food to chew on. Apparently you should try and get them to suck on something on take off and landing coz their ears might block up and make them unsettled. DD played with her ears a little bit but didnt effect her much.

Good luck :yes:

[Jo9999]

DD was 14 months when we flew 10+ hours to South Africa. I worried too.
She was fine, she enjoyed standing up on a chair and looking all around, playing peekaboo with the people behind. She was a bed or nothing sleeper too but the plane motion and noise put her to sleep in my arms.
Take lots of drinks that she likes, snacks that take time to eat, some "new" little toys, if poss make friends with some other people with children on the plane - a toy swap is a great idea as is the other children for playing with.
She will be fine!

[Olismum]

Hi, I've found both the host/hostesses to be great on Qantas & Virgin Blue. With Qantas we rang and requested a toddler meal which was served to my daughter on the flight. My daughter is a frequent flyer and we've only had one really horrible flight where she screamed non stop the whole way on a flight from Sydney to Adelaide. The only real problems we've had is with dummy's flying down the aisle so make sure that you have a chain thingy to attach them and we've had problems with other passengers who are trying to sleep or read and they've complained about our baby crying or asked to be moved away from us. Take lots of small snacky foods that you can stow in a bag under the seat in front of you. The problem that I have found is that until they are 2 years old, the airlines expect them to sit on your lap and there is very little room especially if the person in front of you puts there seat back and if the other 2 seats next to you are booked with strangers then you can't really keep getting up and walking around so you just have to sit there with the baby on your lap for hours.

[connorlulu]

Will a dummy do the job for a three month old? or a bottle ??

Sorry it's taken a while to answer, hope the info is still useful.

Yes, a dummy does work as well, anything that gets them sucking.

If they're asleep when the plane starts descending, you apparently don't need to wake them to put a dummy or bottle in. A flight attendent once told me that when they're sleeping they can regulate their ear pressure on their own.