My husband and I are going to Disney World for a wedding in 3 months. Our son, Matthew, will be 18 months by then. We purchased a seat for him since he is way too big (26 lbs now at 15 months) and so we will take his carseat with

us. What kind of challenges/problems do you think we'll encounter? This is the first time we are traveling with a child so I know it will be stressful. I want to be ready by anticipating problems ahead of time.

Our son isn't a toddler yet, so you'll be facing difficulties I haven't experienced yet, but we flew from Kentucky to San Diego when our son was 2 months and just recently at 5 months. On 5 out of 6 flights our son had his own seat, either because we bought him his own or because we just got lucky, and having the extra space and the carseat was blissful. Jack is VERY fussy all the time, so maybe some of my advice can help, even though there's a big difference in age.

Seating: Few airlines still pre-board infants. From my experience, Southwest still pre-boards, Delta does not. If you have open seating, go for the bulkhead (the first row of the plane). You won't have any storage space except overhead, but if there's no turbulence your toddler can stand and jump around in the extra space. If you have assigned seating, call the airline and beg them for bulkhead. Some operators are nice and really will try to get you bulkhead seats (probably because they have kids and can sympathize), some won't. So if the first one you call gives you a quick answer, call back and try another operator. If you're stuck in normal seats, you have a choice: front of plane so that you get off faster when your kid is antsy OR back of plane (behind the engine) where other passengers are less likely to hear your screamy baby because it's noisier.
 
Diapers: Change his diaper about 15 minutes before you board, so that you don't have to change him on the plane unless he poops. Some airlines (Southwest) don't have changing tables in the onboard bathrooms. And airplane bathrooms are germy havens anyway. If you do have to change him on the plane, you and your husband should both take the baby: the bathrooms are TINY, there's no elbow room, and having somebody standing in the doorway to hand you everything you need makes a huge difference. Also as you board the plane, ask a flight attendant where the best bathroom is to change the baby. Some are bigger than others.

Take-Off and Landing: Feed the baby a bottle during take-off and landing so his ears pop. But be careful--I made the mistake once of giving Jack his bottle while taxiing out to the runway, and he finished it by the time we got in the air, so the bottle was no help. A pacifier works too. And there's also a trick if the bottle or pacifier doesn't work: massage the soft spots under his ears and behind his jaw--that's where the eustachian tubes are. A gentle massage can help the ears pop.

Carseat: Does your son sleep in the carseat? Jack's pattern is this on long flights: Eat during take-off; cry and scream for 20-30 minutes while we go crazy trying everything we can to get him to be quiet; fall asleep on one of our shoulders; get transferred gently into car seat; sleep for 3 hours; wake up; play; eat during landing. So if your son sleeps in the carseat, that's great--maybe you'll get lucky! We have the infant carrier-type car seat though, so I don't know how comfortable a toddler carseat is for sleeping.

Drugs: A highly debated topic! I'm not sure what my position is on doping your baby before flying with Tylenol or Benadryl. On Jack's first flights, I swear a dozen people (including the pilots) came up to us when Jack was crying and said, "Baby Benadryl!" And I said, "No! He's only 2 months' old!" On his most recent flights, his teeth hurt, so we gave him Tylenol anyway. We're going to Europe in August (Jack will be 8 months' old), and we're considering Benadryl for that because it's a LONG flight and it's also a red-eye. But beware: while Benadryl knocks me completely out, on a lot of kids it has the opposite effect and makes them hyperactive. So if you decide to dope your son, test the Benadryl before you travel! And, of course, you'll probably want to check with your pediatrician first.

Lastly, don't stress too much. Many of the other passengers have kids and probably will be sympathetic, even if your kid is like mine and super-screamy. If they see you doing everything you can to try and make the flight easy for everyone else, they're usually nice. And, since you're going to Orlando, there will most likely be tons of kids on the plane. Your kid doesn't have to be perfect. He just has to be better than the worst one on the plane.    Unfortunately my kid usually IS the worst one on the plane!