I counted it up and across all my babies and trips from London to New Zealand I’ve spent almost 400 hours looking after a baby/toddler on a plane…. Here are my 56 survival tips:
My tips for travelling with kids:
- If you’re travelling with another grownup, have a clear and explicit deal with them about who is ‘on’ and ‘off duty’ so that the other one can rest. Don’t keep it loose!
- Before the flight, set a reminder in your calendar to download stuff onto the iPad. I like to download semi educational stuff like Horrible Histories and Operation Ouch. A respite from Minecraft Youtubers which is my son’s preference
- Those wheely animal suitcases are super cute but quite unstable and don’t fit much in. Backpacks are better
- Many airports have soft play areas – ask the info desk
- Put Airtags in the luggage
- For fussy kids, take the specific brand they’ll eat. My kid only eats one specific tuna so we take tins of it. Hopefully he’ll eat more than tuna but at least we have something he’ll eat
- Multiple kids but not multiple devices? Get a headphone splitter for your iPad. Yes you can watch the in-seat TV for most of the flight but you can’t do that on landing (or in airports)
- Remember that planes can be quite cold – pack lots of layers for the baby
- Give each kid their own backpack with snacks and toy in. Don’t put anything in it that you would hate to lose
- For jet lag, melatonin is your friend. You can get it over the counter in the USA if you ever visit there
- Pack light by reusing stuff you need anyway…. Keep a scarf in your carry on and play peekaboo. You can hide your face or a toy and reveal it slowly.
- Again to keep your packing light, try to repurpose things into toys. I made two old boarding passes into origami hats/boats which kept us amused for a good 10 minutes (of a 12 hour flight, sob)
- Socks! You have to take them anyway and – hello puppets!
- And if you’re bringing a tub of powder, double wrap it in plastic! They pop open in luggage quite easily
- For bigger trips, it’s fun to make a family scrapbook commemorating the trip. Bring glue and coloured pens, and collect stuff along the way like boarding cards, restaurant receipts. You can rip out pictures from brochures and draw pictures of things you saw and did. It’s a good activity while you’re travelling, kids love showing it to friends and family along the way, and it’s a wonderful keepsake forever after
- Of course you’re bringing changes of clothes for the baby but do remember changes for you too – what would you do if the baby vomits on you? (it happened… I exited the plane in winter wearing a soaking wet skirt)
- Bring extra emergency milk – if the flight is delayed you could be stuck on a tarmac for hours
- If you want a baby bassinet, turn up for the flight as early as you possibly can. They are hard to book and often allocated first come first served at the airport
- Speaking of that… When the baby has outgrown the bassinet, get them a window seat if you can – it means fewer escape vectors
- With kids, you can skip most airport queues. Never suffer in silence
- On many airlines you can take car seat and buggy to the gate, which is hugely convenient. You get them back when you disembark
- All food is food. This is not a time to care about nutrition
- Similarly: All TV is good TV
- If your baby is younger than crawling age, chill out. Parents of newborns get more nervous than parents of older ones but this is honestly a very easy age and you should just relax and have fun. It’s way harder when they are mobile and crawling
- Pack 2-3 books you don’t hate. Prioritise ones with lots of visual detail to talk about
- And remember the inflight magazine is a book too! Talk through the pictures. Great as you don’t need to carry it
- If your kid likes them, take hanging toys you can attach to the baby’s seat. Either a favourite or a new one
- Weird idea but works: glow sticks (in a safe container) are fascinating for babies/toddlers during dim lights.
- Mirror toys are also fun and you can vary what’s in them, looking at things behind and around you
- If you can, breastfeed on descent
- Think about what you have that has different textures – like different fabrics, different colours, anything you can talk about
- Remember nursery rhymes with small-scale actions (sing very quietly!) My favourites to do in a confined space are Incy Wincy Spider, This Little Piggy, and Round and Round the Garden (which my current baby thinks are all just one long song). You can also do Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes on the baby, although probably not on yourself
- Before you fly, experiment with headphones that fit a baby. Some babies like listening to music through these, some hate them
- Take tiny things that take ages to eat – Cheerios are a classic, but personally I prefer raisins. Give them one at a time
- Many parents swear by sticker books. None of my kids have ever liked them, but yours might
- For older toddlers, one of those magic slates (that you wipe clean) or a magnetic drawing board can occupy a lot of time
- … Or just get a pen and draw all over the sick bag
- Walking up and down the plane ten million times. This isn’t a tip, it’s a prediction
- Playdough can be great. You only need a very small amount – a mini tub is plenty – as you won’t have much staging room for it
- Keep all the disposable cups of water you’re given. Hooray, stacking cups!
- Can you build a house out of butter rectangles? Can you draw a cat on a corner of the sick bag, and now the house has a cat in it?
- For us, dummies are utterly essential. We are constantly dropping them and losing them, so we bring several AND dummy clips changed our travelling lives
- Favourite toy, favourite blanket – natch (and a spare in the luggage, depending on the dependency)
- PJs for the entire trip, no matter what time of day – and save the mega cute outfit for meeting the grandparents on arrival
- Squeezable pouches, like Ella’s or Suckies
- Crackers
- Water bottle, one of the ones you can turn upside down and it doesn’t leak. Somehow we have often forgotten this and regretted it every time
- Don’t forget they need to stretch too
- When walking up and down the plane a million times, have your own earphones in and listen to a downloaded book/podcast at the same time. Gamechanger. (Works for trains too!)
- Baby carrier – can be really helpful for getting a baby to sleep if they need rocking. Quite bulky though so only take if you need it
- Busy book – these brilliant books have little activities like zips, domes, buttons. They’re very good for fine motor skills, highly portable, and keep going for years. Even my older kids often join in when a little is playing with it. You can buy pre-made ones, or make your own.
- For years I have taken huge beads and string in the hope one of my kids will be interested. They never have been, but yours might be
- Small toys wrapped in things for them to unwrap. Ideally, socks you’re already taking – and then they can be your sock puppets! You’re a genius
- Make friends with the flight attendants. There’s often one or two who really love kids
- IT GETS BETTER… By the time they are 4 (maybe even 3, depending on the kid) they can usually watch TV and then you’re on Easy Street
- Enjoy your flight and if nothing else works, repeat to yourself the Parent’s Creed: This Too Shall Pass.
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