Traveling with a baby/toddler

So we are getting ready to take a cross country flight in a week with Santi. This will be Santi's 3rd time flying - he flew at 6 months old to San Diego (2.5 hour flight), 9 months old to Peru (12 hour flight) and now at 14 months old to Boston (about 6 hours flying and then 4 hours driving to my parents in Maine.)

We have been lucky that even with some mishaps (blow out diapers in the middle of a 12 hour flight? Done it. Crying non-stop after the flight attendants decided to leave the lights on just as the baby was about to fall asleep while I was sick with a fever and really unable to help with the baby? Done it.) it's been fairly easy.

I've been fortunate to glean some pretty good tips from fellow moms on traveling, and have adapted to what works best for us. Recently, I had someone ask for tips and I literally poured a ton of them out on her Facebook page, and thought I would write them all down, as hopefully they would help future traveling moms!

1. Bring a bottle or nurse right as you are taking off so their ears can pop with the altitude change. Or a pacifier if they won't nurse or take a bottle. 

2. Bring new toys your child has never seen before to pull out at various times during the trip. We found that every 20 minutes or so worked for us. That was enough time for him to play with the toys and then get "bored" and look for something else.

3. Try and book the aisle and window seats on all flights in hopes to get a free middle seat. Book towards the back of the plane for more chance of this happening. (Note, if you are flying during a holiday weekend, the chances of this happening are lower.)

4. Bring snacks your child is familiar with as well as if they have a special toy, doll or blanket. 

5. Either bring your own, or ask the flight attendants for an extra larger blanket (usually from First Class) that you can fold up and place between your seats after folding up the armrest where you can lay your child down when they're asleep. We did this on our flight from Peru to Atlanta and it was so helpful. Children, even teeny ones, can be very heavy when you hold them for hours! This saves your arms and your back!

6. Check your stroller plane side, as it'll be essential to get to the gate, and especially if there's a delay. You can also use a carrier and check the stroller with the luggage (but I don't really trust they'll be as careful with the stroller as I would be.) See this posting for more information on checking your stroller plane side!

7. Since we were traveling with Santi on our laps and didn't purchase a seat for him on any of the flights we were on (since he was under 2) we checked our car seat with our luggage - it's free to do this. We got a car seat bag off of Amazon.com and then put extra stuff in the seat (we put some extra clothes and diapers which usually take up precious luggage space) since it's a free bag technically so we took advantage of that. 

8. Get to the airport earlier than you think you will have to. This allows for checking in the car seat, as well as taking care of the whole "infant in lap" thing. When we traveled to Peru, on the international portion of the flight, even though he was traveling in our lap, we had to pay for a portion of his ticket (we flew on Delta and the cost of the ticket was 10% of the cost of a regular fare ticket. This is different with each airline, so be sure to call the airline ahead of time to check with them on this. They probably won't be able to tell you the cost of the ticket when you call since they change day by day.) When we got to the airline to check in, it took about 30 minutes with the attendant having to call their head offices to get the correct price. Bring some snacks and toys (or IPad or IPhone if you choose) to occupy the child at this point since it's boring for them strapped into their stroller for any amount of time usually! Having to pay for a portion of their ticket though does allow them to have a carry-on sized luggage for free, or you can check it for free.

9. Take advantage of the pre-boarding, but only have your husband or helper board early with the carry-ons. They will be able to get situated, and in the meantime, you can let the little one run around (if walking) or you can carry them around. There is usually about 45 minutes from pre-boarding time until the plane takes off, and that's a long time for little ones to sit still and be entertained. Just make sure the flight attendants know that you are together, otherwise they won't let the helper on the plane first.

10.  For your diaper bag - we switch out our regular diaper bag and use a backpack diaper bag or regular laptop backpack that has lots of pockets. Much easier to navigate through the airport and while traveling. 

11. Check to see if the airports you are starting from have a special family security line. So much easier and a shorter wait. Just know that they will take any bottles that are made up and test them to make sure it's milk and nothing explosive (they have special litmus paper) and they will check out any food too. Food is essential if your baby is not eating table food because no airports carry baby food. They do carry diapers at the newsstands and wipes but that's about it. 

12. Keep in mind that you or your travel mate will need to have "infant on lap" printed on one of your tickets, otherwise you won't be able to get on the plane, so make sure the ticket says that (you need to go to an agent not self check in to get this and they will print out the ticket.) 

13. Sometimes the agents will move you to a family line in the ticket line too. If there isn't one that is marked by a sign, ask an attendant. Sometimes they will move you to the first class line since they know it's harder to travel with an infant.

14. If you have an older child, bringing a portable DVD player, or computer with movies on it, or even an Ipod with videos on it will help to occupy a child, even if only for 25 minutes.

15. If your child wants to get up and walk the aisles, let them (as long as there's no turbulence and the flight attendants are ok with it.) It may be a pain for you to squeeze through the aisles, but it will be much worse to say no to the child. 

16. An activity center for the tray table is always helpful for entertainment. We got this one, and Santi loves it (although I'd prefer if the Velcro pieces were attached, because it lessens the chance of losing something, as well as searching for it on the ground of the airplane.)

17. As far as what to pack in your diaper bag, every child will differ with their "special items", but normally the following is good:

Diapers

Change of clothes (if you can fit two outfits, I highly recommend, especially if you have a younger baby - for some reason, being on the plane every time we've flown has resulted in blow out poops for Santi requiring a complete change.)

Large freezer size Ziploc bags for messy clothing

Wipes

Changing pad

Toys (the new ones and the older, familiar ones)

Bottles or sippy cups (we usually have two, one for milk and one for water)

Sippy cup/bottle/toy tethers (we love these ones since they snap and not Velcro)

Blanket

Food (Squeeze foods from Plum Organics are great because they require no spoon!) Also have plenty of snack type things like goldfish crackers, Mum Mums, etc.

Baby medical kit (contains gas drops, saline, etc. and we added in Bandaids, Boogie Wipes, Kleenex and a few other things)

Germ wipes (we have these ones and they are great, especially when things like sippy cups and toys land on the floor)

If you're looking for more information, this blog also has good resources!

Happy traveling!