Flying Across the Country

1. Take a red eye flight. My daughter is/was a very physical infant/toddler (when she started walking it actually meant she would *only* run/climb to her destination. She has always had a "why on earth would you want to keep me still when I can MOVE, mom" attitude and I am lucky if I can keep her still for fifteen minutes) so on long flights to my Dad's, I made sure to book the tickets for when she slept.

2. If your flying during the day, of course pack lots of activities for the baby. Keep them hidden and not played with for weeks before you get on the plane so they are new and exciting when you're in the air. Take one out ever ten-sixty minutes depending on your babes attention span and rotate them so as to keep them fresh. Snacks are great because they also are an activity.

I don't know how you feel about media and infants, but I'll be honest. Had I been able to, I would have had no qualms with setting up an age appropriate movie/show on the I-pod.

Use any and all time in the airport productively...get their energy out! I let my daughter take me on some grand adventures and by the time we boarded, she was ready to nap for a couple hours. Hmmmm, sweet bliss.

3. The ergo, plus my boobs, were of great use to me when my daughter was still an infant and traveling. I made sure to ask for an isle seat so that I could get in and out without having to ask someone to move. Often, I could trade for an isle seat if it wasn't possible to get in advance (mostly, people want the window). I could get her to sleep by walking up and down in the ergo, or just plopping her on my breast.

They will not let you keep your baby strapped to you in the ergo during take off or landing - so if he's sleeping he'll get woken for take off. I curse the time I didn't know about this and had my baby asleep and ready for the trip - only to be woken and grumpy for the next two hours of the plane ride. It did not make for a good start.

4. More importantly, do things to keep yourself fresh. Your babes favorite activity/toy at this age is probably YOU. So, rest before hand and be mentally prepared to be absolutely fascinating for five to eight hours straight. Walks to the bathroom are wonderful. Let him hold onto your hands and walk to get out more energy so that he is more likely to want to sit and play with you for longer. Bring snacks and water (bring an empty container through the security check and fill it at the water fountain once your through security) for yourself (darn those airlines, pretzels do NOT count as a snack!) and get a good nights sleep the night before (if possible). Ask your family to give you a break when you land and know it's coming while your on the plane.

Pack light. Traversing an airport with one thousand bags of luggage is really difficult when holding a babe.

5. I totally hear you about an extra seat. However, I did pay the extra fifty to get extra foot room on my last flight and in was Worth. Every. Penny.

Have a great trip!

I have flown cross country with my son 3x before he was 15 months old. All of those times he did fairly well. The only real problems we had was him wanting to run up and down the aisles (he walked at 9 months). He slept alot on the plane and I breastfed him so that kept him content. We also brought little toys and snacks for him in his diaper bag. Everytime we have flown, we were always lucky enough to have the opportunity to get an entire row to ourselves. If there is an empty seat, most airlines will let mothers who have a baby on their lap take the extra seat. Its very convenient being as we never wanted to buy a ticket for our son under 2.

YIKES!! A one year old on your lap?!!!

I would buy a ticket for him myself, personally. I've traveled with my kids at 6 mo, 9mo and 1 yr - to be honest 1 was the hardest. The flight will be at least 4 hours, right?! At home you don't have him on your lap for that long.

Buy a seat for him and put him in his car seat. SOOO much easier.

I had snacks in the ziploc snack bags (Cheerios, Chex, etc.) in the diaper bag. Books and a bottle (especially at take off and landing!!! it helps with the change in pressure). I had three SMALL toys - favorites as well - for them to play with.

I did my 1st one to Denver from Dulles at 6mo on my lap - to save $$$$.. And he was a VERY HAPPY baby!!! you would've thought that I would've learned my lesson with the second one!! NOPE!! At 11 mo - took him again to Denver - on my lap - URGH!!! NO THANK YOU!!! Keeping him occupied in the car seat was MUCH better - he could have his toys in his lap and he felt like a "big boy!!"
TRUST ME - OWN SEAT IN THE CAR SEAT!!! SOOOOO WORTH THE $$$$$.

I've done it several time (even alone overseas with a baby and a toddler) and, trust me, you will survive.
Depending on the plane, try to have bulkhead seat or a "more leg room" ($15 on jet blue) If not possible, have a aisle seat, so you can get up and walk up and down the aisle often.
It's the perfect time for new toys and new books. I love the toys that come with a rings that you can attach. I attach them to the handle of the bag and still have plenty of room IN the bag for diapers, snacks... Of course, plan of plenty of tasty snacks. It's just one trip, it's OK if there is more treat and less nutrition, exceptionally!
Don't forget to nurse/feed at take off and landing to relive pressure in the ears.
Plan easy to remove shoes (removing laced shoes when carrying a baby is not the easiest and fastest thing on earth!) and avoid anything that will slow you down at security. I always carry all the stuff (keys, wallet, phone...) in my jacket pockets and just remove the jacket and put it in a security basket. Avoid belts, metal hair clips, jewelry..
At this age, my favorite toys to fly were:
- stackable cups. baby can pile them as a tower, put them into one another...
- Bath toys. They are weightless, easy to squeeze in a bag and you can recreate the zoo/farm... in the plane with just 4-5 of them
- books
- magic board (the kind that you write on with a metal crayon and erase with a lever on the side) No mess. Hours of fun.
Think of teething tablets/toys as you never know when they will have a teething crisis.