Flying alone, 14 hours with a Lap Baby! Help and ideas! - Page 3

[superlove]

Hi,  Funny because I just took a 17 hr flight from LA to Bangkok with my 11.5 month old.  i was flying with my husband though.  We didn't have an extra seat, and the bassinet was already taken.  But I agree with you, it wouldn't have been much use, but the extra leg room would have been nice.

Honestly, DS slept on my Boob for a lot of the flight, more than I thought..  and the few hours that he was awake, we played with some toys, gave him some snacks and he flirted with other passengers... It really wasn't as bad as I thought.. so don't worry too much about it.

BUT, since your flying alone, the one thing that may be hard will be eating... because me and my husband traded off for meals...  Here are some snacks that  helped us a lot to keep him occupied while we ate..

1. those rice thingies called "Mum Mums"- he can hold these and feed himself and keeps him very occupied.

2. Little rice puff O's

3.  those tubes of food "Plum or Happy baby"- can squirt it right into their mouth with one hand while you eat with the other.

also here are some toys that he really liked

1. a plastic brightly colored jump rope from target... - it was great because it wasn't something that he could keep dropping and we have to constanlty pick up... we kind of just strung it on the tray and he fiddled with it for a while.

2. I read about blue painters tape, and we brought that and it was an okay distraction. It's cheap and he can stick it on and off of things.

3. books, he loves books so that helped.

good luck, and you'll be just fine, even if it's bad, it will be over in 14 hours :-)

[Ilovesunshine]

There are some great tips here! I thought I'd jump in with a few of my own - sorry if any of them have already been mentioned. I've done the UK to Australia with my 2 boys three times now (twice with DS1, once with both of them). 24 hours total round trip. I'm also an expat, so I totally understand the need to fly.

- I found that the sets of brightly coloured toy links worked really well for keeping toys in check. I made a chain out of them and attached one end to the toy, the other end to the tray table/cup holder. They also work great at keeping toys attached to a high chair/stroller.

- Even if you are baby wearing, I'd take a small umbrella stroller. They work as luggage trolleys too! Especially useful if you happen to be transferring through an airport with no trolleys after security.

- Someone else mentioned making sure that you drink enough. I second that! And also the recommendation for Bach Rescue Remedy.

- If you can get your babe to do standing diaper changes that is great. If not, make sure you have a cushy changing pad or blanket. The change tables are HARD. I used a small tote as my change bag, with a few diapers, wipes and a spare change of vest and soft leggings for my son. I 'restocked' the bag with diapers on our layover.

- I think I got this tip from Eclipsepearl's blog (mentioned earlier) - but ziplocks are your friend. My husband thought I was nuts, but organising our carryon's into ziplocks really helped me keep my sanity. And made sure that if anything spilt into our bag then our change of clothes, spare diapers etc were dry. If you don't want to use ziplocks, then cloth bags could work just as well, the downside is that you could not then see the contents at a glance like you can with ziplocks.

- My last bit of advice - Don't stress about the people around you. If they can see you are doing what you can to keep babe occupied they will be sympathetic. If they aren't sympathetic, ignore them. Do what you have to do to keep yourself and babe happy. And enjoy your trip!

[Piratelady2525]

Originally Posted by Ilovesunshine 

- My last bit of advice - Don't stress about the people around you. If they can see you are doing what you can to keep babe occupied they will be sympathetic. If they aren't sympathetic, ignore them. Do what you have to do to keep yourself and babe happy. And enjoy your trip!

Agreed!  I just flew with my 15 month old and he did great until the last leg of our journey, when he got a little fussy from traveling so much.  I just did my best to distract and console him, and most of the people around us were very sympathetic and didnt mind.  The man next to us even tried making silly faces at him, and when he got fussy the guy just put his headphones on so he didnt have to listen to it.  Perfect solution!  If anyone gives you grief about your kiddo, just tell them to put their headphones on! haha

 

[NicaG]

On our first international flight with ds (he was about 6 months old) I actually brought earplugs to give out if ds started crying uncontrollably. He did fine, and I kept the earplugs, but it was nice to know I had them, in case anyone complained.