Hi lovely ladies, you all know me! Julie and my toddler Jack, otherwise known as Cheeky Cheeky!

We are going on our first flight with him to Brisbane on the Australia Day Long Weekend (we are in Sydney). We should be in the air for around an hour to an hour and a half. We are flying with Virgin and I believe that Jack will be on our lap with a special seat belt type thingy, but I was wondering if anyone can tell me what it might be like on the plane with them. What can I expect, and any tips/ideas to keep them happy and occupied, please anything!

We will wake Jack around 6 am the morning we leave(he normally wakes at 7:30am) and the flight is at 10am so I'm hoping by the time we are on the plane he'll be tired and I can just give him a bottle of milk and he might fall asleep.

Also, any tips/ideas for travelling with a 16 mth old would be great too!

Thankyou in advance

Love Julie

We took Jeremy to Sydney when he was 13 months. No chance he'd sleep, but I brought my laptop and put some episodes of his favourite show (Mickey Mouse ) on it, and when we were able, he watched those. Otherwise you could hire one of those DVD players (that's if he's into watching TV/movies).

One thing that stands out in my mind from our trip, was using his straw sippy cup... when we flipped it open, the cabin pressure made the water come squirting out of the straw... all over hubby It was so funny! So if he uses those, be careful

A bottle is a good idea... the problem we found was that I heated it to very hot before we left, but it had cooled down too much by the time we actually got on the plane, then I tried to give it to him, but it was too cold, then we heated it up (painfully, using a cup of hot water, which hubby also spilled on himself ), but he was pissed off from the first time we tried

All in all though, it went quite well. The Mickey Mouse was our saviour!

We flew a few times when A was little. We did Perth to Canberra and return when she had just turned 1 and I think Perth to Brisbane return when she was about 15.5 months

Best thing I can suggest is to make sure he has something to suck for take off and landing - a bottle, a dummy, whatever it takes. That is generally the worst part of the trip

Have a nappy change all set to go - wipes, nappy, change mat etc that can be easily accessed and be prepared that those toilets are TINY for doing nappies but when its gotta be done, its gotta be done

Will try to think some more....

Oh yeah, don't count on him sleeping on the plane even if it is sleep time


ETA - Bridget has reminded me about pressurised straw cups. We had a similar incident coming back from Malaysia when A was a bit over 2 - it sprayed straight into her face too!

Same as above. bottle, dummy, chuppa chup if he is allowed... anything to suck on is good... the pressure never seemed to affect Braith, but other kids were certainly feeling it....
DVD player is great certainly keeps them occupied at least some of the time. Favourite toys... maybe not the noisy ones... snacks,
Also, some airlines get parents with children to go on first so they can get settled... this can be good, however if you are worried about him having to sit for longer than needed in a confined spot maybe wait till everyone is on the plane... you might inconvenience a few people in your row, but it is worth it for your sanity not having to worry about them being confined that extra time and starting the flight off badly

We went to NZ for christmas, which was the first time we have flown with the boys. I stressed the whole time prior, how would they go. Jake turned 3 day we left & Joshua was 14months old. I had 1 bag for nappies, spare clothes, etc & another for toys, etc.

Being domestic is abit easier in the sense of not going through customs, etc. I b/f Joshua on take off/landing, or just gave him his dummy, depending on what his mood was like. They both slept for about a half hour each way. Joshua also had the infant seat belt-its just like a regular seat belt, that has a loop that goes on your one so they are secure. Josh did get wriggly at times, but the toys, table, etc helped & we got them some cheese/crackers when the trolley came around, which also killed some time. I would say you would do ok with the much shorter flight, but every baby/child is different with how they handle flying, so I don't know if we just got lucky. our biggest drama was Jake figuring out his seat belt, but seemed to understand he had to keep it on to be "nice & safe" Well except for half way to NZ when he tried to convince me we were "all done" I just stayed relaxed so they didn't pick up on any anxiety Hope that helps

Hi Julie, we flew to and from Sydney in October with Ryan and the way down I fed him during take off to help with the pressure in his ears and he fell asleep and slept the whole way!! On the way home our flight had issues and we were on there for 2 hours!!

All Virgin planes have the TVs on the back now ... luckily because of the delay it was free and I put it on the Disney channel for Ryan to watch. My friend recently flew to and from America with her 18month old and she said that stickers were great - she got heaps of stickers and a book and showed her how to peel and stick them in... apparently this is lots of fun!

Thanks for the suggestions ladies, I am sure to try them all out!
Love Julie