Flying with a 16 month old

We are going away on vacation in July. DS will be 16 months by then. What is the best way to fly with him? This is the first time he will be flying. Its a short flight about an hour tops, should he be a lap child or should I bring the car seat? I;m thinking the seat because I don't think he would stay in my lap the whole time as now he;s walking and likes to explore! Whats the best seat to fly with? Right now we have the graco smartseat as his convertible seat, but i don;t know if thats too bulky to bring with us. Any help would be appreciated!

Re: Flying with a 16 month old

we are flying in 2 months with DS when he will be almost 10 months old, the flight is not very long, maybe an hour and a half... I put him down as a lap child but I am taking a carseat with me anyway for the rental car.. i purchased a cosco scenera, from what i've read its lighter and had good ratings, and it was only $40! If there is an extra seat on the plane then I will take the carseat on with me otherwise he will be a lapchild and hopefully he won't be too squirmy!

Flying with a 16 month old

I have flown 3x with DS. All 3 as a lap child.

FIrst was at 4 months - It was easy
2nd was at 11 months - to Orlando. Slept most of the way and was generally fine
3rd - To Tampa - was 15 months and was fine but because he is bigger we were cramped in the seat.

My DS was walking for 2 of the trips and was still fine. I picked a window seat so other people in the row would nto disturb us.

For a short flight like you are taking I would def do lap. Its not long enough for them to get crazy.

Re: Flying with a 16 month old

We flew with DD when she was 19 months old. We ended up bringing a carseat because I figured she knows when she's in there, she's supposed to stay in there. It worked out fine and she did great. That being said, we ended up purchasing a lighter, inexpensive carseat (Cosco Scenera) since I didn't want to lug around our ginormous Britax seat. Looking back, we could have done without it..she was a pretty good baby so I don't think she would have been running up and down the aisles or anything but it did make it easier for her to watch the TV screen

Flying with a 16 month old

I just flew to FL with DS at 11 months old. He's walking/running and I thought he was going to be a nightmare. He flew as a lap child and he was so good. He slept on both flights! He's the kind of kid who sleeps in the car all the time though, so I think the motion of the plane and the engine noise helped. He is a big boy and I definitely will get him a seat if we go again when he's closer to 2. At that age, I think you can get away with it but if you really think he won't sleep or sit still then I would get him his own seat. GL!

Re: Flying with a 16 month old

We flew with my son to florida when he 17 months,we did it as a lap and he was fine. I brought snacks, he slept and new toys. DVD's and the IPAD. He was great with sleeping, snacks and some new toys and books.

Flying with a 16 month old

I flew with DS 1 at 13 and 15 months, both times as a lap child. His stomach was bothering him both times so he wasn't his best but, he wasn't too bad. I got an aisle seat and we did a lot of walking around.

Pack a couple of new toys and lots and lots of snacks. Also bring wipes since they love to touch everything!

My friend uses the scenera for her DD when she travels and raves about it.

Flying with a 16 month old

Here's the trick we use - book you and your DH in the aisle and window seat of a row. People always book middle seats last. If someone does book that middle seat, they probably will be happy to move away from you and since they already have a middle seat, it's not a big deal if they're in another middle seat.

We always bring the car seat on the plane and try to grab the extra seat. If not possible, they gate check the car seat.

Re: Flying with a 16 month old

We 1st flew with DS when he was 17 months old. Flight was about 2.5 hrs. We bought him a seat and brought his convertible car seat on board the plane for him to sit in. He fell asleep shortly after take-off and woke up about 20 minutes before we landed. We ahve flown about 6 times with him and have always bought him a seat and always sit him in his car seat. He is comfortable and strapped in so he can't exactly go anywhere. Flying with him has been easy. I can't imagine having tried to have him on my lap, that would never work, lol. PLus, for safety reasons I always had my child in his own seat and car seat, even though for several flights we were not required to purchase him a seat.

Flying with a 16 month old

We flew with our twins when they were smaller, like 9 months-ish, and it was much better than I anticipated! I can say that more than likely in the future I would get them their own seat depending on the flight because we were kinda squished with all our gear and the babies (though it was a tiny commuter plane). No recommendations on the car seat as we haven't crossed that bridge yet, but good luck!

Re: Flying with a 16 month old

Thank you all. Were going on vacation with my parents. I think my mom is going to fly with me and DH will drive down with my dad. Hopefully it works out. I hope my child isn't the one that everyone is staring at, but he's normally pretty good and happy so I'm thinking we may be ok during the flight!