Tips for Traveling With a Little One.

 

After almost a solid 40-45 hours of traveling done in two days, I’m pretty confident in knowing what worked and what did not work for us when it came to my one-year-old. Add in one missed flight and an extra plane ride to the way there and I feel like we were handed every obstacle possible! Besides that, I found our trip home went much more smoothly since I was a tad more prepared!

Bullet Tips

1. Time of flight matters!
2. Little ears, big pressure!
3. Road snacks and nursing tips.
4. Umbrella stroller vs. Full size stroller.
5. Easy entertainment
6. Comfort matters!

For starters, I noticed the time of travel made a TREMENDOUS difference. On the way there the flight left at 6 pm. I thought this is great because he should sleep the entire 9-hour flight since it’ll be during his bedtime. Wrong! Instead, I had an overstimulated, exhausted, confused little boy. He eventually fell asleep after a great fight but only slept four or five hours compared to his normal eleven or twelve.

On the way home, we left for the airport at 3 am! I was nervous about having to wake him up but I found that by the time the plane took off at 6 am he was exhausted and ready to sleep. He ended up falling asleep as we took off and didn’t wake up until the pressure from his ears got too much on the decline down.

This leads to my next concern. His little ears. Many people will tell you to make sure they’re nursing or using a pacifier. I thought perfect! That shouldn’t be difficult but I found that with the commotion the last thing he wanted was to patiently nurse or since he finishes nursing in 5 minutes he would quickly finish and then try to sit up.

What worked for us was snacks! Particularly a banana. Asher is old enough to eat the banana straight from the peel so it not only forces him to open his mouth wide to take a bite but it took work to chew. This means that I didn’t have to feed him a ton of cookies or Cheerios in the time it takes to get above the clouds. The banana lasted a good 30 minutes and he loves them!

If he was asleep during the decline, I would just start nursing him in his sleep. He normally would nurse for a little while but eventually, the pressure would wake him and I would resort to a snack. Asher isn’t very interested in his pacifier unless he’s sleeping so that didn’t work too well for us but if your baby loves theirs that should work too! Just move the pacifier around on their mouth to induce chewing in their sleep!

Before leaving I made sure to buy a cheap $19.99 umbrella stroller. It was cheap, so if I lost it or it was damaged it didn’t make a difference. I loved the ease of the size of it. It was perfect for the airport and we could check it right at the gate since it was small. Asher also enjoyed being able to sit upright.

Once we arrived in Malta we quickly realized that the umbrella stroller was convenient but it wasn’t great for keeping our one year old comfy and rested! Since we were out and about all day, Asher wasn’t getting his normal naps in and without a full-size stroller he’d go all day without sleeping and be a nightmare by the afternoon.

Luckily, we had family there and we borrowed a full-size stroller from my cousin! Having the stroller made an astronomical difference and instead of having to go back to the rental for naps Asher was able to nap while we were out and about.

Depending on how good of a napper your baby is you may find you don’t need the extra baggage, I personally would take my large stroller for sure in the future! In the airport, I would use a baby carrier such as the Ergobaby Omni Carrier. Yes it is inconvenient that you’ll have to take it off to get through TSA but it’s one less “bag” to carry and much more convenient when you’re trying to avoid missing your flight 😉

I researched many ways to entertain a little one on a long flight. I found many good ideas and some not so great ones. What I found to work for us was

Brand new toys. The thrill of a new toy is major! But you’ll want to avoid anything with small or a lot of parts. Most sites said that stacking toys and stackable cups work well. I found that Asher was a little young and most of the parts ended up on the floor in seconds!

I brought this Vtech interactive book. It has multiple components to it and makes noise (with volume options for the sake of fellow flyers). He liked that there were different things to occupy him and I liked that I could hold it and not worry about having to pick up a ton of pieces and over and over.

Next, I did bring stacking cups but like I said quickly find out they were a disaster. What he did like was using one of the cups and putting stuff inside of it. This kept him busy and with only one cup to hold onto it was less (not zero, but less) picking stuff up. Even just a simple plastic cup and some straws would work great for this!

Despite what I stressed earlier, little plastic finger puppets were also a hit. They normally come with multiples but I would keep some on my fingers and give him one. He enjoyed playing with the ones on my hands and putting his on his fingers and in his cup. Asher loves these Paw Patrol ones!

A good book is always entertaining but I made sure to find one that was extra fun. Depending on your baby a few good books could go a long way! I brought the book Dance by Matthew Van Fleet and it kept him engaged and entertained. Look for some with multiple components like the lifting flaps and pull tabs on this book we brought!

Lastly, the real hit and what I would say is a must, stickers and post it notes! These could wipe away any meltdown almost immediately! The post-it notes were great because I didn’t have to worry about them getting stuck to everything and we just stuck the stickers all over his arms. He enjoyed picking them off and putting them on us along with putting them on the post-it notes!

Finally, I debated if I should bring my pregnancy pillow and I was SO thankful I did! Many people will tell you to get the child a seat and pay the price but with a very pricey plane ticket, we didn’t think that was an option. I am happy we didn’t because the stewardess quickly moved us to a spot with an extra seat anyways (and it didn’t cost us a penny). What I found was that we didn’t even use the seat. Being one, the last thing he wanted is to be belted down but the extra space was nice. We put up the armrests and spread out.

Back to the pillow, a total MUST HAVE. I would recommend one like a Boppy pillow. I personally love this one (Mothercare Multipurpose Pregnancy Pillow). It’s not so U shaped so you can stretch it out and it makes a perfect little headrest for the sleeping baby and a comfortable armrest for you. I would put it behind my shoulder and rest my arm on it and wrap the other end under the opposite armrest. This allowed me to rock Asher to sleep and hold him for long naps without getting uncomfortable. (Plus, you don’t have to take up space packing it. We just held it through the airport. )

Packing List

• Baby Meals
• Snacks, bananas, Cheerios, purée pouches ( these were extremely convenient for packing and just a quick meal when we were out and about during the day)
• Sippy cups of water (we had zero issues bringing fluids with us. With traveling and flying all day Asher quickly became dehydrated. Having lots of water on hand helped keep him hydrated without having to pay expensive airport prices).
• Full stroller/umbrella stroller
• Baby Carrier (We use the Ergobaby Omni 360)
• Pregnancy pillow
• Brand new toys
• New book
• Stickers
• Sticky notes
• Organic Baby cough medicine, Tylenol, Motrin (You never know!)
• Carry on clothes (In case of lost baggage or blowouts)
• Two days worth of diapers and wipes (Purchase the rest when you’re at your destination)
• Blanket (Airplanes get chilly!)

I hope this helps all you mamas out there about to hit the road with your young one! It will be a lot of work and a lot of playing to keep your young one entertained but the memories are SO worth it! If you have any particular questions or want further clarification message or comment! I’d love to help 🙂

XO, Karlene