Traveling with a 1 year old
J has been on 6 different commercial airplanes this month so while its still fresh in my mind I was hoping to offer my 2 cents to the world on pacifying baby on the airplane. Funny though, it seems like a lot of my parenting skills go down the tube on an airplane. I think its because while you are on an airplane many decisions are less about, "who will this child become" rather than, "how much can these people hate me." So keeping J pacified and not screaming has a lot more value than otherwise.
We have had a couple 2 morning flights, 1 evening flight, 1 red-eye ranging from 2-5 hours. The red-eyes are hard because it's insanely difficult to sleep with a baby on your lap. On the other hand J has always slept very well on night flights. . . its kind of a give and take. What is also hard about red-eye flights for me is that because I am tired my patience is low- and that's a killer when it comes to parenting. So on the flights that she has been awake for...well...food is a wonderful thing; and for a baby who doesn't get much sugar, airplanes are a nice exception. Not only is offering sweet things a great way to keep attention of a little one. I am all about handing out the cheerios (or whatever) one by one. It helps it last much much longer. Honestly I am usually more bored by it than J.
Oh how I wish she were at the age of liking movies and screens. The only way she would sit and watch something was if it were movies of herself. So she did! Seriously, she happily watched the screen of the video camera and then some video's of herself on our laptop. I wouldn't have brought the laptop just for that but we were bringing it anyway!
Flashlights, toothbrushes, straws, pens. She is at an age of phallic objects and lights. Needless to say it was great; above all the greatest airplane gadget I have found is the electric toothbrush! She loves it, and is happy for 30 minutes or so with this thing (on). If you are looking for any 1 thing this is it.
Drinking from a cup is probably J's second most favorite thing to do (there must be something she likes more??) it's always messy but since J likes water it's worth it- and on and airplane a nice time consuming option. We should have asked for a cup without ice though.
At 14 months she is into books. Kind of. But really she has been doing well with books with textures. We brought a couple- so we switched it up.
We have NEVER let her walk (or crawl) around on the floor or in the aisle of an airplane. We figure if she realizes she can walk around it will be all she wants to do. Thus far we are good- and she hasn't put it together yet.
The wonderful thing about a window seat and J is all about the "open the window and shut the window" game.
Having a bottle is a great thing--but be careful! J loves the bottle so being in the airport is a fine line between hiding it from her until the perfect moment and not over using it so that she vomits on us (last time on the way home from the airport. . . ) After her vomit episode on Friday it made me want to be breastfeeding again. . . But then again I really don't miss whipping my boobs out in front of strangers- I was so over that.
My best bet- over our 7 or so trips this year has really been to wonder around the house and find unusual objects that if they were laying on the floor she would go for and I would have to pry out of her hands. I figure under close supervision on an airplane it's a good place for exploration.
I'm sure next time it'll all change. But, this is what has lasted us...
We have had a couple 2 morning flights, 1 evening flight, 1 red-eye ranging from 2-5 hours. The red-eyes are hard because it's insanely difficult to sleep with a baby on your lap. On the other hand J has always slept very well on night flights. . . its kind of a give and take. What is also hard about red-eye flights for me is that because I am tired my patience is low- and that's a killer when it comes to parenting. So on the flights that she has been awake for...well...food is a wonderful thing; and for a baby who doesn't get much sugar, airplanes are a nice exception. Not only is offering sweet things a great way to keep attention of a little one. I am all about handing out the cheerios (or whatever) one by one. It helps it last much much longer. Honestly I am usually more bored by it than J.
Oh how I wish she were at the age of liking movies and screens. The only way she would sit and watch something was if it were movies of herself. So she did! Seriously, she happily watched the screen of the video camera and then some video's of herself on our laptop. I wouldn't have brought the laptop just for that but we were bringing it anyway!
Flashlights, toothbrushes, straws, pens. She is at an age of phallic objects and lights. Needless to say it was great; above all the greatest airplane gadget I have found is the electric toothbrush! She loves it, and is happy for 30 minutes or so with this thing (on). If you are looking for any 1 thing this is it.
Drinking from a cup is probably J's second most favorite thing to do (there must be something she likes more??) it's always messy but since J likes water it's worth it- and on and airplane a nice time consuming option. We should have asked for a cup without ice though.
At 14 months she is into books. Kind of. But really she has been doing well with books with textures. We brought a couple- so we switched it up.
We have NEVER let her walk (or crawl) around on the floor or in the aisle of an airplane. We figure if she realizes she can walk around it will be all she wants to do. Thus far we are good- and she hasn't put it together yet.
The wonderful thing about a window seat and J is all about the "open the window and shut the window" game.
Having a bottle is a great thing--but be careful! J loves the bottle so being in the airport is a fine line between hiding it from her until the perfect moment and not over using it so that she vomits on us (last time on the way home from the airport. . . ) After her vomit episode on Friday it made me want to be breastfeeding again. . . But then again I really don't miss whipping my boobs out in front of strangers- I was so over that.
My best bet- over our 7 or so trips this year has really been to wonder around the house and find unusual objects that if they were laying on the floor she would go for and I would have to pry out of her hands. I figure under close supervision on an airplane it's a good place for exploration.
I'm sure next time it'll all change. But, this is what has lasted us...
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