No Screens Possible for Short Flight with 13 month old?

[thebrittschmitt]

@lostinthepast We’ve done a few 2-3 hour flights recently with my youngest being 11-13 months and no screens (or naps cause my kids have FOMO and will not nap on the go). Lots of snacks and a couple new small fidget type toys has worked for us.

 

[jayk]

@lostinthepast If you still nurse, piece of cake.

Else, can your 13 month old wear headphones? When I flew 6 months ago, sound was not allowed. So no toys that make noise, no video without headphones, no songs, etc. Reading aloud did not hold my kid's attention long enough for the flight attendant to pass judgment.

What you have in your favor is lots of white noise and an atmosphere generally optimized for sleep as opposed to running on the playground or something.

There may be some sensory overwhelm (pressure in ears, crowding, not having his own seat / limited movement etc ).

You probably already have situations like this (doctors office, checkout line, church, burning man?) and know how your kid behaves and what interventions work.

At that age, coloring and nursing were the anxious habits best suited to staying quiet on a plane. Nursing or lollipops were best for equalizing inner ear pressure.

If you have something that quiets a tantrum, great. If it is possible on a plane, no reason to think it would not work.

TLDR: your same parenting strategies for similar situations work about the same.

Safe travels!

 

[theliesheal]

@lostinthepast You can definitely do it! And it will build your confidence in longer flights for the future. You can bring different toys and introduce them every 15 mins or so and inter-splice the time with snacks. Also don’t ever feel bad about walking your kid up and down the aisles. It tires them out!

Source: I recently took a 13 month old on a 14 hr straight flight to Asia. We also did no screens for my older kid who was 3.5 at the time. She looked at the map on the screen occasionally but we don’t have iPads or anything for them.

 

[linhlinh9988]

@lostinthepast Yes, just did a 3 hour flight with a 13 month old. She had lots of snacks, slept, and played with her babydoll. We read her books too.

 

[fbgah]

@lostinthepast Flew 3hrs with my then 15mo old and did download things on our iPad but he had absolutely zero interest without the sound and refused to wear headphones (the big, soft over the ear ones for kids). I really could have used the help for a bit lol

The savior was a lollipop. I know, I know, choking hazard. Also a miracle worker. But otherwise ALL THE SNACK and novel lift the flap books, along with walking the aisles, worked the best.

 

[acedeck]

@lostinthepast Boob was all mine needed. Timed it so he would sleep.

 

[neostarwcc]

@lostinthepast Definitely. We are up to 18 months and have done many flights 2-7 hours long and never used screens. We don’t bring a carseat and bring books, toys, etc. Breastfeeding is her favorite plane activity though.

 

[christfollower1993]

@lostinthepast We did an hour long flight with our then 14 month old last month and she was not interested at all in screens. I had all kinds of snacks and I specifically brought a post-it note pad, masking tape, and small tupperware container for her as well as some books which were way more entertaining. I had gotten some toys specifically for the plane, but honestly random stuff was more interesting to her, like dad's sunglasses.

 

[jorian]

@lostinthepast At that age, lots of snacks (we usually travel with tupperware of veggie sticks, and buy "day out" snacks eg crisps and chocolate to take with). Maybe a magazine at the airport? Always goes down well with my LO. We've done semi regular 1.5-2 hr flights with him since he was 1, and I never use screens on board. Stories, snacks, a cuddly toy, that's all you need. By the time you've eaten the snacks, played with the tray table a bit, looked out the window, walked up and down the aisle, done an emergency change in the world's smallest toilet... you've landed.

 

[elizabeda777]

@lostinthepast So we did a 4 hour flight with our then 14 month old, and screens didn’t help at all. They gave us very, very little time.

I recommend snacks, books, and toys that can be taken out of things and put back in, and getting lots of strings to attach to them so you can pick things up when they hit the ground. A quiet book might be a good option too?

We got some new (small) toys, and some old toys, and wrapped them up. We also spent some time walking up and down the aisle

It was not a fun experience. Even the queues at the airports were better, because she could people watch

But it was well and truly worth it to get to where we were going! Just grin and bear it

 

[elizabeda777]

Oh, we did manage to time the nap right one time. That was great!! But she got well and truly fed up of being in the same place for so long, and not being alllwed to walk around/climb far. I let her do as much as I could without being unsafe or rude to other passengers! But there really isn’t much room in economy seats. Passing her back and forth between parents helped. A nappy change filled time. Any adults near by that played peek a boo or something was amazing (but she was also a bit cautious of strangers then)

Good luck! Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Take a lot of options! (Small things like ribbons can be great fun, but not take up too much room!)

 

[nessmisfit]

@lostinthepast My son wouldn’t even focus on screens at that age for more than a couple minutes anyway

 

[runningwithfire]

@lostinthepast I regularly take 4ish hour flights to see family with my lo. He's ony 10m now, but we've been making the trips since he was 3m. It's getting trickier as he gets older, but so doable. He loves playing with empty plastic cups and walking up and down the aisles. As long as you cab keep them entertained, it'll be okay. Snacks, toys, and lots of songs and games. It's also 10x easier if you're traveling with someone. If not I really recommend a second seat for baby

 

[mh86]

@lostinthepast We flew with our 13 month old and never broke out the phones. Similar flight times to yours. He wanted to walk the aisles of the plane the whole time. Luckily it was a really smooth flight filled with baby loving passengers so he just made friends. Maybe it was rude of us to do that, but he left people alone that ignored him and smiled and laughed at people who played peekaboo with him. The people that weren’t into babies didn’t have to listen to a crying baby so I think it’s safe to say everyone won lol we packed a ton of toys and he didn’t care about them at all. When we got to our friends place, she had a few toys and some kitchen utensils for him to play with. Guess which ones he picked. So idk maybe bring a spatula? Lol aim for lots of physical activity before each flight and try to be one of the last ones on if your kiddo is an active one.

 

[simancia]

@lostinthepast We did it at that age with no screens on the way there, but on the way back we had a little bit of ms Rachel that we watched, (I think?) I'm not sure we did need it.

It was good to have just as a backup. We do very occasional screens (like when we are all sick, last time was probably March or so)

Lots of new (to him) toys, suction cup spinner, post it's and tape, dollar tree stuff, plastic slinky, animals... I brought him to dollar tree a week or so before and he picked out some things, whatever cought his attention was packed an not seen until the flight. He picked some shiny metallic pom poms. Eventually started pulling them apart on the plane but still he was quiet and occupied and I had a trash bag.

I had about 10+ different ziplock bags to pull out when he started to get bored, each with a different set of toys. Small bags, not a lot of toys in each, but very very well organized, easy to pull out and put back. Same with snacks. Lots of varied snacks, packed separately so not much is lost if accidentally dumped (or thrown).

It felt a bit crazy overkill when I was packing, and we didn't use everything, but that was great because we had some new toys for the flight back. I think this particular trip was 2 flights and a layover, so longer than what y'all are doing.

And the best thing I ever learned: a roll of dog bags and one of those little containers so it doesn't unravel. We have one attached to each diaper bag and stroller we use, and another in the car. Ever convenient trash bags.

Tiny container of bubbles for waiting in lines or in the airport. They do make them small enough for TSA, dollar tree usually has them in a set, (next to the wedding stuff when I bought it) target, Amazon. The suction cup spinner was also good for layovers, attached to a window or chair, or even just hold it.

Lots of hand wipes.

 

[theskyrains]

@lostinthepast I read this originally as 15 hr flight and was thinking how tough that would be!

I think your options sound great, and should definitely be enough for a 1.5hr flight. I think the key will be to have something they can suck on when going up and coming down.

 

[samules]

@lostinthepast Best advice ever that I received it so be the last one to board. Don’t board first with the strollers, military, elderly etc
Board dead last and let that baby crawl all over you and look out the window and receive a ton of stimulation before you stick them in the infant car seat. You save yourself about 30 minutes of being stuck on the plane with nothing to do. If you exhaust them and get them laughing or reacting to something out the airport window, you might just have baby sleep the entire first leg of the flights

 

[jidalbc]

@lostinthepast Yes! Our toddler is screen free (as in, no iPads) and has flown about 6 times since she was 1. Each flight 1 hr. We read books, eat snacks, colour, look at pictures (I print photos for her at Walmart because she loves looking at them) breastfeed etc. The biggest thing is showing her photos and talking about who we are going to visit/where we are going. At around your little one's age honestly she slept on my boob 75% of the trip. It gets more challenging the older they get but we manage it just by talking to her the whole time.

 

[joejoe58]

@lostinthepast Do you have any old phones? My daughter apparently has no need or desire for the screen to be on so long as it has a screen. She'll take any old electronic we have handy. We found an old flip phone while we were moving and it is her new favorite thing.

 

[stevemiltonson]

@lostinthepast Totally doable! When I flew to Mexico with my 13mo we brought a couple small board books and a couple small toys. We also read the plane safety manuals as if they were books (and this was his favorite thing). He would pull them down from the slot in the chair, we would “read” it to him and then put it back. It was mind numbing for us cause it’s so boring and repetitive but he had a great time. We also brought snacks and took selfies (I don’t count selfies as screen time fwiw).