Jump to content

Open Club  ·  30 members  ·  Free

Travel and Culture

Flying with a toddler


BecxyRex

Recommended Posts

Hello everybody,

 

Tomorrow eve I’m flying overseas with my nearly 2 year old and was wondering if anyone had any special tipps and tricks for me.

 

This will be our first trip alone, just her and me and I can use all the travel advice I can get for the 8+ hour plane ride. We traveled when she was 9 months as a whole family and she slept almost the whole way through. This time I’m afraid, it’ll be quite different with her walking around and such.

 

I have a bunch of new toys packed, iPad, stickers and she’ll be getting a bottle at take off and landing to help ear pressure. Are there any more things I can do to prevent her being miserable from the pressure change?

I only have one seat so she’ll be on my lap the whole time. I’m worried about her sleeping and me having to use the bathroom. I wish they made adult diapers for such an occasion ;)

 

Thank you!

Link to comment

I’m hoping she will seraphim. She has a pretty consistent bedtime at home and the flight happens to take off around then. No doubt she’ll be tired. Good call, I can probably have a stewardess keep an eye on her briefly. It beats transporting her into the tiny airplane bathroom and her waking up.

Link to comment

Have fun snacks she normally doesn't get that might be a novelty like fruit gummies, cookies shaped like animals. I was a Navy wife so I had to fly a lot with my daughters. I wouldn't pull out all the toys at once. I'd pull out a new one every hour or two. Hopefully there will be an empty row for you. That was heaven for me when I had only my first daughter and we curled up side by side to sleep. Good luck.

Link to comment

Hopefully she sleeps. Dont load her up on sugary foods which would get her all hyper. I assume you know that. Can you keep her awake a little longer than normal so that she will sleep once you get seated? Bring books to read, that often helps a toddler relax and then sleep. Maybe have a new toy or doll for her to play with?

Link to comment

Flew with mine a lot. She did spend one flight walking up and down the aisle - and you know what? I do the same thing. If she needs to move around, then get up and walk with her. Deep vein thrombosis is a good motivation to keep it moving, even on an airplane.

 

Lots of games, go to the head when she is sleeping - not when the urge strikes you. Bring Cheerios so there can be lots of little snacks over time, and crunchy, low sugar, with texture for fingers and teeth.

Link to comment

It can be fun, it can be hell, be prepared for anything. International attendants are imo more attentive to kids so that's good. My then 2-y/o, extremely social, did walk around and tried high-fiving everyone (ew germs, need wipes)

Link to comment

Might catch some **** for it, but if your kid's doctor would regard it as safe, it may be good to have a backup of low-dose Benadryl. Not saying you can't or shouldn't wing it to see how it goes first. Obviously don't want to dope a kid for the sake of it, and it can have the opposite effect on some children. But there's by and large no way to reliably condition a two-year old to suffer an international flight. Been on more than enough red-eyes where a parent was quite erroneously convinced their little one would be conked out. Should it come to it, it'd very likely be a kindness to the child who doesn't have the cognitive capacity to understand sudden changes in air pressure or being confined for hours within a cabin of 250 strangers. Plus there may be folks with sensory issues whose needs should be considered as much as yours and your child's should your daughter react exceptionally adversely.

 

All that said, I hope and am confident everything goes off without a hitch. For every one horror story, I've seen 100 kids sitting quiet, trotting quietly enough up and down the aisles without an issue, even if perhaps at to,es asking a few too many questions to another passenger in the next row. I wouldn't worry too much.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...