If it is your first or 50th time traveling with little kids, here are a few ideas to help ease your stress and make your travel plans smooth, or at least not horrible.
Packing Tips
- If your kids are still in diapers and sleeping in cribs that can add a lot of bulk to your suitcases, but there are a few ways around it. Bring our kids’ sheets and, of course, a special lovey for bedtime so it feels more like home. If driving, bring the bumpers. Hotels say they have cribs, what they mean is that they have pack n plays. Usually not terribly new ones. Bring your own sheets. If your kids are too big for a Pack n Play (they say 30 lbs is the max, but sometimes your kid’s height in the real issue, unless they sleep in a ball like a puppy), you can call a company like BabiesAway.com or BabiesTravelLite.com. Babies Away will deliver highchairs, cribs, car seats and even strollers or bouncy seats, assuming you’re staying in, or near, a fairly large city (another reason not to go to your in-laws in Missouri). Babies Travel Lite will deliver anything having to do with “bath time, meal time, changing time, sun time.” Yes, you have to pay, but the prices are surprisingly reasonable, considering the price-gouging opportunity of a desperate parent traveling with a baby who needs a bed.
- If you’re traveling for more than a few days, diapers can be ordered ahead of time online and delivered to your destination. This allows you to leave one huge bag at home. I can’t believe I never thought to do this when my girl was in diapers.
- Your carry-ons should include, at the very least, changes of clothes for you, your partner and the kids. Younger kids especially have been known to spit up, have a blow out or a leaky diaper (or all three, just to prove that god has bigger problems than your freaking travel plans). You do not want to exit the aircraft wearing the poly blend blanket toga style because Trevor gacked all over your cute legging/tunic ensemble. And don’t forget large ziplocs for the gack-soaked clothes. Seal that load up tight, no one wants those fumes in the recycled air.
- Using gallon sized ziploc bags inside your carry on for each child’s diapers/rash cream/wipes makes changes fast and easy, just grab their “diaper bag” instead of rummaging around for everything you need. If you have a toddler, go with overnight pull ups (as opposed to regular diapers or pull ups). This makes changing a pee diaper super easy, just swap it for a clean one while they’re standing in their seat, plus over nights buy you a lot of time between changes. Just don’t forget lots of butt paste, no one wants to arrive with diaper rash.
Prep your kids for the trip
- Teach them about where you’re going. Get books about the city you are visiting. The Good Night Our World series is a place to start, if you want to be forced to read the books with bad art and worse text. But if you plan on hitting all the tourist destinations while you’re away, they do cover your bases. Instead, go with something from the “This Is” series by Misolav Sasek, which covers 16 cities and countries, and the illustrations are amazing. You will want them as wallpaper. For a virtual tour, download Google Earth as a way to get them excited and ease any anxiety about going to a new place.
- Prepare the kids for the airplane ride, especially if it will be their first one. Again, books are a great way to do this, depending on their age, “My First Airplane Ride” and “A Day at The Airport”. I’m not above getting an airport/air travel themed toy, like this or this.
- Unless your kids are used to traveling a lot, make sure they know that visiting somewhere else means sleeping in a new room/new bed. It’s easy to focus on the plane flight and forget that the destination will present it’s own challenges. We travel with our noise machine and night-light to ensure that every new bedroom still sounds and seems like home. It works, most of the time.
Getting To The Airport
- If you take a car service, ask for the correct kind of car seats (toddler or booster). It’s usually about $5 a car seat in NY.
- If you’re traveling on your own with your kids, or even if you’re traveling with someone else, use Airport Assistance. Their representatives act as your personal assistant at the airport. You are met curbside and then escorted through all airport procedures, including security, until boarding the aircraft. Additionally, you are allowed access to private airline clubs (where available), which is genius especially if there are delays. The extra cost can be well worth it if having the extra set of hands will mean less stress for you. No one wants you to have to self-medicate on the plane because getting through security was all you could handle.
- Ask for help. Negotiating long term parking, car seats and taxis can get tricky even when it’s on your end of the flight. It may be easiest (and least expensive) to ask a friend/relative/nanny to help with dropping you off or picking you up. When you get off that return flight you are going to want to get home as fast as possible.
At The Airport
- Bring your children’s social security cards or passports if you have them. ID isn’t always needed, but you never know.
- Security is the most stressful part of the process. If you’re traveling with really little ones, put one parent be in charge of hanging onto the kids/taking them out of their strollers, etc., while the other parent collapses the strollers, puts them into the X-ray machine, helps you take off your shoes, etc. If you’re both juggling the kids, and trying to do all of that it’s too much.
- God knows the stroller is a lifesaver in the airport, I don’t care how old your kids is (“Mom, I can walk I’m fifteen.”). Cart your kid or all your crap (better let the kid run now, she will have plenty of time to sit on her butt on the flight). Take the stroller right down the jet-way, then check it. Get tags prior to boarding the flight from the gate attendant. When you get off the plane, just wait outside the exit of the plane and a baggage handler will bring you the stroller. Realistically you will be the last people off because you and your kids are so freaking slow and the stroller will just be waiting for you next to the flight attendant tapping her foot impatiently. Don’t forget a cover, like this one for the stroller so it doesn’t get chewed up when checked.
On The Plane
- Car seats are a major topic of discussion when flying. How do we get to the airport in a taxi without car seats? Can we bring them on the plane? If I bring them I have to buy seats for my babies, can’t I just hold them in my lap for the duration of the flight? Yes, you can hold babies in your lap, but if you can at all afford to, and you’re flying with more than one small person, buy at least one extra seat. You will want a break from holding your kid/kids and it will be so much easier for your child to nap if they’re in their car seat since it will diminish some of the novelty of air travel. And yes, you’re allowed to use a car seat on the plane, if the car seat is certified for airplane use (almost all are, except for boosters). In fact, the FAA requires the airline to let you use the seat if those conditions are met. You can also check the website of the airline you’re flying and see their car seat policy. I have heard lots of stories about flight attendants telling parents they couldn’t use their seats. Most of the problems seem to be with rear facing seats, I guess they’re just not used to them. You have to be prepared to tell the flight attendants they are wrong, then be prepared to be ignored for the rest of the flight, no peanuts for you, no blanket for you. So bring your car seat manual, print the airline policy saying they allow car seats and most importantly print this FAA link saying the airline is required to let you use your seat: FAA Regulations. Oh, and don’t book a seat on the emergency exit or the aisle (the car seat can’t be between another person and the aisle). And if you want the bulkhead, keep in mind the armrests don’t lift which may make installing the car seat a bit more challenging (or not fit) depending on which car seat you have. As far as installation goes, follow the instructions on the car seat manual about installing with a lap belt.
- Seating. If you are traveling with more than one kid, you probably won’t be able to all sit in one row. The best way to do the seating arrangements is for each parent to sit with one child on either side of the aisle. Preferably, you’re on a flight with only two seats on either side so you’re not annoying some other passenger (see the afore mentioned gack). With two seats, the child gets the window seat and the adult takes the aisle; with three seats, the child takes the middle and the lucky extra passenger takes the window seat. Another option is to book the aisle and the window and hope that everyone avoids picking left over middle seat and sits somewhere else so you get three seats in a row. Genius, except that if the middle seat gets booked you have to start the trip by asking a favor of middle seat occupant, and inevitably they are some freak who loves the middle seat because he’s further away from the gremlin on the wing. The side-by-side option is great because it makes it easier to see each other and to let the kids switch who they’re sitting with, but you could go with sitting behind the other two. This is the way to go if you have a kicker.
- Food. You can’t bring enough food. Kids have the ability to eat for hours on a flight. Try to bring healthy snacks, but throw your rules out the window, especially if you have finicky eaters. You just want to keep them occupied so let them eat what they want. Bring way more than you think you need. Make cereal o’s necklaces. This is the greatest thing ever. It will keep them busy for at least 20 – 25 minutes. The recipe I linked to above uses gummy rings, licorice and marshmallows as well as Cheerios, but it was just for illustration’s sake; you can simply put Cheerios on a string and be done with it, if you don’t want to give the kids candy. Make sure you bring enough snacks to get you to your destination and back home!
- Entertainment. Even if you never let your kids watch television, bring a DVD player if you have a flight of more than an hour or two. Most people say they’re life-savers. Buy headphones that fit your kids’ heads. This pair from Kidz Gear works great and isn’t very expensive. If you’re buying a DVD player, consider getting one with the longest battery life you can find. The Panasonic LS86 can run up to 13 hours which means you can even do an international flight with this one. Alternately, buy a back up battery for yours just in case you experience a long layover or unexpected delays. And don’t forget to charge both before you leave home! Other than watching movies, some toys that travel well are Magnadoodle, Stickers, Pay Doh and Crayola Color Wonder products (the kind that have pens that only work on special paper). Additionally, you can make a trip to the 99¢ store beforehand and load up on inexpensive “junk” that gets the kids excited because it’s new and it’s all inexpensive enough that if it gets lost on the plane you won’t care. Save some of the stuff for the trip home! If you’re traveling with smaller babies, Jackie Rosenberg of Babies First Class has a baby blanket with velcro tabs sewn all over it which allows you to attach toys to it and not lose them all over the airplane. I thought this was a terrific idea. The blankets are $40 and you can call Jackie directly at 818-501-BABY to ask about patterns and availability.
- Cabin Pressure. The old standby of giving a baby the boob or bottle on takeoff and landing is still the way to go to open up clogged ears. Sucking a pacifier does the same thing. If your children are older, a lollipop, lifesavers or gum works well. But just opening and closing their mouths (pretend yawning) and tilting their heads from side to side can help equalize things, too.
- One last tip. You can always just be like me and refuse to travel until the kid is old enough to buy her own ticket or your whole family decides to spend a week in Italy this coming summer and who says no to Italy. My strategy will be “Daddy’s in charge” and Mommy will pill down until someone says the words “Gelato.”
*Editor’s note: This post now contains amazon affiliate links, BUT we would much rather you go the library or local bookstore for these books. Remember that you can reserve books online from the library and just pick them up.*