Tips for Traveling with a Toddler
Our son is almost a year and a half old, and we’ve been on many different trips with him now. We’ve been on long car rides and even longer international flights, stayed in hotels and condos, and at this point, I think we’re pretty seasoned travelers with our little one in tow.
After so much experience traveling with him, we have a formula put together for how to safely and efficiently travel with him that makes it easy on all of us!
Below you can find our essentials as well as our favorite tips for traveling with a toddler:
In the Air
I think it’s no secret that flying with kids is difficult. Even more difficult these days is the negative stigma that comes with it. Parents are already worried enough about ensuring a smooth flight with their little one, but add to that the disapproving looks and harsh words from other travelers that are bothered by children on their flight, and parents are at an all time high for stress. Wanting to actively avoid that as much as possible, we’ve found these tips make it easier!
Airport Time
Whenever possible, we like to arrive to the airport at least two to three hours in advance. This gives us plenty of time for checking in and getting through security, and having time to spend at our gate. We also get to our gate early so that Finn has plenty of time to stretch his legs and get some energy out before our flight. He gets a snack or meal, if needed, and we always do a diaper change just before boarding the flight.
This next tip is a preference and we’ve honestly varied on it depending on the flight: we usually board early when they make the announcement for travelers who need extra time. Although we’ve heard advice to wait until the end of boarding to join the flight (so that we don’t spend extra unneeded time on the plane), we’ve found this usually doesn’t work for us. We like having the extra time to get our bags into the overhead bins, our items out for entertaining Finn, and getting truly settled in our seats before other travelers get on the plane. However, there have been times when we needed more time for Finn to stretch his legs between flights, and we’ve decided to wait until later in boarding to get on the plane. In these instances, one of us will go on the plane first to get our bags in and settle in place and the other will stay out with Finn to board later.
On the flight itself, we make sure to have some things out and in place already, and the rest easily accessible if we need it later. For example, we always put our fidget spinners on the window and smaller toys in the basket beneath the tray for us to use during takeoff. We then have his tablet, headphones, books, and snacks in the under seat storage area for us to grab if he needs them. Our best tip is to provide him a drink during takeoff and landing to help with his ears popping. If you can’t convince them to drink, a pouch works great, too! (And our son never turns them down!)
We’ve made sure to download or record favorite episodes on his tablet before traveling, but we’ve also utilized the on-flight movies and episodes for him to watch, too. However, Finn is a very independent and active toddler who has always hated sitting, so tablets and books only go so far. Finn needs songs, toys, and something new every few minutes to entertain him. On shorter flights, this is usually not a huge issue since having a few things on hand takes up enough time. However, on longer flights we usually get up and walk him around if he’s getting fussy.
Our biggest tip: sleep! We time our son’s sleep with our flights as best as possible. This means prolonging naps or even bedtime sleep in order for him to fall asleep on the flight. We’ve used white noise (very similar to the sound of a plane) for his sleep since he was born, and it’s honestly the best thing we could have done. It means that every time we end up on a flight, and the lights go down, our son knows it’s time to sleep and almost instantly passes out the minute we’re in the air. We take turns holding him, and use a travel sized Boppy pillow for him to lay his head on. (As he’s gotten older and taller, we usually have to lay him down across both of our laps, so just make sure whoever isn’t planning on holding him for sleep this time is in the seat most accessible to the aisle in case you need to get up or ask the flight attendant for anything.)
Sleeping Arrangements
We usually stress a little more than usual about his sleep while we’re traveling. We want to make sure he’s safe, comfortable, and able to get as much sleep as possible while in a different environment. We try our best to make his sleeping arrangements as similar to home as possible, so we always bring a few things with us no matter where we go:
Pack and Play
Sleep sack
Nanit camera and/or white noise machine
Portable rocking chair
When flying, we always check our Pack and Play and rocking chair into our flight so we don’t have to lug them around throughout the airport and on our flight. While we could easily check that our hotel has these items upon booking, we like taking them with us so we don’t have to worry if they’ll actually be there when we arrive (and what condition they’ll be in). However, you can reserve a crib or cot at most hotels these days, and a little bit of research or communication with the place you’re staying can confirm if they have a rocking chair. Our son still needs some assistance getting back to sleep after a nighttime waking, so this is considered a must-have for us.
We usually bring our Nanit camera with us whenever we have accommodations where Finn will be sleeping in a separate room from us, but this isn’t a necessity when he stays in our room. We then use the camera’s white noise feature while he sleeps, or play white noise on our phones if we’re not using the camera. Unfortunately, the Nanit camera requires a password-protected WiFi network in order to function, so we’re not always able to use it while he sleeps. For example, lots of hotels have free WiFi to use but since it’s not a private network we can’t connect the Nanit camera to it. In these cases, we just rely on our phones to play white noise; we don’t pack a white noise machine that would take up extra space since we’re able to use our phones for this.
Toddler’s Suitcase
So, what do we pack for Finn? We’ve been very successful at packing all of his things in our bags and not needing a separate one for him… yet. We know as he gets older and things get bigger in size we’ll definitely need a larger bag dedicated solely for his items. But in the meantime, we’ve been able to fit everything into our carry-on bags so far.
Besides clothes, shoes, and diapers (the absolute essentials for every trip), we have a few other things we pack to make sure our trip runs smoothly.
Sunscreen, medicine, and travel-sized diaper paste
Food pouches, bottles and utensils (two sets of each)
Silicone straw (especially helpful in places where only paper straws are available)
Travel eating mats (stick onto tables for less mess and easy cleaning)
Favorite or new toy (for time in the hotel room when we need to pack or unpack)
Ultimately, you know your kid best and what will work for them! Bring the things that you use daily, but it always helps to research what stores are in the area near where you’re staying so you can grab something you need (and have forgotten) when you arrive. No matter what, be ready for things to definitely not go as planned and only worry about what you can control - things will work out!