18 Month Old on His First Airplane Trip...

Hi A.. I have 3 toddlers, and they are awesome on the airplane, the only thing that I do is. They have their own backpacks with their own things, like toys/color books, munchies, whatever he may be interested in. Make sure you take his #1 munchie or #1 blanket...

Good Luck,
K.

We flew our son from California to Tennessee at 18 months and the doctor had us give him (just before boarding the plane) 1 dose of childrens Advil and a dose of Pedicure decongestant. This relaxed him. Then, only once we started down the runway, I gave him a bottle to drink and the sucking action releived all pressure on his ears during takeoff. Use the same bottle trick on landing. It worked great and we had the only non-screaming child on the flight.

We took our youngest (3rd) son to Switzerland when he was 16 months old, and what helped the most was lots and lots of snacks! We packed more than we ever would have thought he could eat - and he ate it all (or at least was distracted by it). If you do end up going with a Benedryl sort of assistance, I'd encourage you to try it out with your child before you fly - different medications affect children so differently (for instance it can calm one child, and hype up another). Best of luck to you! We have found fellow travelers to be very kind when we are traveling with our boys.

Hi there. My husband and I took our 1 1/2 year old on a trip to Hawaii and I was pretty nervous too. We just made sure we had a lot of snacks that we knew she liked. And she was still drinking a bottle so we made sure we had one or two of those. It helped with the fussing and the landing for her ears. We took books and anything else she really enjoyed. There have been trips since and we have had to get up and walk to the bathroom and all that to stretch her legs and keep her from going stir crazy, but for the most partthey have gone well. Good luck to you. Most people understand what children are like and understand.