Before our first vacation as a family of three, I did A LOT of research. I scoured google, Pinterest and mommy blogs (the trifecta!) to make sure I was as prepared as possible. Some of it was irrelevant or downright silly, such as “wipe down everything in your baby/toddler’s reach with antibacterial wipes as soon as you get on the plane.” Please note this is impossible and will literally make you look insane.
So to spare you the embarrassment of looking like a crazy parent (when people are already giving you the side eye for daring to bring a child on the plane), here are the three pieces of baby travel advice I found the most useful. (For reference, Vera was just shy of 10 months for our trip, but I think these would be good for a baby or toddler of any age.)
- Pack all diaper-changing necessities in a single gallon-sized freezer bag. It felt so good to only be carrying the baby and that little plastic baggie on my way to change Vera’s diaper. And also, it’s really handy to keep it all together, so you just need to look for one thing in the diaper bag. Because trust me – no matter how organized your bag is when you leave the house, by the time you are scrambling to change a smelly diaper two minutes before you have to board the plane, you won’t be able to find ANYTHING.
- Wear your baby through security. I have no idea if we would have been subjected to different screenings if Vera was in her stroller or we were carrying her, as some people claim. However, I can say with 100% certainty it made the security experience go much more smoothly having Vera strapped to my body so my husband and I both had our hands free.
- Try to stick to a rough version of your baby’s schedule. This does not mean I paid $1,000 extra for a flight that left during her usual nursing time. All it means is that I used the flight schedule I had and gently molded Vera to it based on her normal schedule. For example, our flight out was at 8 a.m. I woke her up at 5:30 am, 30 minutes earlier than usual. This pushed up her first nursing session of the day, and then by the time we got to the airport around 6:45/7, she was ready for breakfast (which I packed for her). Then, although it was a little early, she was ready and willing to nurse again at takeoff. Make sense? Luckily Vera is pretty amenable – so maybe if your kid is super rigid about schedule, you need to invest that extra cash. But planning ahead and trying to keep a normal schedule will make the experience much happier for everyone.
There are two other essentials: a sense of humor and snacks (for the baby and you…keep in mind that stopping anywhere for food in the concourse is 700% more difficult with a baby in tow). However, I didn’t include them in the list above because they are technically requirements for every single day of parenting.
For more on baby/toddler travel, check out my no-nonsense essentials-only checklist for your carry-on bag.
