Babies and Planes!

My husband and I took our 14 month old little boy to Maui for a family vacation. We had a great time. However, we all know that flying with a little one can be exhausting and stressful at times. I am sure many of you are experienced parents who fly with their littlest one all the time, and for those of you who have never flown, I hope that some of the information I provide in this post is useful.

The flight to Maui from CalgaryAB(where we live) is 8 hours in total. There are unfortunately no direct flights, and our connecting flight was out of VancouverAirport. I never thought I would say this but 8 hours is a long time with a very active baby, but well worth the trip.

Here are some tips on flying with a little one over the age of a year;

Before we had our son, we didn't really even look at the flight times nearly as much as we do now. There is considerable planning in choosing a flight that you think will work best for your little one. Let's be honest they run the show!

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you're trying to choose a good time to fly;

Your child's

1. feeding times
   
   
   
2. fussy times
   
   
   
3. nap times
   
   

Our son never had scheduled naps, he just went to sleep when ever he was tired, a little bit unpredictable but adds flexibility to our daily routine. He did however have fussy times, usually before he goes for a nap and likes to eat every 3 to 4 hours. His feeding times were always fairly scheduled, which developed into a routine as he got older. When we booked our flight times, we made sure we could feed him once on the plane and if we had a lay over we would made sure we had enough time to feed him again. Keeps his busy hands and belly happy - Which keeps mommy and daddy happy!

While flying;

Try to keep the middle seat free if at all possible, it so much easier for your arms and for your sanity. Bring on the plane what I call a distraction bag. I hid a few toys from my son that he liked, and then packed them up in his diaper bag. When I took them out on the plane, it was like Christmas all over again, he got so excited to see his new toys (ha ! old toys!) . However because our son is very active, the toy distraction didn't last more then 10 minutes.

I also brought teething biscuits, the really hard ones. There great for keeping little hands busy. Bring lots of food especially milk, you cannot get milk on the plane. I also brought a blanket. Make sure you have plenty of diapers and wipes. The last thing you want is to get caught without either of those on a small plane. I also brought a few �baggies� to put the dirty diapers in. The flight attendance and the people on the plane really appreciate that, if you don't you can smell the dirty diaper in the air carbine. For departure and arrival, try feeding your baby, it generally helps with the ear pressure and acts as a distraction.

If you need anymore useful flying tips, I have many more, some of which include great places to go in Maui

with your wee one. Send me a comment and I will be more then happy to write another post about the subject.