Trip for 11 Mo. Old

My 3 1/2 year old daughter has been traveling like this since she was 7 months old. Her first trip was with me alone, and she had no problems. 3 months after that one she flew with her grandma only back to WA state, she had a little separation anxiety at first, but i had no choice. She has had many trips like that one back to stay with the grandparents and my sister without me, and she has become quite the traveling pro now. as long as one parent is around, he should do fine, my daughter never had any problems when one parent was around.

Hi K.,
Your Mom needs to respect the fact that you are the mother, and you are more than capable of making such decisions. Mom's have good intentions most of the time, but sometimes they forget to let go and let their children be in charge of their own lives. Your son will be just fine. Yes of course he will miss you, but as long as your husband keeps the communication going with your son letting him know that Mommy is at home and needs to work, and he will be back at home again soon after he sees grandma and grandpa. :-) Talking with your children to let them know what's going on, and continuing to do so repetively, (because they forget), will help him during his trip. Your husband is more than capable of handling your son's stress and anxiety from missing mommy, and who knows, he very well could do just great with the trip! He should see his great grandparents. Take lots of pictures on the trip so you and your husband can tell your son stories when he gets old enough to understand. :-) And as for the people not listening to you...I assume it's just your mom, tell her that she is not in charge of your decisions and to respect you as your son's mother, and a person more than capable of taking care of your family. :-) Best wishes, and I pray they have a safe trip there and back. :-) G.

I don't see why it should be any problem. I am a single mom of a two year old and we have flown together many times in the last year and a half. Your husband and your mother-in-law together should have no problem handling him. My advice to keep him happy on the plane is to bring lots of books and lots of snacks. Always keeps my son happy.

As far as separation anxiety goes, he'll miss you but he'll be fine. When my son was about a year old, I left him with my mom and my sister for about 3 days while I flew down here for a job interview. We missed each other but talking on the phone helped. He was a bit mad at me when I got back but he got over it very quickly (I'm talking within 30 minutes). Kids are tougher than we think and as long as he's with someone he is comfortable with he'll be fine. My advice is to not worry about it too much. Kids pick up on what you are feeling, so he's much more likely to cause a fuss if you are acting like it's the end of the world. If you're calm and excited about it, he'll probably handle it much better.

I agree with the advice to make some plans for yourself. Not only will you miss your little guy but you may as well take advantage of the opportunity to be a free woman. So, call up your girlfriends and do something fun...and make sure you get some extra sleep. If you're like me you could use it ;)

As far as your mom goes, just tell her that you appreciate her concerns but you and your husband feel like this will be ok for your son. You will certainly be willing to listen to her advice and take it into consideration but in the end you are the parents and will make the decisions for your child. If she brings it up again at that point just tell her you've made up your mind and you don't want to talk about it anymore. Then change the subject. She might not like it at first, but she'll get over it.

Good luck,
B.

Personally I feel my children, one almost three and the other only six weeks, are too young for traveling without both mommy and daddy. I understand your husbands reason for wanting to take them to see his grandparents before they are gone, but I think I would miss my kids too much as well and stress about it more than they probably would.
I hope you can work something out...at worse you and your child will miss one another, but phone calls daily might help and video mail/chat via the internet could help...other than that it might be a hard transition at first, thankfully it's only a week, but I'm sure you and your little one will still survive. Best wishes!
PS
I'm a former teacher turned sahm going on almost 3.5 years at home...it's a tough job but I'd rather be home than teaching :)

It really all depends. I have a 5 year old that has been on about 8 plane trips and 3 road trips so far in her life. She is the best traveler in the world. She doesn't have problems in the plane, she doesn't have problems sleeping and she loves looking out the window. BUT I also have a 19 month old that has been on 2 plane trips and 1 road trip and I have pulled my hair out each of those times. My youngest had colic and really bad gas when she was younger and when she was 4 weeks old we went to Ohio to visit grandparents and we slept on average 2 hours a night. Then this last December I took both my girls and went to Ohio and it was horrible!!!! I didn't get much sleep and because we were all in the same bedroom my oldest didn't sleep well either.
I think everything should be just fine BUT take it from my experience.... Have your hubby take infant tylenol and give it to your son about 30 minutes before he takes off. And take a bottle or a pacifier for him to suck on while taking off. Now mom.....let me ease your concerns....the easiest part of the trip for your husband will be the flight. Your son will sleep most of the trip there and back. Just make sure that your hubby gets your son's ears to "pop" prior to letting him go to sleep, or he will be extremely sorry!
Just sit back, relax, and don't let anyone tell you that it is a bad idea! It is an awesome thing for Dad and son and an AWESOME bonding experience! The only thing I recommend for you mom....Find something to keep YOU busy...you will miss your son more than he will really be missing you!
I hope this helps!
~AJ

We took a HUGE trip when my DD was just a little younger then your DS. We went from AZ to Vancover Canada, then drove 150 mile, then a 3hr ferry ride, then finally a 1/2hr sea plane trip to get her into grandpa's lodge. I was so stressed the ENTIRE 2 days of traveling (but I went with them so I don't know what I would have done if I had to stay home). But DD LOVED the trip and the traveling. Her favorites were the ferry trip and the sea plane. I would do it all over again. Again I was with her so I knew she was ok.

So after that history, My advise is to let him go. How close is your DS with DH? If he is pretty involved then he should not go through as much seperation stuff. Maybe a little bit on the first few days, but I don't think to much. But if DH and DS are more like strangers then that is a different story. How stressed are you about this trip? DS will pick up on that, if you are exctied then so will he, if you are stressed then so will he. If you are dead against him going (which I still dont let my DD go for more then 2 nights without me and she is almost 4, so there is nothing worng with that) then put your foot down, you are the mama bottom line.

My husband and I took our twins to Idaho when they were 11 months old. They slept for most of the flight and we made sure they had a bottle during take off and landing for their ears. I'm sure your son will be fine with his dad and grandma as long as your comfortable with it, its right.

My son used to go with my parents on long trips all the time. His other grandparents would take him on trips also. Dont let your mother put you on a guilt trip. Your son should see his great grandparents. Tell your mother that you can make your own decisions.

I think it's up to you on how you feel about everything. My son still hasn't gone on a long trip without me and he is 3 yrs old. Now I'd guess I'd be ok with it, but the last time the situation arose I still wasn't comfortable with my son being gone from me for more than a day or so, and there was no way I was ready for him to be out of town. I think you should do whatever you are comfortable with, and ready for. If you're not ready to be away from him yet then that's ok, he is still a baby, and I'm sure that your husband and your mom would take excellent care of your son, but I think it's something you have to be comfortable doing and if you aren't ready to be apart from him the you won't be comfortable with the idea.