Flying With a Baby AND Toddler

Hacks to make travel easier and things you’ll need to pack

Is it your first time? Are you terrified? Because, I sure was. We fly at least once a year to Ireland to visit my in-laws and I thought it was tough flying with one baby. Now there are two. Fifteen months between the two. I remember seeing a woman on our flight flying BY HERSELF with four kids under 5 years old and the youngest was a nursing newborn and she was a CHAMPION. How?? I still can’t wrap my mind around how she managed. She had obviously done it before, but whoever you are, if you’re reading this: you are my hero, supermom.

Thankfully, I wasn’t by myself making the first trip with a 15-month-old and a 2.5 year old. I read a ton of blogs and did as much research as possible to get us prepared for the trip. I’m very Type A and had packing lists, prep lists, you name it.

So let’s get into it….

To save money, we chose to book our 15-month-old as infant-in-arms. For most international flights, the cost is about 10% of the cost of an adult ticket and for U.S. domestic flights, it’s free. I intentionally booked a middle row of four seats, choosing the two outside seats and one inner seat with the hope that that seat would be left unbooked. Both way, going and coming back, there was someone in that fourth seat, BUT, the flight attendants promptly relocated them once they saw the tornado of cranky toddlers we rolled up with. We were so thankful to the person who relocated and to the flight attendants, we sent the passenger a drink during the flight, and the flight attendants were very gracious as well.

If you require a bassinet seat, you can call your airline after you book your ticket to request those seats if they’re available. Reserve them ASAP. Even if your infant-in-arms is too big for the bassinet, you can still request the bassinet seats and you’ll have that little extra leg room which is great for wiggly toddlers.

Have plenty of snacks and drinks packed for the kiddos. If you are on a long flight and they refuse to eat the food that is served, you will be left with some very hungry and cranky babies. You can take formula and milk through security (even cow’s milk for toddlers if it’s in a kid’s cup). According to http://www.tsa.gov,

_{Formula, breast milk, juice in quantities greater than 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters are allowed in carry-on baggage and do not need to fit within a quart-sized bag. Remove these items from your carry-on bag to be screened separately from the rest of your belongings.}

http://www.tsa.gov

We chose to fly with our car seat hoping we’d get that extra seat and we were able to use it for our 15- month-old. If things hadn’t gone the way we’d hoped, our 2-year-old would’ve been in the seat and the baby on our laps. I recommend any car seat you travel with is lightweight (11-16 pounds). Most car seats nowadays are FAA compliant, but just in case, double check that the one you bring along is AND states the compliance somewhere on the car seat. One of the flight attendants actually scoured ours for the information and wouldn’t let us settle in until she found the information. Without it, they’ll take it and check it. I saw so many people raving about the COSCO MightyFit 65 Convertible Car Seat for everyday travel, airport travel, safety, and it’s light weight. I wish I’d had it for this trip. I traveled with our Graco 4Ever DLX, which I LOVE, but the downside is this car seat is on the heavier side. We did have a car seat dolly which made things much easier, fit in the overhead compartment, and I could attach a large Mommy Hook/ large carribeaner to the handle for extra towing space. Don’t travel with a car seat without a car seat dolly. No question about it. You can find the gate check bag I use here.

Along with the car seat, we needed a second car seat for our 2-year-old. A while back I got a travel safety harness as a back up option for taxi travel. We live in New York and taxi travel is a part of life. When I had one baby, I did ok with the infant car seat as it’s designed to go in and out of vehicles, but once she was too big for the infant car seat, taxi travel became more difficult. Cabs that have a car seat aren’t always available and I couldn’t rely on that option. I did my research and I found a great, cost-effective option that doesn’t sacrifice safety. It wouldn’t be ideal for very small toddlers, though, and it recommends use for children three and up. I packed this safety harness into my carry on and had it on hand at the ready when we were ready to load the family into the in-law’s car.

A cheap seat extender/ blow up toddler bed is definitely worth throwing into your carry on. It takes up minimal space, is cost effective, and can be inflated using the air vent above your seat.

I purchased a double umbrella stroller for the trip which I don’t think we could’ve done without. There were times that I had a kid in the stroller, a 2-year-old walking with a toddler leash attached to the stroller, our carry- on tethered to one side of the stroller with a Mommy Hook and the car seat and dolly tethered to the other side of the stroller, and a diaper bag on my back; the ultimate traveling caravan. The umbrella stroller folds up with one hand so I can easily put it in the gate check bag (along with all of our coats so I’m not fumbling with them on the plane when they’re not needed). Our large gate check bag also fits a full size double stroller when folled up along with an infant car seat. Literally anything I needed in the airport but didn’t need on the plane goes in there and then I just get it back when I collect the gate checked stroller on the jet bridge.

My 2-year-old is still potty training. While I have plenty of pull ups packed for travel and have already shipped diapers for both kids to my in-law’s house so I wouldn’t use precious packing space, she doesn’t like to use a pull up during the day. I packed our travel potty seat with an extra pack of disposable liners for the trip. The legs sit on the ground or lay flat so you can put it over a toilet. She often doesn’t like to sit on a big potty in public places so I sometimes find a secluded corner and cover her with a muslin blanket. Not ideal, but we do what we gotta do, moms.

Even though it seems overwhelming at first, you’ve got this.

Here are a few extra bits of wisdom for flying with littles:

• Book an overnight flight if possible so the babies can sleep the majority of the flight.
• Babies need to suck during takeoff and landing whether it’s breastfeeding, taking a bottle, or sucking on a pacifier, because their ears can’t easily adjust to changes in pressure quickly.
• If possible ship consumables to your destination or buy them when you get there if it’s an option. Only pack enough diapers and wipes for traveling to save on precious suitcase space.
• Use the air vent above your seat to blow up a travel toddler bed or foot rest.
• If using a gate check bag for a stroller or car seat, throw in any extra items that you won’t need on the plane like coats.
• It could be worth double-diapering young babies for long flights. Use one size larger for the outside diaper and cut a small hole in the inner diaper. If your baby was like mine, a diaper explosion was always moments away.

Comment below if you’ve used any of these tidbits and what your experience was. I’d love to hear from you!

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