Flying With Babies and Toddlers

Introduction

If my calculations are correct, I have taken a baby (or two) with me on 23 flights in my 3 years of motherhood. Subtract the 9 months-ish that we were unable to travel during a pandemic and we’ve got a LOT of plane travel in a short amount of time. This has made me quite confident about what to bring, what NOT to bring, and key things to know before you go. And trust me, it makes all the difference to be even just a little prepared!

Know Before You Go

1. Lap infant ticket

Infants up to age 2 fly for free on domestic flights and for a small fee on international flights. You do have to share a seat with them, but many of the flights we’ve taken have had extra seats available. So this is what you need to do:

• After booking your flight online, call the airline and add your baby to the flight. This can supposedly be done at the airport for some airlines, but I like the peace of mind knowing that my baby has a ticket before I get to the airport on travel day. If flying Delta you can add your infant through the text messaging chat that they offer. I prefer this option because you don’t have to wait on hold for HOURS. [Before I knew this, I was once on hold with Delta for 5 hours just waiting to add my daughter to my ticket for a flight I ended up not taking anyway. Ugh, I don’t even like to think about it.]
• Pack a copy of the baby’s birth certificate in your diaper bag. Not your suitcase because you won’t have it with you at security. I have never been asked to prove my child’s age but once again… peace of mind.
• When you get to your gate go to the counter and let them know that you have an infant on the flight and ask if they have a bassinet on board or any open seats. If you get the baby bassinet that is AWESOME, but if not there are often open seats on overseas flights. If you get nice attendants they will move your seat to a spot with an extra seat by it. So you end up getting a seat for free! I’m telling you, traveling with babies is the best.

2. Pack essentials, but don’t take your whole nursery

Go to the next section for what to bring on the flight, but as for packing your suitcase, here’s what I usually bring for baby:

• 2 outfits per day of travel (unless we will be doing laundry while abroad)
• pajamas for each night
• feeding supplies- for some this means a breast pump, for others it means formula and bottles
• diapers – here’s the thing. Some people say not to bring them because they take up room in your suitcase, but that’s the reason I do it! Then I have extra room in my bags for things I want to bring home with me and I don’t have to count on buying diapers right when I get to my destination.
• 2 blankets. I like this kind of swaddle because it’s large but also packs up small because it’s lightweight. My favorite swaddles for newborns are these ones from Baby Rae. Use my code CAMI10 for 10% off anything on the site. I typically put one in my suitcase and one in my diaper bag to have on the flight.
• toiletries. I take this exact tiny toiletry bag with just soap and lotion in it.
• any other location-specific items – swimsuit and swim diapers for the beach, coat and gloves for colder climates, etc. Later on, I will do separate posts about packing for specific places.
• DON’T bring: pack’n’play/crib. Hotels and Airbnbs almost always have them. If you do have to bring one though, you can check it for FREE on most (probably all) airlines.

3. Schedule flights at nap time or bed time

This may just be me, but I like when my long flights are through the night. My babies have always slept really well on airplanes and I think that it’s a combination of the white noise, dark room, and flying at night. [It’s also because I know what to bring on the flight to help them be comfortable. See below.] Don’t hold off on naps to try to make your baby more tired for the plane ride. Over-tired babies do NOT sleep better. If I’ve learned anything as a mother, traveling aside, sleeping leads to more sleep. So make sure you babe sleeps well the night and day before traveling.

Baby things check for free! (And a word on Strollers)

Sometimes we bring our carseats and sometimes we don’t. You can rent carseats with rental car places but sometimes I just like to have my own. So I check both carseats when we check our luggage. And it’s free. You can also check your stroller, but I ALWAYS bring mine to the gate with me and gate check it there.

So, I have 3 different strollers. This is the one we used for all of our trips when we just had one child. It is incredible. It has bumped over cobblestone streets in Spain, weaved through the souks in Morocco, and even been dragged through the sandy beach in Hawaii. (The wheels were not spinning at that point, so don’t expect that it drives well at the beach. For a good beach option, buy a wagon.) It folds up small enough that you could technically put it in the overhead bin on most airplanes, but I have always checked it at the gate. And despite it’s small size and weight, it is compatible with my Chicco carseat! I love this little stroller and I just checked and they have a double stroller version. I may need to add this one to my stroller fleet.

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My other stroller (that I’m equally obsessed with) is my Mockingbird. I have the single-to-double version. There are many things I like about this stroller: the look, the convenience, the versatility, and the price. I got the stroller and all the add-ons I needed for just over $600. That is insane for a stroller of this quality! The leading brands are more than double that price when you include all the pieces I got. I’m working on a separate post dedicated to this stroller because it’s THAT good.

Whatever stroller you have, take it with you to the gate because the walk from security to the gates at the SLC airport is just over a mile (eye roll) and you don’t want to take that hike with a toddler in your arms.

Security Success

I feel like the security process is different every time I fly. It’s always a stressful experience no matter how prepared I am. That’s because 100% of the people around me are stressed out and it creates a giant cloud of stressful energy that you have to trudge through until you pass through to the other side. Here are some tips for making it 10% better.

1. Condense

Try to get all of your little things into 1 or 2 bags so you don’t have to unload a bunch of separate things into the security bins. You have to take out your laptops and cell phones to put in separate bins. Be ready for that.

2. Wear easy shoes

You will most likely have to take them off so don’t wear lace-up boots. I like to wear my Tevas with socks under for summer travel and my chelsea boots for winter travel.

3. If traveling alone, use a carrier

If you have to fly alone with a baby it will be nice to put them in a baby carrier while you load all of your stuff on the security belt. When my babies are really tiny I use the Solly Baby wrap, and I use the Ergo Baby carrier when they are bigger. You have to take the baby out of the carrier to walk through the metal detecter. If you are with other adults you don’t really need a carrier because you can pass the baby around while you load up your belongings.

4. Know your liquids

You can take liquids for babies on flights, but they will ALWAYS stop you to check it. Be prepared for that extra time at security and keep liquids to a minimum. I even forgot to dump out my personal water on a connecting flight in Europe and the worker let me take the water through because it was “for the baby”, she said while winking at me. I’m so glad that I didn’t have to throw that water bottle away!

At the Gate

Go to the counter and ask for your extra seat and for a gate check tag. You will need a tag for each item. We take apart our stroller and put the pieces into this gate check bag and put the tag on the outside of that. The bag just helps protect the stroller as it gets thrown under the plane by the workers. I’ve heard that some strollers get beat up at gate check, but we’ve never had that problem, probably because of this bag.

You can board the plane early when you have small children, so take advantage of that too!

What to Bring on the Flight

When we flew to Spain with our son [7 months old at the time] our first flight was across the country so it was about 4-5 hours. There was another small family with a baby boy across the aisle from us and they struggled to keep him happy during the whole flight. I wasn’t annoyed or anything because I know how it is to fly with babies, but I felt so bad that the parents seemed so unprepared for the experience. They didn’t have a blanket, pillow, or anything to entertain their baby. They took turns walking up and down the aisle with their son for almost the whole flight. When we landed, the mother leaned over to me and said, “Wow your baby just slept that whole time. I need to bring that with me next time.” Here’s what I had, and it made all the difference:

1. Nursing Pillow OR Infant Lounger 

I do not fly with a baby under 9 months without my nursing pillow. I just sit with it on my lap and my baby sits or lays on top of it. I don’t have to hold my baby because they are supported by the pillow and it saves my back and arms from getting tired. It is so comfortable for baby and mama to sit this way and it’s worth walking through the airport with a big Boppy pillow on your arm. I don’t now the brand of my nursing pillow but here’s a similar one. And look at this cute cover!

An alternative to this that I have done once or twice is bringing my Snuggle Me infant lounger. Others may bring a Dock-A-Tot, but I don’t have one of those. You can put the lounger on your extra seat, in the airplane bassinet, on the tray table in front of you, or even on the floor. When we went to Disney World last December my baby slept on the seat and my toddler slept on the floor on the Snuggle Me. It’s an even bigger thing to carry through the airport, and my husband made fun of me, but he took it all back when he saw how well our kids slept on that flight! And then you have a mini bed for your hotel too, which is also nice.

2. Stocked diaper bag

This is the diaper bag I use. It is not trendy or fancy, but it has a million pockets, it holds a bunch of stuff, it’s cheap, and my husband will willingly wear it. Here’s what I pack for a flight:

• Diapers – like 4 for each kid. When I had just one baby I would bring 6.
• Wipes 
• Changing pad – my diaper bag came with one and I use that
• Pacifiers – 2 in case one gets dirty or lost. My favorite pacifier is the WubbaNub because it stays in baby’s mouth and is harder to lose. I also like these and these.
• Extra outfit for each kid – sometimes an outfit and another extra onesie for babies. I bring an extra shirt for me too because I usually need it!
• Swaddle blanket – linked above
• Bottle and formula. A formula dispenser like this is a life-saver.
• Infant Tylenol – I bring a mini one and a syringe with me always in my diaper bag.
• A new toy – It doesn’t matter what it is, but something novel that will hold their attention.
• Snacks – I usually take a couple applesauce pouches and some crackers in a container like this.
• Diaper trash bags – These are great for when you are on-the-go and don’t have somewhere to throw away a dirty diaper right away.

3. Entertainment:

It’s a good idea to get at least 1 new toy/activity to save for the plane ride. You never know what your kids will want to do once you get on the plane, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. Like OVER prepared.

• Water Wow activity book. I LOVE these, and so does my son. We have 4 different themes and use them for travel and church.
• This LCD doodle pad is so much fun and so affordable.
• Headphones – I love how these ones fit on my 2 – year old
• Sticker book. I like how this one has scenes where you can put the stickers to make a picture. We have a similar Mickey one.
• DON’T bring markers or crayons, unless your child is old enough to handle them without dropping them all over the place. I haven’t reached that point yet because my son is still under 3.

A couple more tips

1. Help your baby be more comfortable during takeoff and landing by nursing them or feeding them a bottle. The swallowing helps their ears pop so they don’t feel the pressure. For older babes you can use a sucker and it does the same trick.
2. Download your toddler’s favorite movie or show on a tablet or iPad before you leave for the airport.
3. Wear a fanny pack to the airport. I used to think I didn’t need one because I have a diaper bag and stroller to put stuff in, but it’s so nice to have your wallet, cell phone, and tickets right there in front of you at all times. Here’s one that I think is so cute.

If you have more tips for traveling with little ones, be sure to leave them in the comments section. I’d love to hear them!