I recently received an email asking for travel tips from someone who is going on "flight travel of 23+ hours with an infant and two year old." After I gave my blessings and told them they should be nominated for Parent of the Year, I began to think of my airline trips with Poppy and Sweet Pea.
So far I've traveled alone with them twice. The first time was when Poppy was 3 years and Sweet Pea was 6 months. Our second trip was about 5 months later (3.5 years and almost 1 year). I was feeling "experienced" enough to take the "red-eye" from California out to the midwest for the second trip. So, while I haven't spent "23+" hours of flight travel time (and by the way, I'm DYING to know where my friend is traveling "to" and "from"), I have traveled at all times of the day/night and have survived to tell about it.
Here are some of my "helpful hints". This list is by no means exhaustive, for instance, I forgot to mention in my return email that my trips were made easier because I purchased a "flight safety harness" that is FAA approved from a company called CARES. It slips over the airline seat, attaches to the seatbelt, and acts like the harness systems that are on childrens' carseats. This little safety harness is great! It fit right into our carry-on bag so I did not have to break my back trying to carry Poppy's carseat onto the plane (after all, I was already weighed down with Sweet Pea's infant carrier) and instead I just checked in the carseat. (Did I already say how much I heart this device?!)
Anyway, here is what I wrote in response. I hope you find these tips helpful and if I missed something that worked well for you, I'd love to hear about it. You can never have enough new things to do/take on a flight when it comes to infant/toddler travel!
Things to take: (in no particular order)
1. Somehow food seems to come to mind first:
Take an insulated lunchbox with ice pack(s) and good
home-cooked food that you know your little one will
eat & favorite snacks (You never know where you are
going to get hung-up while traveling so best to be
prepared - plus airplane food is usually non-existant
or really bad unless you're on Air France);
2. For infant: if bottle fed, I would take premeasured
dry powder formula, buy a few bottles of water at the
airport, and viola - instant bottles;
3. Your portable DVD player & videos with an "extra
or multiple headphone jack", I got mine at Radio Shack
- it lets 3 headphones plug into one port so everyone
can listen;
4. LOTS of "busy work": Depending on your child's
interests, I would being coloring books, crayons,
sticker books, flash cards, books to read, travel-size
magna doodle, etc.
5. Bring at least one "new toy" for your older one -
you can even wrap it so they will remember the
experience. My MIL also bought an "airport lift the
flap" book that reviews everything that happens at the
airport - we looked at this book every night for a
couple of nights before our trip so our older one knew
what to expect;
6. For infant: bring as many pacifiers as you can and
make sure he/she has a bottle during take off and
landing (it really hurts the ears and the sucking
motion helps them) & as above, bring favorite toys,
stuffed animals, favorite blanket (or something that
smells like home), AND new toys/teethers, etc. as well
- when they get fussy, DISTRACTION is the key!
Happy travels everyone!
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