Tips for flying with a 10 month old.... EDITED WITH MORE QUESTIONS

In May we are going down to Florida for 3 nights to visit my grandma. DD will be 10 months at the time... What do i need to know about flying with her? What are the rules regarding what your allowed to take on the plane with you? If it makes any difference, we are flying with Southwest.

I heard that i should give her a bottle at take off to help with the ears popping but what if i cant get her to take the bottle? is a pacifier ok? and do i have to do the same during landing?

Message edited 3/31/2009 8:31:24 PM.

Re: Tips for flying with a 10 month old....

I've taken 3 round trips on SW and 1 round trip on AA with my DD.

Bring your child's birth certificate, we've been asked for it about 1/2 the time.

You can bring breastmilk or formula or water in baby bottles to mix with formula through security, just declare it before it goes through the x-ray machine.

We bring her carseat each time. When we get to the gate, we ask the SW employee if the flight is full. Most the time it is not and we bring the car seat right on. You need to ask for a seat belt extender when you get on and you can strap the seat in rear facing. They make you do it in the window seat - its a hazard if its in the middle or aisle because it would block people in during an emergency.

We bring the stroller to the gate and check it there.

Am I forgetting anything?

Re: Tips for flying with a 10 month old....

bump for the night crew

Re: Tips for flying with a 10 month old....

We took Kaydyn to FL when she was 10 months. I used powdered formula and just bought water once we were through security....actually on the way home we had a bottle already made and they didn't give us a problem.

We bought a seat for her and brought our car seat. We also brought her in the stroller and wheeled the stroller to the gate....once at the gate we checked in with someone at the counter and they put a tag on it and we rolled her down to the plane and folded it up once we got to the plane.

We brought snacks and even jarred food for her and stuff to keep her occupied on the plane. We brought stuffed animals, books and small toys.

HTH

Re: Tips for flying with a 10 month old.... EDITED WITH MORE QUESTIONS

I just flew with my DS to california and he is 13months - i flew alone with him and I did not buy a separate seat for him. I happened to have a free seat next to me. I gave him a bottle during takeoff and he fell asleep for about an hour. I brought lots of food and bought little playdoh containers. He played with all of his little toys for about an hour. I let him walk up and down the aisles. He cried a couple of times and he slept for 2 hours at the end of the flight. In fact, I had to wake him up when we landed. I took his stroller to the gate. People are really helpful, even the security - they let us cut the line. people on the plane were really nice - people even offered to walk him up and down the aisle to give me a break. It won't be too bad

Re: Tips for flying with a 10 month old.... EDITED WITH MORE QUESTIONS

We took the boys to Florida when they were 10 months old and had a bad experience.

I had the RTF Formula cans with me and they almost would not let me go through security. A few tears later and they got a manager, but I WAS allowed to bring it with me. My advice is to bring a print out of the rules from the agency website so if it should happen to you, you can show it to them.

I think a pacifier or bottle during take off is fine. My kids did not have that issue.

Also if you have a portable DVD player you can bring and a video they like it can save you some time.

Good luck!

Re: Tips for flying with a 10 month old.... EDITED WITH MORE QUESTIONS

thanks for all the tips... im freaking out about this trip, i dont wanna be that person that everyone on the flight wants to kill because of my screaming DD. Im hoping that since we are leaving early in the morning going and later on at night coming home she will sleep for most of the flight.

Re: Tips for flying with a 10 month old.... EDITED WITH MORE QUESTIONS

We flew down to Florida when DD was 7.5 months. We bought her a seat, so we had her car seat with us and we gate checked the stroller. We made sure she either had her paci or bottle for take off and landing.

I brought a toy bag on with me filled with her favorites and a couple of new ones and several books. I also had plenty of snacks.

She was really good and slept for more than half the flight there and back.

Don't stress about her cyring and annoying people. You'll never see them again anyway!! And I am sure she will be fine.

Good luck with your trip.

Edited to add: DD was on powder formula, so I brought a bottle of water through security (I just had to mention to them that I had it) and the powder was in the bottles. I also had 2 containers of baby food with me.

Message edited 4/1/2009 1:05:12 PM.

Re: Tips for flying with a 10 month old.... EDITED WITH MORE QUESTIONS

I just flew on sunday and had no problem bringing bottles filled with milk on the plane. I think you should be fine. the flight to florida isn't too long and she should sleep. I am glad i didn't buy a separate seat for DS b/c when he wasn't sleeping, he didn't want to be sitting.