Travelling to London with an 18 Month Old

J.,

We have flown to london with our daughter 2x. She is 17 months old. My first bit of advice - if you can afford it - get her a seat. Holding a baby for 9 hours....makes it feel like 18!

Flights to London are generally easier than the flights returning as you are flying overnight and you hopefully get the benefit of bedtime on the flight there.

Also, once the attendants are done serving, let your baby walk (or crawl) the aisles. Burn off energy. I guarantee people will most likely be receptive to your child, make conversation with the baby and you. And walking the aisle is better than kicking the seat in front and screaming because of frustration of being restrained.

People have also suggested taking some the baby's toys and putting them away until the trip - then they seem new on the day of the trip.

I will also warn you London does not have a stroller friendly public transport. Be prepared to carry the stroller down stairs and get over your apprehension of having the stroller on an escalator. Some tube lines have elevators, but more do not. Taking the bus is better. Check out tfl.gov.uk. That site can help you get from point A to point B and you can choose "bus only" as an option.

i have done that trip about 5 times with my now 2 yr old. i highly recommend a portable DVD player with her favorite DVDs. I don't generally let my little one watch TV or DVDs but make an exception for long trips. A small etch a sketch is good and some crayons and any little figures that she likes to play with. I also bring books and plenty of snacks as the plane food is often not what a child will eat - depends on your child. My little girl is an extrovert and she will talk to the whole plane. good luck.

The other posters have some excellent practical advice, so I won't repaet it.
What I will say is this; In my experince of intermitent travel with children under 2, history means nothing. Each time is a completely new event. There is something about the cabin pressure and elevation that affects their systems a bit differntly than ours. And that can change in a matter of days. So 2 legs of a round trip, are not necessarily going to affect them the same way.
Pack some good diapers and purchase a couple bottles of water or juice once you pass security. Being able to swallow helps them balance the ear pressure and staying hydrated addresses the dry cabin air pressure.
Good Luck and have fun.

ABOUT ME: Married-studnet-working-homemaking Mom of 3 (ages 8, 6 and 3)

We took our 13month old daughter to Australia last fall and I was so worried! Overall it went fairly well. I had never let her watch much TV, but she did enjoy the Disney channel on the international flights. I was still nursing at the time and that helped a lot as well. I'd just recommend taking lots of juices boxes, milk, and water as well as heaps of snacks. My daughter didn't really play with any of the little toys that I brought for her though she did look at her books. She was much more interested in everything on the planes. Oh, see if you can get bulk head seating, that way she'll have some room to move around. It's typically reserved for families with children under two, though if there are infants who need the bassinets they get preferential seating there. We requested it when we purchased our tickets and didn't have any problems getting it (the airline we used couldn't guarantee this seating, you could only put in a request). The only other thing that I can think is to try to remain as calm as possible, cause the kids definitely pick up on the stress levels! Overall, it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Good luck.

When our daughter was that age and we traveled via airplane we made a few overseas trips. We found it best to travel in evening and night so that much of her time was spent sleeping. Sometimes we skipped naps so that she was really ready to go down. Also with the technology today, loading the laptop or bringing one of the portable DVD players is a help and then plenty of onboard activities coloring books, cards, activity books and regular books. Take the earphones though so your fellow passengers don't have to listen to the same children's programming over and over and over. I am very tolerant of most things, especially children on planes, but on our last trip I just could not hear Diago one more time. Allowing her to stretch her legs once in awhile was also helpful. Have a good trip.

Bacck in January when I was preparing for a flight to England with my then 14 month old, I didn't get any responses, so I'm glad you have :O) My daughter didn't sleep so well on the days we flew out and back, but her body clock adjusted surprisingly well once we were there. I think if you take along snacks, toys & books and follow your daughter's lead as far as napping, etc. you will be fine. I really hope the you all enjoy your trip :O)

Make sure you bring your dvd player and lots of snacks.

Hi! We just got back from Amsterdam and Paris with our 18 month old son yesterday. Overall - it went pretty well. My son too had done ok to bad on previous flights. A few tips to add to what the other moms have said. We did not buy a ticket for our son. On the way out we were able to get the bulkhead on the side where there are two seats. We brought a blanket (on the recommendation of a friend) and laid our son on the floor to sleep at our feet (he only slept 2 and and a half hours which was a bummer) but having the extra room of the bulk head was worth it. I don't think you can reserve the bulkhead ahead of time so get to the airport a little early. On the way home the flight was not full so the lady put our two seats next to an empty seat which was a blessing! He was awake a lot more on the way home then the way there. We were able to bring as much milk/juice/food on the flight as we wanted. They just tested it (without touching it) when we went through security. The portable DVD player was a huge help as were stickers (my son loves stickers). I also went to the dollar store ahead of time and got a bunch of cheap toys that he had never seen before to distract him. I would also recommend practicing with headphones at home if your toddler is not used to wearing them. Once we were there we stayed with friends that had all the baby gear so that helped. We used a product called the Tote n Go for our taxi rides. It was difficult to use and I didn't feel like it was super safe but it was better than lugging a car seat for the two taxi rides we took. Overall, I am really glad we went. For all the worrying I did - it wasn't that bad and we had a great time!!

I flew to Paris with my 12 month old and London with my 2.5 year old and 15 month old. It wasn't too bad. I think the key is to get a later evening flight. That way the child falls asleep shortly into the flight, sleeps for a few hours, feels like it is day when you arive, and can more easily adjust to the schedule. I just let my kids sleep through the whole flight, woke them when we got there and kept them awake all day, then put them to bed a little early (local time) and they were adjusted.

Enjoy your trip and don't let the little one scare you away from it- we travel frequently and have had wonderful family trips (and a few terrible flights that we can now laugh about).

British Airways has lots of perks for kids- we got little backpacks with a book and some toys. If you request the bulkhead row and you do not have a seat for the baby you can get a special seat that your child can sit in and face you as long as there is no turbulance (no charge for this). I think they also have bassinets.

Flying is tough - but we did the London/Chicago flight a couple of times with my daughter at 18 mos. and 2 and a half, while we were living in London but visiting friends back home. We thought of it as one giant adventure - one huge playdate - we brought every kind of activity imaginable, given the short attention span - art supplies, small toys, quiet toys that made soft sounds, we sang, we got her headphones so she could listen to music, we made her stuffed animals dance, of course we had many different kinds of snacks... The key for us was PLANNING. We read stories about airplanes, acted it out, practiced waiting in line and buckling seatbelts, and we had a couple of new toys that she saw for the first time in-flight. We also did our best to keep to her napping schedule regardless of where we were in the journey... and in the airports, we ran her. We jumped, we used up all our body energy so she could settle on the plane. And we walked up and down aisles on the plane when we needed to and it was safe.

I know this is all intuitive stuff... but maybe it helps to hear it from someone who's been there. I'd say don't let the hard flights get you down - this is novel, this is new, this is an exciting adventure, and while there are rules she needs to follow, there are also plenty of opportunities for fun.

Good LUCK!!