Unless you’re flying the baby to the Mayo Clinic for urgent medical care, what’s the point?
Not a bad idea though I would like to point out AGAIN that the OP’s child is only 13 months old! and I highly recommend the Airborne fizzy tablets to bolster both your immune system, and that of your child. I typically get sick with a creeping crud lung infection after every plane flight. However, on my last one (5 hours each way) I took this stuff, and gave it to my 4 year old who is prone to a poor immune system anyway. Neither of us got sick at all. I call that pretty miraculous.
No, no, no. Children under the age of 3 are NOT recommended to have peanut butter at ALL, due to the risk of creating a life-threatening peanut allergy.
Here’s a reason for you, I have on multiple occaisions and will continue to fly with my daughter to the US for vacations so she can be in an American environment and get to know all of her extended family. Should I instead take a boat to and from China, and then a car or train once I’m in the land of the free? Or that it would be even more practical for my extended family in the US to come to China twice a year. Is that a good enough reason for you?
Got a cite for that?
Even the American Academy of Pediatrics says it’s ok to give kids over age 1 peanut butter to eat.
The idea that food allergies come about because of early exposure to a particular food is a theory. I am unaware of any evidence-based medical studies which show a credible link to early ingestion of peanut butter to an increased risk of peanut allergy.
And of course, healthy children should be allowed to fly.
QtM, MD
If your daughter is 13 months, as in the case of the OP, she wouldn’t know the difference if you came to visit MY family instead. Or if you took her to Zimbabwe, for that matter. So what’s the point, again?
Exactly! And when China Guy goes to visit his family and they expect to see his 13-month-old daughter, he can just snag some kid of vaguely the right age off the street after his plane lands! They won’t know the difference.
The handout I got from Aaron’s old daycare said that peanut butter isn’t recommended because it’s a choking hazard. I don’t know who it’s from, and I don’t care anymore because he’s past the age where most of their recommendations are an issue.
Robin
Oh, and milroyj, your presence is requested here.
Robin
Um, milroyj, you’ve never heard of moving? When I was 2 and my brother was 8 months my family moved to Canada from Australia. There’s not many other ways to get across the pacific than flying nowadays!
I think it’s been pretty well covered. 
However, the fuss that’s been made stirred up memories. It was about 15 years ago, and I was flying from Detroit to Mississippi to visit my grandkids for Thanksgiving.
On the plane was a couple with a toddler who had a cold, poor mite. She made all our lives miserable for several hours. The situation wasn’t helped by the fact that it was a holiday flight, and there were delays all along the route. AAMOF, American put us up in Memphis 'cos we missed our connecting flights (nobody flies nonstop from DTW to JAN, unless it’s started in the last couple of years … straight, maybe NW?). And the family was just downstairs from me in the airport hotel… <sigh>
Back then, the only treatment most knew for this particular problem was antibiotics (and if it was a viral infection or allergy, Deity help you all, because at that time, decongestants weren’t yet accepted as safe for kids under four (IIRC, maybe it was 3 or 5)).
Why am I telling this long, rambling story? To let y’all know that things are Much Better Now. Most kids can take a decongestant, if one is needed. And nearly everybody (unless you happen to be on a plane with people from … um … third world countries who have little education and no awareness of medical resources, which can easily happen if you are on a flight which begins or ends in Detroit) knows that ya gotta do something to help babies & toddlers equalize the eardrum pressure changes from landings and takeoffs.
Oh, yeah. My return flight was diverted from changing in Atlanta to changing in DFW … after we got to Birmingham. :smack: And my checked bags didn’t get home until about 24 hours later than I did. And in DFW, we had to hustle like mad to get from our terminal to the DTW departure terminal before that plane left. I barely made it. In my memory, I can’t honestly say which way (going or coming) was worse. They were both truly miserable.
The storal of the mory is, “Count your blessings!”
Just want to balance out the dire warnings about kids and air travel and ear drums… I took my first plane flight as a toddler and my ears gave me no problem whatsoever. Entertainment was easy - I had my face plastered to the window looking out the whole way. Not so much as a whimper until mom insisted I sit down and buckle up for landing. Which was so unfair - sitting down I couldn’t see outside…!
By the way, I now have a pilot’s license and most weekends I can be found far above the ground. I still spend most of my time in airplanes looking out the window.
Anyhow - that said - IF your child has any sort of congestion/allergy/ear problem PLEASE speak with the child’s doctor about use of decongestants, advisibility of flying, and so forth. If either your child OR YOU have continuing ear problems after a flight has landed PLEASE see a doctor as soon as possible (and no, that does not mean wait until you get home - find one at your destination). Most of the ear/air pressure problems are preventable or managable. As a long-term hayfever victim and allergy sufferer I know this from experience. You don’t have to suffer and neither does your child. And yes, the sucking-on-pacifer trick should work just fine. So should munching on food. Basically, anything that induces a swallowing motion should help.
Be prepared for delays - yes, airliners have been known to keep people on airplanes for hours at a time. The worst I’ve heard so far is the infamous Northwestern incident one New Year’s in Detroit where airplanes were kept parked on taxi-ways for over twelve hours. While this is extreme, delays are an ever-present part of travel. Be prepared.
Personally, I don’t think parents should be permitted to keep the very young in their laps. I know the FAA regs say it’s OK for your under-two child to sit in your lap but really, really I’d prefer to see the child in a car-seat. Really. It’s a safety issue. EVERYONE should be buckled in, and for a very small child it’s the best option.
All those questions about strollers, car seats, what is and isn’t permitted…? Call the airline It is in everyone’s interest (except ogres who hate children) to know how things are handled and to be prepared.
Gee, that’s actually the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics! I explored their website, and found that in one place they say PB is ok for young kids and not linked to developing allergies. Then in another document, they say to avoid giving it before age 4 as it’s a choking hazard! :smack:
Sorry for the misinfo. :smack: :smack:
I just flew Southwest with ValleyGirl (at 11 weeks), so I wanted to add a few things.
Tell the flight attendants that it’s your little one’s first flight. ValleyGirl got an adorable “First Flight” certificate.
Carry the car seat to the gate. When you are boarding, they will tell you if the flight is too full and you need to gate-check it. Otherwise, you can take it on to the plane and put it in a spare seat. (We gate-checked on the flight down, had a spare seat on the way back.)
Do pre-boarding. We got the bulkhead seats both times. Also, you may get a lot of open seats around you – when people choose their seats as they board, they see the kiddo and sit far away. Sweet deal!
And for the record, what was said earlier in this thread is incorrect: Southwest does offer discounted seats for under-2s. See here:
Be sure to bring a birth certificate if you go this way – you’ll otherwise have to pay full fare. I’ve seen angry parents on Airline!
Finally, don’t discount the TSA screening hassle!!! We had to take ValleyGirl out of her carrier (can’t be “in” anything when going through the metal detector), and wait while the diaper bag was swabbed for explosives. An acquaintance claims that TSA made her take her son’s diaper off during screening! I don’t know that I entirely believe her, but you just never know. The lines were also quite long, so don’t forget entertainment here!
Have a blast. After our flight, people at the baggage carousel were coming up to us to tell us what a well-behaved, beautiful baby we had. People really appreciate the efforts you make.
So people on trains and buses can be inconvenienced for a much longer time frame than on a plane?
I can give you one good reason for bringing young children on a flight. This is an example that recently happened with my family. A woman brings her young children along on a cross country flight so she can visit her father who is on his death bed from cancer and is in no condition to fly.
About 10 years ago, Bluesman and I attended the funeral of an 18 month old who had choked to death on a spoonful of peanut butter. Giving “unlubricated” peanut butter to young children is a very bad idea.
A spoonful might be too much, then. How about this: smear just enough on the roof of the child’s mouth to divert their attention to an activity requiring a closed mouth, but not enough to choke them? 
First of all milroyj, I give your opinions about children and travel no weight at all. I’m sorry your mum & dad kept you locked in a closet until you were 18, but too bad for you. My kids are seasoned air travellers who probably fly better than you do.
Thanks for the Southwest site link! They didn’t used to have those infant fares!
Heads up! American no longer pre-boards people with small children either! That’s right! Instead of giving me a couple (literally) of extra minutes to strap the car seat in and tie down the toddler without incoveniencing the rest of the passengers, you will all be stuck standing in the aisle behind me while I do it during main cabin boarding.
Stupid airlines.
Re: car seats, I definitely think it’s a good idea to bring hers and use it on the plane.
Actually a friend from another board is going through the same sort of checklist and is wondering whether she should be backwards-facing, since she still is in the car.
I don’t exactly see it as being the same since a plane isn’t going to brake midair, God willing, but if you have any questions about that, Bordelond, your Ped or local Safe Kids office should know.
OK-just checked my parenting boards, and the general consensus is yes, use the car seat.
Re: rear facing (if she’s still that way in a car) the jury is divided. Of course, rear-facing, she could see you much more easily.
However, with the larger car seats, particularly the Britaxes, the person in front of the child cannot recline if the car seat is rear facing.
Now I know, I know, as Ellen Degeneres says, there’s like, an inch to recline anyway.
I noticed some mothers in the thread saying " the person in front of my kid just had to deal with it" but I don’t like that mentality at all. if they paid for their seat, they paid for that inch.
Ultimately, though, it shouldn’t matter anyway since on an ariplane turbulence is up-and-down, not like a car.
I also second the “drugging” idea, provided that you do a test run with her before the trip to make sure that the Benadryl or whatever doesn’t have a reverse hyperactive effect on her.
You probably won’t need it, but I’d really consider taking it just in case.
We haven’t flown with our 16 month old son, but he generally sacks out in the car seat.
if she’s the same way, she’ll hopefully do the same.
One item that has not been touched yet…
Check all your clothes. I would not attempt to haul baby and your normal carryon baggage. Just too much work. The extra 15 minutes waiting for the checked bags isnt that bad.
And we did well with the infant in arms right up till the required ticket purchase at 2 years old. All three ended up flying while still nursing. Plane starts taxiing, feed the child, they were usually asleep before we hit cruising altitude.
Biggest problem we had was when the plane was stuck on the runway for an hour waiting for takeoff, and the cabin was starting to overheat. We had some wailing then. And the kids were a little fussy too.