hi , my baby is now 25 months old . we will be travelling by air plane for the first time with her shortly on a 6-7 hours flight coast to coast. i am already feeling nervous about it . in this pandemic situation what all things to take care of for her specially . and general things to do for her air travel as well . she is very socially shy , will cry hard looking at so many people inside the plane , ear pain due to air pressure is all stressing me out. cant further postpone the travel anymore. and how do you find taxis with car seats from airport to home . will be taking an evening flight hoping she would sleep some part of it . youtube is a certain distraction for her but cant say how far it would help during travel. she wont put the mask / face shield on at all , still working on it .
During the takeoff and landing, give her a bottle of water or juice, something to sip and let her keep sipping. This will prevent the pain caused due to pressure. Also better avoid people like co passengers and air hostesses who try to be friendly and talk with her. She may not like it. I experienced this a lot of times. Air hostesses always wanting to be sweet tries to talk with babies and that triggers the babies. Happened with mine a lot of times. So dont let others to disturb her. Let her keep to you and herself. No need of socializing. Dont let her sleep before the flight time. Keep her active. During the take off, let her sip some milk and put her to sleep. If she sleeps during the flight its better.
thank you @Chocolatey . yes i am just thinking of carrying her milk and coco water along with me , hopefully she should sip milk , never says no to it. she is very very shy , never socializes much . generally people buy three tickets and lets the child sit in a seat with seat belt on ? what if child does not sit on her seat during flight and insists on seating on parents lap ?
Yes, you can keep her in your lap, but they will provide you a baby seat belt that connect to the main seat belt of parent. Yes,buying an extra seat is not a bad idea. It will give you some freedom.Carry with you wipes,alcohol swabs, hand sanitizer etc. Give her something to chew during landing and take off. If there is congestion, use nasal spray and give thylanol just before boarding.. Don't worry much. You will be fine. If it wont go well, just consider it as a bad day. Take it easy.Check the following link by a flight assistant. Also watch tva videos on how to manage kids during check-in and at the gates. There are many YouTube videos available on this topic. Please check that too. Flying with Children
Hi CIB - Try showing her videos about air travel and how much fun it is. Peppa pig and curious George et al should have taken trips on planes. Those videos will help her understand what it’s mostly going to be like. I always buy a stash of new toys that I take out only on the plane. We did long 16 hrs flights and those new toys were lifesavers. The kiddos happily would occupy themselves for hours. Carry a variety and bring one out at a time. I hide it in the carry on so it’s a complete surprise on the flight. With new social distancing norms, hopefully nobody will talk to the baby or coo etc. Carry Tylenol, ibuprofen, thermometer, allergy meds etc in a Ziplock in your carry on. The one time I didn’t take it was the time I needed it. I always checked in a non bulky car seat so I don’t have to worry about finding a cab with a car seat. See if you can do that. Btw - keep a pair of change of clothes in your carry on for yourself. Once my kiddo dropped orange juice all over my pants right after take off and I sat in the wet orangey pants for four hours. Don’t worry too much. She’s already two years old. She will probably have a lot of questions about the plane and wings etc. Start early and share some plane facts with her so she will be thrilled to go to the airport, see the plane and fly in one.
25 months! Time flies! The option to not buy a ticket and have the child sit on a parent's lap is for under 2 years old only. For over 2 years old, you have to buy a ticket. Except when the seat belt sign is on, the child is allowed to sit on parent's lap. Even if the 2+ year old sits on the parent's lap for most of the flight time, the extra (third) seat is very useful. If not anything, that much more distance between you and other passengers. Car seat - For 2+ years old, can you use a back-less booster seat? If yes, I would lug my own. Wiping down and sanitizing a rented car seat after a long haul flight, and maybe taking a shuttle to the car rental can lead to distinctly frayed tempers. Been there, wiped that. LOL. Also, after landing and getting the checked-in bags, it is better if mom and child and all the luggage stay in the airport, dad goes and gets the rental car to the airport exit. It has been my experience that this 30-45 minute reprieve the parents get from each other is as important, if not more, than knowing where the emergency exits are on the plane. : ) For quite a few Indian families, the first travel with the child is to India. I am yet to officially get over one such journey. So, a 6-7 hour flight is quite manageable.
