Long flight with an energetic 8 month old

[eprebys]

Hi!

My wife and I have a high energy, very social 8 month old. She cries frequently and screams when she's happy, crawls all over and *needs* to move. We are flying to Alaska from Boston (10.5 hour flight with a connection, during the day). I have read many helpful comments on the forums, but I am still very anxious.

What do I do?!

We will have several toys, but she gets bored with things very fast.

We are very conscious of what we put in our bodies, but does Benadryl make sense? We make exceptions and when she was getting her first teeth she was completely miserable and ibuprofen really helped.

Car seat? Stroller? We've got a mei tai type carrier and a hiking backpack...is there any other equipment that was helpful for you?

Looking for that...Oh...what I really wish I had/had done/didn't do...

Eric (Stephanie and Rain)

[Boot]

I did a 10 hour flight on my own when my boy was 12 months. Luckily, it was overnight so he slept most of the time. I would suggest not overpacking but do bring some small new toys. Nothing that you mind losing. Empty water bottles and laminated booklets are also entertaining. Also food that she enjoys (remember to keep any liquid in a separate ziplock). With two of you it really should be fine. Just bring the mei tai and trade off so you each get a break. Let her climb around the chairs and chat with people. I would pack some benedryl but only use it if she is screaming in pain. She will probably really enjoy the new experience. Good luck.

[Tway]

We did a 6-hour flight at 8 months. Overnight was fine, as she slept, but coming back in the day was more challenging. DD "read" the in-flight mag and safety booklet for awhile, watched other passengers, scooted around the seat (they gave us an empty 3-seat section... yay!), played with the armrest, and so on. I also brought some new toys to capture her attention, and held/nursed/shushed her when she got fussy.

Looking back, I'd have brought some snacks (bits of cheese or puffs or something) to give her as well... But sometimes they fuss and cry and you just have to go with it. FWIW, it went much better than I'd feared!

[maryeb]

We never took a plane when our first was that young for those reasons. But with our second we did and it was alright. He did cry a little, but it was much better than our oldest screaming because his ears hurt. Ouch. Since you have two plane rides, hopefully your little one will nurse to sleep for quite a bit of the flight time. Otherwise yes, new little toys, empty water bottles, etc. Fun stuff. Stickers may be neat too. A carrier is a must and just run around in between flights if possible. Benadryl may have the total opposite effect you are hoping for you little one too...some people report that it makes their child hyper. So that isn't something I would count on. Good luck!

Mary

[ellairiesmom]

we took a short flight (3 hr) when dd1 was 6 mos or so.
nursing during take off & landing is big of course. helps their ears. we brought a few new toys & mostly just took turns passing her, walking when we could get through the aisle & i nursed alot.

when she was 11 mos, we had a 5 hr flight & we brought a mini dvd player with elmo dvds because by then, she had seen sesame st. & liked it. she also had a cold so we used benadryl & she slept some too. nursing often helped on that ride too.

20 mos was a little tougher. she wanted to walk around on her own & just didn't get that she couldn't. it was a florida flight & no time to get up really. dvds helped along with reading lots of books. and tons of fun snacks. nursing helped a little to pass some time but not much.

we have to fly in nov to visit dhs grandparents in florida-dd1 will be 3 & dd2 will be 9 mos...this time i am scared! 1st time with both & they are LOUD girls!!!

good luck. its never as bad as you think it will be & often, people are kinder than u expect.

[meemee]

we have been flying since dd was two months old. our 12 hour flight, 6 hour layover, 6 hour flight again was when she was your dd's age. i had packed a bunch of stuff. i needed nothing of it. she nursed or slept or my extremely gregarious social child spent the whole time being passed around the plane and entertained by others. the passenger next to me - an dutch businessman who didnt look like a father at all, took my dd and read her a barney board book for 45 minutes. he told me he had 3 girls back home.

i would definitely nurse at take off and landing. definitely have your dd suckling during those times - however you do it.

since my dd had been flying since she was 2 months old regularly, by the time seh was 6 months old i didnt have to take care of her ears. she somehow figured out how to deal with that without nursing. or maybe her ears got used to it. or something.

definitely some snacks. the meal. we had a car seat but most of the time she spent on my lap.

the key at that age is to have enough connections and layovers. the layovers provide such relief. dd loved it. she wanted to look around adn experience everything. i found quiet areas of the airport when she needed down time.

we travel quite a bit. as long as there are friendly people my dd doesnt need anything. i pack her backpack and never use any of the toys/books we packed. when she was walking we definitely took regular walks.

and another thing. be careful with the flush. it is painfully loud for them. so dont ever flush with the baby inside the bathroom.

and i TOTALLY AGREE with stephanie. good luck. its never as bad as you think it will be & often, people are kinder than u expect.

[nextcommercial]

LOL.. I have no ideas. But, just have empathy for the other passengers. Maybe you'll get lucky and sit near a group of nice women who haven't seen their grandkids all year and will love to sit next to a beautiful baby girl for 10 hours.

The switching planes thing is awesome though. It gives everybody a chance to stretch your legs.

I am an adult, and I can't handle a five hour flight. So, you have my good thoughts for all of you.

[konayossie]

We just got back from a trip with our 16 month old. The longest leg of our flight was about 3 hours, so not quite up to the level you're facing, but my strategy was just to let him wear himself out as much as possible at the airport, so once we were through security, I set him free and just chased behind him. He charmed most of the people we were flying with before we even got on the plane, got to play with some older kids, and generally just had a great time while waiting.

He did not need any entertainment other than his legs at that point. Once on the plane, he nursed and ate snacks. He also LOVED watching out the window during take-off of the day leg of our flight. He never cried at all during any the flying time. He got a bit frustrated a few times at not being allowed to get down, and I did let him tear up a copy of Sky Mall, but overall it went MUCH smoother than expected. I think the noise and warmth of the plane really helped him to sleep since he napped a lot more on the trip than he does at home (and no, we didn't dose him with benadryl, though he did get some ibuprofen when we went home since he was running a bit of fever and fussy beforehand).

Your mei tai carrier will be ESSENTIAL for getting checked in and through security, IMO. You might even get your LO to sleep in it beforehand and she'll sleep right through the first part of your flight.

Good luck! I was so stressed out about traveling, but DS turned out to be a champ air traveler--who'da thought?

[meemee]

oh i forgot to add one more thing.

if you would like to have benadryl with you... first try it when you are not on hte flight.

it reacts differently with different people. it puts some to sleep, but it also gets some v. hyper. or like for a friend of mine, it could work both ways adn there is no prediction which way it would work at that time.

so benadryl truly is NOT a fool proof method. i will say though that has never ever been an option for me. i never wanted to give dd benadryl.

[nextcommercial]

Originally Posted by meemee

oh i forgot to add one more thing.

if you would like to have benadryl with you... first try it when you are not on hte flight.

Ya. The benadryl thing is sortof a myth. It only works sometimes. But, other times it can make things worse. Give it a test drive if you really want to have that as backup.

I DO think you should have benadryl on your trip with you though. You don't want to find out when you are too far away that she's allergic to something. Even a mild allergic reaction can make for a miserable day. Those little premeasured benadrly thingies are nice to have on hand. But, I don't know that it will work for making your flight easier.

[miami mommy]

I've flown 4 times with my DS (currently 9 mo). He only has a problem with his ears at the top of the descent (~40 min before landing), so I try to get him to nurse or I give him snacks around that time. My DS is really energetic, too, and he'll bounce in my lap for awhile and he likes to explore everything w/in reach. During the last trip, he spent awhile just pulling all the magazines out of the seat pocket, then I would put them back and he'd start over. I also brought a bunch of books and toys.

[lisalu100]

I don't know how you feel about juice and lollipops, but those are options for an emergency. DD is 13 months, and drank a bottle of watered down OJ very happily at the end of our flight when she was frustrated! We booked a and c seats, with the hope that no-one would choose b, and we got lucky on one leg. The extra seat makes a huge difference. DD likes to put things in the seat-back-pocket, and take them out. Also, we let her play with smaller things than usual, since we were right there. It's very hard work, but she'll probably enjoy it. Seats up front are good, you can get off the plane quicker. We got on last, so that we spent less time on the actual plane. And tried to alter her naps so that I walked her in the ergo right before the flight, and she slept for the first bit. GL!

[ellairiesmom]

Originally Posted by lisalu100

I don't know how you feel about juice and lollipops, but those are options for an emergency. DD is 13 months, and drank a bottle of watered down OJ very happily at the end of our flight when she was frustrated! We booked a and c seats, with the hope that no-one would choose b, and we got lucky on one leg. The extra seat makes a huge difference. DD likes to put things in the seat-back-pocket, and take them out. Also, we let her play with smaller things than usual, since we were right there. It's very hard work, but she'll probably enjoy it. Seats up front are good, you can get off the plane quicker. We got on last, so that we spent less time on the actual plane. And tried to alter her naps so that I walked her in the ergo right before the flight, and she slept for the first bit. GL!

I forgot to mention that we also wait till the last possible second to board the plane. People are constantly reminding us that they called for "passengers with children" but we wait it out so we are on the plane the least amount of time. It makes a difference-it takes forever for everyone to get settled & ready to depart.

I never thought about booking seats A & C & hoping no one tries for the one in between...??? I wonder what the % is on times it gets left open? NICE!!!

[Katc8910]

Long flight with an energetic 8 month old

We recently flew to Hawaii from the East Coast: 2 6-hr flights with an 1.5 hrs layover in Phoenix. Our DD was 10-months-old. Everything went really smoothly - much better than we anticipated.

As for medication - I'm not a fan of Rx or OTC meds, but I do use herbs and homeopathic remedies. We had with us Kids Rescue Remedy, Hyland's Calms Forte, and chamomile tea bags (to make tea on the plane and put in the bottle). All help with anxiety and are very safe, gentle and soothing.

As for equipment - I'm also not a fan of strollers or keeping babies in cars eats (unless in the car, of course), but we did have a stroller and car seat with us solely for the trip there and back. We have the Graco Snugride seat and the Graco stroller base (never used it once until this trip) - you just snap the seat into a base and have a stroller. I carried my DD in an Ergo at all airports and during part of one of the flights (she fell asleep in it). We purchased a separate seat for her for several reasons - first, I felt that she would be safest in a car seat during turbulence, and second, with such a long trip, I knew keeping her on my lap would become very difficult so it was better to keep her in the car seat when she slept and save my energy for holding her and playing with her when she was awake. During the take offs and landings I kept her in the car seat and made sure she sucked on her pacifier. You can carry a stroller all the way to the gate and gate-check it. That's what we did. We used the stroller to wheel around our carry-on at the airports (my DH carried the rest) and I carried DD in the Ergo.

As for keeping her entertained, we had a bunch of toys and rotated them. We kept her "special" toys for emergencies only. Most of the time she was playing with me or DH and entertaining other passengers.

Try not to stress too much and enjoy your trip!

[gravida]

I fly long flights regularly with my two kids, usually by myself. This year I did two 12 hour flights, one 5 hour and two 3 hour flights with a 24 month old and a three month old. We also did one family trip with DH that was a 9 1/2 hour flight. In other words flying with kids doesn't daunt me anymore!

My best advice is pack light for the plane - lots of snacks, only one or two toys, just enough diapers for the trip etc. Dress in layers too because t seems planes are either freezing or uncomfortably hot.

8 months is probably one of the hardest to travel with because they have such short attention spans so you have to be creative. Singing songs with actions was and still is my go to on planes. This little piggie, itsy bitsy spider etc. Plan to walk with her and show her different things on the plane. You'll probably get a bulk head seat so she can crawl at your feet a bit too.

Car seat can be nice if she is used to being in one because it gives you guys a break from holding her plus if you are buying her a seat then you have more space overall for her to be in and explore.

I don't give my kids anything to fly but I know lots of people who do. As someone said just make sure to test it out before hand as it can have the opposite effect.

The planning and thinking about it is worse than the actual trip. Have fun!

[rusugiru]

I have taken many long-haul flights with my son (now three) both with and without my husband. I strongly recommend taking LOTS of diapers and changes of clothing (for all of you. I know of someone whose child threw up all over them at the beginning of a 12-hour flight and they had to sit like that for the whole flight because they had nothing to change into - lovely!). Also, you never know when the weather can turn bad or a plane has mechanical difficulties and you find yourself stranded and having to overnight somewhere strange. This has happened to us twice and I was so grateful to have planned for the worst. I can't imagine how those families that got stuck during the Iceland volcanic eruption must have fared!

Oh, and I would probably advise against letting your child crawl on the plane floor. I did it once and a crew member came up to me and told me quietly that it was basically filthy and he certainly wouldn't let his own child crawl on it. Depends on your tolerance for full-on germs, I guess.

I don't know if you've booked a seat for your child. At that age I didn't but always took his car seat to the airport anyway. At check-in I'd ask the agent if they had any spare seats and if they did I'd get seated next to one and put his car seat in it. It's fine to do that even if you haven't bought a separate seat, and that way you get the extra space. I flew for seven hours with my four-month-old on my lap, but I wouldn't do it with an 8-month-old. Eating meals becomes extremely tricky for one thing, although since there are two of you, you could probably take it in turns.

Anyway, I have never had a terrible experience in over 50 flights with my son, so I wish you the best of luck too!

[SunLily]

We took a flight with our then 7 month old, and it went much better than I anticipated. Nurse the babe when you're taking off and landing. Even if they tell you not to, just do it anyways. Baby headphones helped us for a little bit when he was a bit freaked with the noise of the plane. And definitely take the car seat and stroller. I was skeptical about taking this much stuff with us (+ our bags + potty [since we're EC'ing]) but the airports really do try to make things more child-friendly. We've got the Graco travel system that has the car seat + base and also stroller attachment, so it was easy. There's a place to drop off the car seat base to be loaded onto the plane, and then we just pushed him around in the stroller all around the airport. Once we got to the entrance of the plane, they took the carseat/stroller from us, and had it waiting for us when we landed.

Best of luck!

Sun Lily, wife to Mat , mama to Sylas