10 month old plane advice?

We took Ale to Sedona and Grand Canyon when she was 5 months - she slept most of the time.

Well now she's 10 months + and we are going to Santa Fe - 2 flights both ways. I know she won't be sleeping so much!!

And suggestions or advice on how to keep her happy?? TIA!

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

Pack a few toys and snacks for her.

What time is the flight? I always try to schedule our flights around their nap/bedtimes and it works like a charm for us.

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

I have no advice as I haven't been there yet but we will be going to Puerto Rico when DD is 10 months so I'm looking forward to getting some tips too.

Message edited 4/16/2008 5:20:26 PM.

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

We fly alot with DD. She's taken 10 trips in 17 months. We always buy her a seat. Did it with her on our laps at around 10 months old & it was ugly, but she wasn't a good lap baby. I always bring new books/toys she's never seen before. Hmmmm...trying to think of anything else. Stay calm no matter what. We used to get rattled easily if she got fussy and it made it so much worse. We try to fly around the time she naps. The portable DVD player is the best invention EVER.

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

Posted by bicosi

Pack a few toys and snacks for her.

What time is the flight? I always try to schedule our flights around their nap/bedtimes and it works like a charm for us.

Message edited 4/16/2008 5:21:44 PM.

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

Posted by karacg

Posted by bicosi

Pack a few toys and snacks for her.

What time is the flight? I always try to schedule our flights around their nap/bedtimes and it works like a charm for us.

HA! I didn't have any choice unless I wanted to pay over 1K per person! We leave at 4pm NY time and arrive 11pm Santa Fe time. I will try to keep her from napping all day so she'll be tired - but will that just make her cranky??

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

We have flown a bunch with DD and sometimes she had her own seat, sometimes not.

This trip she did not and she is 15 months old. We bring a LOT of books- especially her favorites. She also napped better on my lap this trip then she did when she had her own seat and was in the car seat. That was actually our worst trip with her.

In a pinch, try singing songs- this worked with DD. Also make sure to give her lots of liquids. My DD usually drinks about a quart of milk in a 5 hour flight

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

My DH and I took our DS to San Diego when he was 11 mos. My SIL that lives there told me to bring a lollipop! She has twins and has been coming to NY with them since they were 6 mos old. Its not the healthiest thing in the world, but it definately helped. Somehow he always fell asleep on take off. Plus lots of toys and his favorite DVD's made it a pretty easy trip./

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

Also get a special toy to open on the flight and get her own seat!! We did not, but wont do that again!

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

Get her own seat!

Also...I had read on here to have your baby play with the Sky Mall magazines...Maddie spent so much time tearing the pages apart...it was great. I told a friend to do that and she just flew with her baby to Wisconsin and she said it was the best advice b/c her DD played with the magazine the entire time.

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

Posted by johnsae

Get her own seat!

Also...I had read on here to have your baby play with the Sky Mall magazines...Maddie spent so much time tearing the pages apart...it was great. I told a friend to do that and she just flew with her baby to Wisconsin and she said it was the best advice b/c her DD played with the magazine the entire time.

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

Portable DVD player! My son has flown 5 times since birth, and everyone always comments how behaved he is (the second he whines, out comes a little Einstein or cartoon for the DVD)

That has been our godsend.

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

This is a great thread since I am traveling next week.

Jack just wants to go go go now - so I know we will have some issues. My mom bought us a portable DVD player so we will be watching the Backyardigans the entire time!

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

We took Cailen at 10 mts - I'm not sure how active Alex is, but Cailen is a lunatic... it was pretty tough - but having a LOT of snacks helped!!!

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

We flew to Florida when C3 was 8 months old. He just conked out after a while honestly. I had toys and stuff, but he never really used them.

Oh and we flew in the morning.

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

I would totally let her play with "real" things too. They interest Noah more then toys..like my cell phone, a magazine, things like that,e ven the peanut package. Just make it all exciting. I think its gonna be some work but should be doable.

And I like the idea of a new toy to open on the plane.

You know what she likes, things that open and close etc. Look specifically for a new toy like that.

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

OK I will take a few magazines for her to shred (dh would flip out to see her chewing on the magazines that thousand of hands have handled...
), and a DVD player with some DVDs, snacks and some toys she's never seen.

Thanks for the tips ladies -- I forgot about the magazines, she does love them!

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

doing it next week with a 10 mth old AND a 2 yr old.

we're bring lots of snacks, books, some toys, colorforms, I'm trying to find the travel size colorwonder for her, a Magna doodle travel size.

DH did NOT book the flights around sleepy times...

Re: 10 month old plane advice?

Kara - We did it to Hawaii... 13 hours there and 11 hours back to NY Plus traveling to from the airport (another 1.5 hours in addition to the flight time), changing planes, flight delays, etc. We did it twice, once when Grace was 9 months old and again this year when she was 19 months old. You can do a search on what we did. The KEY to it is let her play, eat, do stuff that she doe not normally get to do. Make a big deal about it and say "we ONLY do this when we are on the plane, Alex" or "we only eat this on the plane"

Grace ate snacks, played with my keys (With me holding them of course), ripped magazines, I bought her special Dora books and a wonder pets DVD that she watched on the flight on DH's laptop. We walked her up and down the aisles, we played sliiy games and sang silly songs, she slept. Have her drink on the take off and landing to help with her ears, keep her hydrated, bring a fav blanket or stuffed animal, it helps to have ONE of her favorite things with her. Don't bring TONS of toys. DD played with the plastic cups that the flight attendants gave her and we had a game where we had to get the pretzel in the cup. We played that for an hour.

Just be creative and if you are having fun, engaging her, yet still setting boundaries, she will be just fine. You do whatever you have to do to keep them from screaming, basically.

Good Luck!

Message edited 4/18/2008 4:11:31 PM.