I did the same flight with Charlie when he was 9 months, so I empathise with the scary feelings.

Would Will fit into the basinet thingo on a plane? If you can, ask for the bassinet seat, because then at least you have the option, and even if he won't sit/sleep in a bassinet, there is usually a chair thingo that staps on there instead, so you can least be hands free some of the time! Charlie had a great time sitting in it and playing......

Charlie slept in short bursts, on me,......max 3 hours I think. I just fed/played/sang every time he woke up. We had the bassinet seat area & another Mum and her wee man next to us, so she understood, so I didn't feel too bad if he was a bit noisy during the "lights off" stage.

My advice would be to ring the airline & find exactly what you are allowed to take and what you are not.

I didn't do Brauers, but from memory Charlie had a snotty cold so I may have given him a dose of Dimetab at the start of the trip.......

By the time I got Charlie strapped into his car seat in the hire car, he was asleep before I even reversed out of the car park and slept from H'Row to Bristol, which topped him up. Then (cruel Mummy!) kept him awake for the rest of the day to "re-set" his body clock, which worked like a charm, and he was then in the exact same groove he had been in before, on English time, which was brilliant.

HTH....