Essential Travel Preparations for Flying with a Toddler
So the little one and I are going to Germany this month. This will be the first time I’m taking her on the trip in her own seat. We went last year and the year before, but she was still a lap-child at the time. I could nurse her to sleep and get a solid 2 hours of peace and quiet while she was either in the sling or in the bassinet. I’m a little worried about how I will manage on this trip, so I’ve been trying to prepare for a couple of days now. Here are the five main things I’ve come up with so far:
- A non-see through bag with a couple of new toys for her. I went to the Dollar Store and got a coloring/sticker book with a tiny box of crayons, a little dry-erase board, a matchbox car, a rubik’s cube (yes, I understand she’s too young to solve it, but she might still enjoy turning the sides), and a card game. My child loves board games and memory, but those are heavy. So we will try playing memory with a Go Fish card game, because that will be easier to carry along.
- Her favorite book. My daughter loves Eric Carle’s “Brown Bear” and she could have me read it over and over again, so that’s probably the only book we will need. Hopefully anyway, since we only have the board book version!
- Snacks! So far, I have accumulated several different kinds of those handy-dandy fruit and veggie pouches, cheese crackers (because not all airlines will allow peanut butter ones), one little bag of pretzels and chips each, and a chocolatine (in the South of France we call a chocolate croissant a “chocolatine”). Since this is a transatlantic flight, the airline will serve hot food for dinner, so I feel like this is enough. If you have any other suggestions, please don’t hesitate to put those in the comments below!
- A used convertible car seat! Since I am paying for a seat for her and booked a non-stop flight, I got a Cosco Scenara convertible car seat off Marketplace for $25. Even though I have a car seat for her waiting in Germany, she is used to sleeping reclined in a car seat during car rides and I am hoping this will make it easier for her to sleep on the overnight flight than curled up in a regular airplane seat. We shall see; fingers crossed!
- I have a friend who used to give her kids melatonin or benadryl on overnight flights. I have never done that with any of mine, so I’d rather not start it now, even though this child is my worst sleeper yet. I think I will try to prepare some sleepytime tea in advance and bring that on board. TSA allows children under a certain age to carry a drink through security and always take full advantage of that. I am usually asked to open that drink so it can be tested, but it’s so worth the extra 2 minutes of security check.
This is all I’ve got so far. My older two children have always been amazing little travellers and it’s been a long time since they were toddlers. Airline requirements have changed as well over the past 10+ years since my last toddler was a 3-year-old, so again, any ideas you have that I haven’t thought of so far, are welcome.
Full disclosure: I have been holding her off from potty-learning as well, so I wouldn’t have to take several changes of clothes and bottles of Lysol to continually clean the airplane toilet LOL. We will cross the potty-bridge when we return. For the meantime, I have packed a few single packets of wet wipes to clean just the airplane tray tables – did you know those are some of the germiest places next to door handles, keys, and your computer keyboard and cellphone? And kids are amazing at dumping their pretzel bags on the tray…
Ashley@Shakenstirredandblended
Hi, I'm Ashley and I am a freelance writer and editor for one local and one national publication. In my spare time, I teach foreign languages and manage two households. Oh, and raise four children. It's a crazy life that I chose and I love every second of it :o)
