How to prepare for air travel with a baby or a toddler

We've all been there, on a red eye flight, all you want to do is sleep but someone’s baby keeps crying and you can’t sleep. Now that you’re a parent too you might feel more sympathetic for the parents but you might also be totally scared at the thought of traveling on a plane with your own baby or toddler.

We’ve read a lot of guides about air travels with babies and while we found most of them helpful, they also seemed incomplete. While you usually read about how to deal with your baby’s ears and the air pressure, you rarely read about how challenging it is to bring your child, the stroller and all your carry on luggage through security, especially when you are traveling alone. Or have you thought about how you deal with going to the bathroom (you yourself) if you are traveling alone with your baby? While we might not have the perfect answers to all these issues, we want you to know about them so that you know what to expect and don’t get totally stressed out the day of the trip.

So far we’ve been on 30 flights with Olivia, half of them long haul. Her first flight was when she was 8 weeks old and her longest flight was around 13 hours. We will share with you what we have learned so far to help you have a more relaxed trip with your child.

Firstly, we want to talk about what age is a good age to go for your first flight. As I have mentioned, Olivia was only 8 weeks old at the time of her first flight. It was a relatively short flight (about 2 hours) and it was meant to be a trial before a much longer one that we would take soon after. Many people were surprised that we would go on a plane so early and there are some valid reasons against it (mainly the germs); however, there are also some good reasons for it.

1. Sleep: Infants sleep much more than a toddler.

2. Practice: Get the child used to air travel.

3. You want to travel: Let’s be honest, a lot of us were seasoned travelers long before we became parents. We don’t want to stop traveling just because we have children now.

4. Almost free tickets (for children below 2 years old) and priority boarding ;).

Olivia on her second ever flight. Sleeping like a baby.

What we've learned so far is that it is actually relatively easier to travel with a baby who is less than 6 months old because they are not mobile. Once they can crawl or walk or even insist on sitting upright, forget about them sleeping peacefully in the bassinet while you are watching the latest Hollywood blockbusters. It’s more likely that you will walk up and down the aisle with them.

Preparations

Well, you might have guessed it but the key to a more peaceful air trip with your child is preparation, and we’ll try to help you with that.

Booking the flight

-Think about the timing of the flight. Night flights are usually the best as your child will be tired and has the best chance of sleeping.

-Next, make sure you book a seat that has a bassinet for your baby to sleep in. When you book online, it is not always clear which seats have bassinets. It is usually the best to call the airlines to make sure. And make sure you call well in advance as these seats usually sell out quickly.

Bassinets are great for letting the baby sleep during the flight.

Get yourself familiar with the process

If you are not a frequent flyer, then airports might be intimidating for you even if you travel on your own. But even for experienced travelers it’s important to think about what is different when you are traveling with a baby (e.g. bringing stroller and milk or water through security).

Keeping your baby in a carrier can make things much easier. Our daughter is too old now to stay in a carrier so we’re constantly chasing after her.

Check in
-When you check in, make sure to confirm again that you have a bassinet seat.

-You’ll have the choice what you want to do with the stroller. You have three options:
1. Check it in with the rest of your luggage
2. Keep it with you and hand it over to the staff right before you board the plane.
3. If you have a stroller that you can fold to a very compact package, you will be allowed to bring it on board and put it into the overhead compartment. We chose the Pockit Plus which is absolutely tiny and easy to fold and open up.

https://amzn.to/2WSaVOc

Immigration

Immigration is usually straight-forward and not much different to when you are traveling alone, except that automated gate is not for you anymore. However, you can watch out for priority lanes for families with small kids.

Security check

-Again, there might be a priority lane for families.

-Stroller: If you decided to bring your stroller to the gate, then you will need to go through security check with it. You will need to fold it up and run it through the x-ray machine. You will as usual also need to empty all your pockets and then carry your infant through the metal detector. If you are traveling alone, this can be quite challenging. Better practice folding and unfolding your stroller and make sure you pack your carry on luggage in a way that it will make security screening as smooth as possible.

-Liquids: When traveling with an infant, you will worry about bringing milk and water bottles on board. We have been traveling extensively throughout Europe and Asia and have never had any problems. Even getting frozen milk through the security screening was always okay. However, this might not be as easy when you are traveling in North America.

Boarding

Boarding is another moment where you can get a bit stressed because you have to grab all your bags and your child at the same time. If you have the stroller with you, you will also need to fold it up now and hand it over to the airline staff or put it into the overhead compartment. A lot of airlines offer priority boarding for families traveling with young children. This is really great and reduces the stress. We have found that Lufthansa is especially good at this. They even offer a special seating area right in front of the gate for all the families. Unfortunately Singapore Airlines is not quite as good but while they don’t announce priority boarding for families, they will usually still let families board before economy class. Just go to the gate and they will let you board at the same time as the Star Alliance Gold members.

Packing

Packing is a huge part of the preparation process and everyone has their own philosophy. We will mostly discuss what we recommend that you bring in your carry on and what to keep in mind.

If you are lucky enough to have a bassinet seat, it means that you will not be allowed to have any bags with you during take off and landing. However, you will still want to keep at least these things (depending on age) with you all the time:

1. Pacifier/milk bottle (if not breastfeeding)

2. Water bottle

3. Snacks

4. Something for distraction. In our daughter's case books work best but some might prefer a toy.

5. Tissues/wet wipes

In order to still keep those things with you, you should pack a small seperate bag. We have this awesome Penguin backpack that our daughter can carry. It is small enough to store it in the seat (e.g. next to the armrest) so that the flight attendants won’t ask you to put it into the overhead compartment during take off and landing. Bonus point: You can pull out the Penguin’s tongue, which serves as a game and is a distraction that has helped us calm down one of our daughter's melt downs on a flight.

Well of course, you need to bring a lot of diapers (more than what you would normally bring when you go for a day trip) and a changing station/pad. Believe it or not, on our first flight with Olivia we had checked in, went through immigration and then suddenly realized that we had run out of backup diapers. Luckily we found a drug store at the airport that sold diapers.

Make sure to bring spare clothes because overflows happen. And they seem to be even more likely on airplanes (yes I know, it is a conspiracy). We really can’t stress enough how important it is to bring at least one set of spare clothes, depending on the duration of the flight. You may also want to bring some plastic bags or a waterproof bag to put any soiled clothing.

Bring warm clothes as it can get really cold on some flights, especially night flight. We always bring a warm jump suit for our daughter.

For take off and landing, bring something to suck on or drink. We always bring a pacifier and this magic cup.

Always bring a warm jump suit in case it gets cold on the plane.

The day of the flight

The day of the flight can usually get a bit stressful with all the packing and preparations. Children can sense this stress and in return can get a bit cranky. Try to stay calm, it will really help keeping them calm too. It can also be a good idea to include your child in the packing by giving them a small job. They love it and it keeps them occupied.

Next thing is that you want to make sure they are tired when getting on the plane so try to manage their sleep cycle accordingly. However, this is a VERY fine line because if they are too tired, they will just have a melt down any time before you reach your seat on the plane.

Also take note of their poop cycle throughout the day so that you can try to predict if and when they will poop during the flight. Hint: Take off and landing are somewhat inconvenient ;). We had an experience with flight attendant knocking on the toilet door while we're changing a nappy before takeoff.

A strong recommendation would be to eat before getting on the plane. Why? Well, have you tried to have a toddler on your lap and eat? I have been on flights where the space was so tight that I could not even fold down the table with our daughter on my lap. So in order to not get hangry, try to eat before getting on the plane and bring your own snacks.

Lastly make sure you go to the restroom before getting on the plane.

Sometimes you are lucky and there is an extra seat but it’s more likely that neither you nor your child will be able to enjoy the onboard catering.

Okay so you’re on the plane now

Please pay attention to the safety instructions.

First thing that always comes to mind is air pressure and how to help your baby cope with it. The truth is, we never had any issues with this. This is what we do and it really helps:

- Breastfeeding during ascend and decend.

- If daddy is traveling alone with the baby then give a formula bottle, water bottle or simply a pacifier.

The next thing is diaper change, especially the timing. Honestly, this can be quite tricky. Once our daughter pooped before take off but right after the plane had begun rolling to the run way. I still managed to go to the restroom and change her but one flight attendant was not so happy about it. Definitely try to change the baby’s diaper before you get on the plane but of course you can’t control their poop cycle. Our best advice is to try to go with the flow and not to get frustrated.

Keep healthy snacks for your child and perhaps for you at hand. Keep offering the snacks to your child because a hungry child is a cranky child.

If you think you can just switch on the onboard entertainment system for your child and let them watch the latest animation movie, then think again. Our daughter is almost two years old but she won’t watch any movie for more than 30 seconds. Children are much more interested in walking around and interacting with other passengers. So walk up and down the aisle (or staircase) with them.

Olivia walking around making new friends.

One of the biggest challenges is probably going to the toilet when you are traveling with a baby alone. For guys this is actually still doable, as you can leave the baby on the changing table while your are peeing but for women that’s not an option. You either need to ask someone to look after your baby while you go to the restroom or you find a way to hold the baby while you’re sitting on the toilet.

After landing make sure to pick up your stroller right after getting off the plane, if you have chosen the option to check in the stroller at the boarding gate.

Are you feeling overwhelmed? You shouldn’t! It is not as complicated as it sounds and it all gets better with practice, it really does. Just make sure you set the right expectations to avoid stress or disappointment. After all, you know that all babies and children cry at some point.

That’s it. We would like to hear what your thoughts and experiences are. Please share and comment below.