I am back this week for 5 more tips for air travel with young kids!
We recently took our two kids (ages 4 and 1) on a plane trip to see my parents in Florida. I followed my tips from last week’s post with five tips for air travel with young kids and the five tips I will cover in today’s post and we had a fairly uneventful flight both ways. As predicted, last week’s tip #3 was the most important, but we used all of these tips to help avoid meltdowns (from the kids and the parents).
Five More Tips for Air Travel with Young Kids
1. Easy access to diaper stuff
I have never been on a flight with a child in diapers that does not involve a mid-flight poop. I don’t know if it’s the position they are in, the rumble of the engines, the altitude, or their uncanny ability to poop at the most inopportune times, but both of my children have had to poop on every flight they took prior to being potty trained.
This truth (of my life at least) makes it absolutely critical that you have easy access to the diaper changing necessities when on an airplane with kids in diapers. Those airplane bathrooms are SMALL, so the last thing you want to do is be digging through your backpack trying to find the wipes while trying to keep your kid’s bum from touching anything and your kid from touching his bum.
After several years of trial and error, I’ve found that a zippered pouch with all of the diaper change essentials that’s an easy grab from your backpack is the best way to go. Having it all in a pouch, ready to go means you aren’t lugging the whole backpack to the bathroom and you have everything you need at your disposal. I use one of the bigger pouches from this set for the diaper essentials. This system has been such a win!
2. Streamline carry-ons
It is unavoidable that you will need to bring certain things in your carry-on luggage when you are traveling with young kids. In addition to the diaper changing accoutrements discussed above, you will likely also be lugging a car seat, stroller, snacks, and things to keep your kids busy with you onto the plane. Air travel with young kids is not the time to fly carry-on only. The last thing you’ll want to do is wrestle your roller bag into the overhead bin.
Bring only what you will need during the flight (or at the gate) in your carry-on luggage. We usually have the carseat in a backpack bag, an umbrella stroller, my 4-year-old’s backpack with his plane activities, and a backpack for the rest of what we need. This backpack typically carries the diaper change stuff, the snacks, the important documents, the tech and corresponding chargers, the liquids, the sanitizing wipes (see below), and a book for mom (a girl can dream!). Check the rest. Please. If it means you pay $30 each way, so be it. It’s worth it. Promise me?
3. Cloths/napkins
One thing that I do make sure I leave room for in my carry-on is a handful of cloths or napkins. We use a pack of thin baby washcloths on an everyday basis at home as napkins for the kids at mealtimes. I find that they’re easier for the kids to wipe their own hands and faces, they are better to get wet when big-time scrubbing is required (think pasta night), and they are way less wasteful because I just wash the whole lot once or twice a week and use them again. They also come in really handy when traveling.
While on a flight, we have used these little cloths to wipe sticky hands, clean faces, serve as an emergency baby wipe, and even mop up puke. For the less intense uses, I just shove the used cloths in an inside pocket of my backpack and wash when we arrive at our destination or home. Obviously, the cloths that were called to a higher purpose were sacrificed. We thanked them for their service and gave them a proper burial in the in-flight trash bag. Don’t underestimate these useful little devils!
4. Sanitizing wipes
It is important to travel with sanitizing wipes even when you’re not getting on an airplane with young kids, but it is especially important when you are. I devote the whole front pocket of my backpack to these sanitizing products so they are extremely easy to access. I travel with two types of sanitizing wipes.
First, I bring a travel envelope of Clorox wipes with us. You can find these in the travel section at your local big box store. These are essential for wiping surfaces in the airplane that your kids will contact. Tray tables, seats, and window casings could all use a little bit of a wipe down with a Clorox wipe before your kid gets situated. Then you won’t panic when your kids put their food on the tray table or when they eat the food they dropped on the seat.
The second type of wipe I bring is Wet Ones. These are life-savers! Change a diaper in an airport bathroom and don’t trust your kid not to take off while you wash your hands? Wet One! Kids want a snack while sitting at the gate waiting to get on the plane? Wet One! Kids touch literally everything they can possibly reach? Wet One! You can buy them in single packs or in travel envelopes like the Clorox wipes. I like the single packs so I can deal them like cards to the kids and they can rip them open themselves. They are much more excited about using them in this form.
5. Take-off plan
It is especially important if you are traveling with an infant to have a plan for take-off. As an adult, you feel the change in altitude in your ears at take-off and, unless you have a sinus infection, you can understand the feeling and go about your business. Even toddlers can sort of grasp the explanation for the sensation and aren’t likely to lose their minds on take-off. Infants are a different story. You can’t explain to an infant that her ears will feel funny for a few minutes while the plane climbs high into the air. The infant just feels the weirdness, thinks she is dying, and begins to scream bloody murder.
To avoid the screaming and the hatred of your fellow passengers, it is essential that you have a plan for take-off. This plan should involve giving them something to suck on to relieve the pressure in their ears caused by the rapid change in altitude. My older kid preferred the pacifier at take-off. We even offered him (and he took) a pacifier at take-off well after he had ditched it in his everyday routine. My younger kid, on the other hand, was never a pacifier fan. She seemed to feel relief by drinking milk. You know your kids. Figure out what sucking activity helps them best at home, and plan to offer it during take-off. Your kids and the entire flight full of people will thank you.
That’s my best 10 tips for making air travel with young kids easier. What tips do you have to share? We’re all ears in the comment section below or over on Instagram @sarainseason.