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There are plenty of things you can do, not to mention things you can bring, to make traveling with very young children go more smoothly. Some of those things work — in theory. In practice, though? Well…
In theory: Taking an 8:10 p.m. flight — right at bedtime — would mean that my adorable 3-year-old and my angelic 15-month old would sleep on board, and we’d tuck their sweetly slumbering selves into their beds at my in-law’s home on the other end of the trip.
In practice: Not so much.
O. — he’s the baby — tried to make a break for it at least three times before we had even boarded the plane. He soaked through his diaper, his onesie, his cute little shirt, and his overalls before we had even cleared security. Of course, I had a gorgeous, brand-new, color-coordinated designer outfit for him in the diaper bag, which I whipped out in the beautifully appointed and clean changing area at the airport. Wait, what? Hahahahah… no. I whipped out a pair of footie pajamas that may have fit him 6 months ago and certainly did not fit him now, squeezed him into it while trying not to let him touch any visible surface in the ladies bathroom, ignored my husband’s glares and questions (”Where are his extra clothes? What do you mean, ‘In the checked luggage?’ “), and prayed that he wouldn’t have a blow-out on the plane.
L.– she’s 3 — watched all sorts of wildly inappropriate cartoons and other televised programing in-flight, complained of being hungry, refused to eat anything other than chocolate milk and graham crackers, demanded chicken nuggets, went pale when I explained that I did not bring any, and finally fell asleep — 10 minutes before we landed.
It was a 3 1/2-hour flight. Oh, and the baby was teething — four new ones coming through on the top, two more on the bottom. I’m opposed to the whole give-them-Benedryl-and-they-will-sleep school of travelling with babies, but there was a point there when I would have gladly given it a try. Except that I already know my kids are in that slim minority of people who get hyper, rather than sleepy, after taking antihistamines (unlike me, who conks out when a pink-and-white capsule is waved in my general direction).
In theory: There are things you can bring and things you can do to make traveling with small children easier.
In practice: Some of them actually work. To wit:
1.) Pack snacks. They don’t have to be anything elaborate; in fact, it’s better if they’re not. Single-packets of instant oatmeal are great (filling, relatively nutritious, and you can get hot water on the plane). Those sticks of string cheese are easy to find in the dark and still taste good if smushed in transit. Gum or lollipops will help your preschooler clear her ears and they also double as bribes. Nursing or drinking from a bottle or a sippy cup with help your smaller child’s ears when the pressure changes. I usually scoff at “100-calorie” packs, but this is a great use for them (or simply fill small zip-top bags with cereal or tiny, trademarked, fish- or teddy bear-shaped crackers). If you do formula, get a box of those pre-measured sticks; price-wise, it works out to be about the same as the powdered stuff in a can, and convenience-wise, it’s great to be able to dump two sticks into a bottle, add eight ounces of water, shake, and be done with it. Older babies will drink it, too. Plus, it’s much easier than persuading security to let you bring liquids in your carry-on.
2.) Got more than one tot? Get a double stroller — especially if you’re the only adult with them. Not all of them are big and bulky; One Step Ahead has a great double stroller that has plenty of room for a baby (and his carseat!) in front and a cool riding board/jump seat for a preschooler in the back. Both seats hold up to 45 pounds, but the whole contraption doesn’t take up much more room than a single premium stroller.
3.) Bib clips are fantastic. You can use them to turn any scrap of napkin into a baby’s bib, and you don’t have to carry around a food-splattered cloth afterwards.
4.) Mini Magnadoodles and paint-with-water books or toys trump traditional crayon-and-coloring book combos. For one thing, the fewer pieces you have, the less chance you have of losing them. (Crayons roll. Enough said.) For another, anything reusable is fantastic because you can’t run out of it mid-flight. Need another reason? If he’s painting with water, it doesn’t matter if junior decides to decorate the tray table.
5.) I can’t gush enough about our Sit ’n’ Stroll. It’s a stroller! It’s a car-seat! It’s a Godsend. Once you’re at the airport, the distance between Point A and Point B seems to increase with every TSA announcement, and it is much, much easier to cart a tired toddler to the gate in one of these. Once there, you push the handle down, pull the wheel mechanism up, and put your kidlet — still strapped in the five-point harness — in his or her seat. All done!
I’m always eagar for more ideas… what do you have (or do) to make a trip go more smoothly?
This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 12:02 am and is filed under Making Time, Parenting, The Juggle.
Tags: babies, gear, small children, traveling, vacation
February 25th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Oh, I tremble with fear at the horrific memory of traveling with my daughter to San Diego back in November 07. Ugh. She was 13 months at the time. Sheer hell.
What worked? As you say: tons of appealing snacks in zip lock bags. I also bought her a new, small toy to distract her. That helped some.
I didn’t know about the bib clips. Great idea. I used disposable bibs and they are fabulous, too. I find I can make them a bit more eco-friendly by peeling the sticky part back afterwards, instead of tearing it. That way if it’s not dirty I can reuse it another time or two.
PS I’m guilty of using benadryl. Don’t hate me!
February 25th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
My two children, who are only 3 and 21 months, both have frequent flier miles. I’ve been there and it can be hard. Our trips often involve two planes, too, because of our destination.
I agree with EVERYTHING you’ve said. But I always, not matter how much bulkier the bag gets, pack an extra outfit for me, too. Nothing snazzy, but just in case. And for the latest travel adventure we went ahead and got a dvd player. We learned we need better headphones for the 3 year old b/c she couldn’t hear, but it was a great help.
And yes, the more contained the toy, the better. Books, too. Both of mine love books and I’ll pull out the interactive ones for trips like this.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
I just got back from two weeks of traveling that involved 7 flights with a 17 month old, whew.
At security on the last leg home, she toddled over to the bin cart, got a bin, sat on the floor, removed her shoes and put them in the bin… I am the proudest flying Mom ever.
The paint with water toys are AMAZING!
I would also recommend a small metal tin and some magnets - you can buy sets but I think it would be easy to DIY, too.
February 25th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Amen Mandy to your tips!
I blog about luxury travel with children at my own blog - I started my kids out early. My 4 year old got on her first plane at 3 months (she’s been to 4 countries) and my 7-month old son got on a plane at 7 weeks.
My tips:
1. If you don’t have one already, invest in an iPod. They’re much less cumbersome to carry around than a DVD player and you can get many kids cartoons on iTunes. (Not to mention you can carry all your favorite tunes with you…)
2. Travel on less crazy days of the week. We stopped the Saturday to Saturday trips because it got too frenzied. Now, we leave and return on Tuesdays or Wednesdays: less traffic, cheaper flights (sometimes) and my husband likes that it results in 2 shortened workweeks.
3. TSA and I have to disagree with you, Lylah, on the formula thing. You are allowed to bring formula on board for babies without any problems. I actually tried bringing powder aboard but the fact that I brought my own pre-bottled water was an issue; I hadn’t wanted to rely on the plane’s water since it is usually scorching hot (not so good if you need the bottle within an hour or so). TSA advised me that just bringing the bottled formula, readymade, would have been less of an issue. They did ultimately let me on, but the lesson was learned - less hassle with bottles ready to go. Formula - and bottled breast milk - is exempt from the 3 ounce rule.
Happy travels!
February 25th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
We went away for Thanksgiving with our twin 16 month old girls. I brought enough food for lunch figuring we’d be off the plane and at my sister’s well before dinner time! What was I thinking?! It took us twice as long as I’d planned for…
Lots of snacks, lots of diapers, and buy the extra seats because holding a baby for 6 hrs just sucks.
The Sit N Strolls sound great, because the car seats were the bane of our existance–horrible to travel with!!!
We’re going on another trip in June. I’m going to be seriously considering those carseat/stroller combos!!!
February 27th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I know you’re against the Benadryl for the kids, but I’ve always enjoyed downing a handful of Ambien with a half a bottle of scotch helpful. I also bring a lot of dried fruit in zip lock bags.
February 28th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
This is a great article. Thanks so much for it! I have three children ages now 5, 4, and 2. I have yet to fly with them but we travel quite a bit with them in the van. We go home to visit (driving from NC to WI) every couple of months. My husband and I have gotten quite good at it. We do in fact leave at night. We put a movie on the portable DVD player and let them eat a snack. They usually are asleep an hour our so into our ride. The more we’ve done this trip the better it’s gotten. The first few times were horrible, but as I said, you live and learn. The toys you suggest are also great for car rides, plenty of snacks are also a necessity - word to the wise however, do NOT under any circumstances allow your two year old to get into your husbands stash of good and plenty and then drink a soda - not fun to clean up when it comes back up! The hardest part for us is keeping the boys in their car seats the entire trip. IF they are awake, they want to be up. Lots of threats is all that seem to work as they are little mini houdinis! We drive straight through and have now implemented the three hour shift of driving rule. It works out quite well and we both get more sleep than we did driving as far as we could before switching. I recommend an ipod as well and books on tape are awesome for passing the time while driving. The funnier the better - Jon Stewart or David Sedaris books are my favorites. Happy traveling!
February 28th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
These are some FANTASTIC tips — thanks, everyone!
Diane: Like I said, if I didn’t already know my kids react to it with energy, I totally would have tried the benedryl thing this trip!
Mandy: Excellent point about the extra outfit for me. I think I’ve been pressing my luck on that for a while now.
Relaxnsmile: Your baby rocks! We’re proud of her, too!
Leian: I’m so sorry, part of your original comment got caught in my spam filter. I’ll fish it out and post it as an additional comment — such great advice, thank you!
Spacegeek: The Sit ‘n’ Stroll has been awesome — it’s a bit bulky, but my very tall 3-year-old can still use it as a stroller (she’s the size of a 5-year-old) and it works as both a front- and a back-facing car seat, and is surprisingly sturdy and incredibly easy to steer, even one-handed.
Clay: Half a bottle of scotch? You’ve got a stronger liver than I!
Julie: For shorter distances (like the 5-hour drive to my parents’ house), the van is great. Wish I had a portable DVD player when I was a kid — it would have made those long station-wagon trips to Cananda MUCH more pleasant! Someday, we’ll try to long drive, and I will definitely refer to your tips!
February 28th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Here’s the rest of Leian’s comment, as rescued from the overzealous spam filter:
Other tips I would add: try to get on a first flight out in the AM; the kids will be wide awake but there’s less chance of a delay if logjams haven’t already started. Of course, if you’re picking a vacation, go for the direct flight (as opposed to our trip to St. John when my son was 7 weeks, which required 2 planes and a boat, ha ha).
Bring new toys - and I mean something they’ve never had, not just a new coloring book if they have 12 coloring books. (This more applies to older tots and pre-K kids.)
My final advice? Try your best to keep your kids entertained and remember that other passengers are not your kids’ babysitters. People have often remarked to me that they were amazed at how quiet my kids were. Teach them how to be good travelers - it’s never too early to start teaching them that running amok, kicking the backs of chairs and yelling is not good manners.
Having said that, though, if your child is experiencing true pain or tiredness and is crying - as did happen to us on one flight where my daughter’s ears were giving her hell - don’t let the dirty looks upset you. I reminded the person who looked askance at us that our daughter was in PAIN, not misbehaving, and that since we were descending anyhow, she could cut the dirty looks short since it would all soon be over. (Sometimes people need to be reminded that kids are humans…)
February 28th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Don’t stress about other people on the plane. That’s too much worry for one person. Everybody has to travel near a bratty kid at some point. And some people will think a kid is bratty even if they sleep the whole way. There are a lot of people around you flying alone who have traveled with babies before and they probably sympathize with you even though they don’t say anything.
Revel in the fact that you are still traveling with kids. Too many people give up the fun things in life when they have kids. How can you teach them about what you think is fun if you stop doing it when they are born.
My parents moved to Saudi Arabia when I was 5, my sister was 4 and my brother was 18 months old, so I may have a different perspective on travel.
Remember to have fun and enjoy how your kids are experiencing it. And crappy flights always make for great stories later.
AmyE
Mom to 3 (All three flew before 4 months)
http://www.sofiabean.com
March 1st, 2008 at 7:11 pm
What a great article. My kids are older now, but they’ve all traveled as babies, on flights of 21 hours or more.
One rule of thumb I always had was to turn down the generous offer of the airlines to board first. I wanted my kids to expel as much energy as possible before they boarded the plane. Besides waiting in the line to board, then waiting again belted in your seat was never a good idea.
LisaN
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 pm
AmyE: You’re so right!
LisaN: We do that, too — much easier for them to run full-tilt in the wide-open concourse than in the narrow aisle!