Travelling with a young child (21 months)

[hillgj1]

Looking forward so much to our holiday in august but it will be the first time we have been long haul with our son! We are flying Virgin from Gatwick. Has any one else had experience of travelling with a young baby and is there any advice you can give to help keep him occupied, his parents sane! and the other guests on the aircraft happy that he is not screaming the place down[msnscared]

Thanks

[caroline]

Hi

You may like to check out the following, there are lots of topics relating to travelling with young children
http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums...sp?forum_id=27

Have a great time

[benfilo]

hi hillgj1
we took our son when he was 22 months, 10 years ago now, he was quite good realy,except we couldn't keep him still. I think he intoduced himself to almost half the passengers. take plenty of picture books ,crayons etc also there should be cartoons on the flight. Plenty of juice and snacks and of course Calpol. It was just the 3 of us but I imagine it would be a bit easier with a larger party.
have a great trip

benfilo.

ps

don't forget to do the infant swap on the rides, to save queing twice(don't get your hopes up they don't give you a quieter child)[msnwink]

[amy]

[quote]Originally posted by hillgj1
Looking forward so much to our holiday in august but it will be the first time we have been long haul with our son! We are flying Virgin from Gatwick. Has any one else had experience of travelling with a young baby and is there any advise you can give to help keep him occupied, his parents sane! and the other guests on the aircraft happy that he is not screaming the place down[msnscared]

Thanks

[Hi, We have taken our little one 3 times, the first at 6 then 14 then for her second birthday she enjoyed it each time, pleanty of toys for the flight and a change of clothing for all not just babe as Vigin are not the quickest at removing the meal plates we found and a small child can occupy themselves very quickly with these(hence the change of clothes) We had no problems really she walked it half way to the USA/quote]

[millie]

We took our little girl when she was 21 months old and flew virgin from manchester. We gave her Calpol about 45 minutes before take off and kept her dosed up with it to make sure she never got sore ears. Unfortunately it did not make her sleepy!!!!!!!! As she was on our knee noone really got much sleep on the way back.

We took things like....crayons, colouring books, sticker books, threading beads, and lots of little snacks.

Get some NEW toys etc, lots of little bits and pieces that will keep him occupied. Try not to get stressed as he will pick up the vibes and make him worse, and don't be afraid to take him for a walk when the meal service is finished!

Good luck and have a great time!!

[Ray&Sarah]

We have taken both our boys on flights since they were little. We were very fortunate that they both behaved really well. We did feel really sorry for one baby on one of the flights who was really upset as the landing was affecting his ears. I hadn't even considered it. I guess that the Calpol idea is a good one.

Have a good flight, as long as they are occupied they are fine.

[blott]

If you give your child a drink or a snack during take off and landing, this helps with ear problems as swallowing is good. Crying is also good for their ears (but probably not for anyone else's!).

That's the reason why you used to get boiled sweeties on airlines once upon a time!

[brizzle]

We were given boiled sweeties this morning as we were landing.

As for children travelling, our two (20 months and 4 years old) were good outbound and inbound.
Eldest watched the Looney Tunes film over and over. The youngest sat in her provided car seat and watched cartoons silently (wouldn't keep headphones on).
On our flight back, Virgin - Ruby Tuesday, we had the Nintendo game system and that kept the eldest quiet (and me) for all the time she was awake (not long).
The flight back tends to be the flight when little ones sleep and in my experience is the easier flight.

Kids adapt well to travelling and a lot of the time surprise you, good luck...
cheap little toys and stuff as people have detailed above works well, make sure you wait until they get bored with the surroundings before you deal the goods. Then stagger them as they get bored with each new item.

Brizzle.

[hillgj1]

Thanks everyone for the great tips. Next step is to find something for me to do to take my mind off our trip as it is still 3 months away and I can't wait! Did you have a good time Brizzle? it sounds like all was ok with the kids so I hope we have a good time also. bet you are glad to be back!