Need advice for plane trip and changes to EASY. Going to New Zealand for a week.

[newmum27]

Hi,

I about a month we are taking our first trip overseas with our DS who will be one year old by then. The plane trip will be about 3.5 hours (Queensland, Australia to Christchurch, New Zealand) and there is a 3 hour time difference, so this means that when we leave at 9:00am in Queensland we arrive in New Zealand at 3:30pm.

How do we accommodate EASY as we are still on 1-2 naps and 3 bottles of formula a day with solids? Any tips  for take off and landing with ear pressure? Also any other tips for how to handle a Spirited 1 yr old on a plane would be much appreciated. We will be away for 9 days.


Ruth

[charmie]

Not much to add to the previous post.  Lovely advice form Stacy as usual 

The only thing, is if he uses a dummy you might want to use that for the pressure.  We weaned the dummy at 4 months but still used it on our last trip for take off and landing only.


xxx
charm

[Grace's Mom]

I agree w/ pp's
We just traveled a few weeks ago (3 hour time change) and it didn't do anything.
We just went with the flow.  For the most part she actually stayed on track time wise...minus "early" wakings....she was up 8am their time, which was 5am our time, but it all worked out and we just made sure to not stress, because there's really nothing you can do.
She did well there and then got right back on track when we got home, which I didn't think would happen.
They do surprise us sometimes, thankfull

Also, DD is very spirited and hates to be confined, however on the plane she's an angel.
We had a 2 hour and then a 6 hours flight back to back (no running around time)...I thought we would all go crazy.
We bucked her into her car seat and she read and watched movies on the portable DVD player. We only unbuckled her to change her pull up and then strapped her back in. She had no complaints.
Bring lots of snacks and anything really familiar to them.

Have fun!

[charmie]

Yes Have Fun !!


xxx
charm

[Grace's Mom]

We've always bought a seat for Grace when traveling...it was sooo worth the extra money.   If we didn't have a car seat for her to sit in the trip would have been HORRIBLE.  It's what saved our sanity LOL

[newmum27]

Hi everyone, Thanks for your advice. I am really hoping all goes well and will definitely be trying the dummy for take off and landing. He in Oz you can buy an extra seat for your toddler but they pay the full fare. It is expected they sit your lap which is a pain. Not sure how to handle the sleeping on the plane. He is very spirited and will most likely want to look at and touch everything and then refuse to sleep.

Ruth

[Grace's Mom]

We thought the same thing about Grace, but for some reason the plane ended up lulling her to sleep very nicely, even with all the surrounding noise....and she's the kind of kid who has to have a dark, quiet, room or she won't sleep.  There's just something about an airplane that makes it easier for them to sleep.  Just make sure he's nice and tired ahead of time. 
-Yeah, we had to pay full fare for her too. But, for us it wasn't an option and she won't let us hold her for very long, never has so we had to buy one 

[charmie]

We were thinking about buying a seat for K on our next trip too.  It's going to be a 3hr flight.  But it's sooo expensive!! 

So Stacy, youwere so lucky to get an empty seat right next to yours, did Kaleb sleep directly on the seat or did you have a car seat?


xxx
charm