FLYING with TODDLER on lap | First time TIPS & ADVICE

I've been a frequent flyer for years and I've taken hundreds of flights but this was my first time flying with our toddler and I learned a few things so here are some of my best tips of what worked for us and what we could have improved upon if you are considering flying with a toddler booking so we flew with our toddler on our lap which meant that we didn't have to pay extra to buy him his own seed which is something that you can do until they turn to so on our first two flights this worked great since we ended up having an empty seat beside us and it just gave us that extra room regardless but on the return flight we did not and honestly it was so much harder and I would say that if you had an active toddler and you're doing a longer flight like six hours plus by the seat buy the seat Factor it into your budget flying in the day versus night having done both I'd say it's a gamble so they could sleep through the whole flight and everything would just be perfect or they could be cranky miserable and unable to sleep due to just being on a plane Elliot also had a hard time getting comfortable on our flight and just kept rolling around and turning in his sleep and then it would just disturb him and he'd wake up and then you're also cranky and miserable because you're tired in dealing with a cranky child I mean with a day flight at least you were arrested and prepared to be a Non-Stop entertainment machine packing and prep so I didn't know this but infants get baby gear checked bag allowances so we could actually check a car seat and a stroller for free now we did end up checking a car seat and we did a little packing hack where we strapped our diapers into the car seat so that we actually didn't have diapers filling up the space in our suitcase and it worked perfectly so we opted to keep our stroller with us and just gate check it right at the plane you could get a tiny stroller that does fit in into the overhead but I have also heard that sometimes they just make you gate check it anyways because there's just never enough carry-on space the stroller also doubled up as entertainment for Elliott to push around the airport I mean he was actually entertained for a long period of time by this so it was almost worth having the stroller just for that as for carry-on bags I'd recommend putting all of your baby stuff into something simple and easy to access that fits under your seat I honestly actually need to get a new bag for this because we just used our regular backpacks but they were way too big and awkward to kind of get at once you have a toddler you know sitting on your lap and in the way something to note too is that diaper bags are usually exempt from your carry-on limit and even an infant on your lap is allotted their own carry-on item so next time I think that we would get like a small simple backpack for Elliot to kind of carry and that would contain all of his toys and his snacks we brought a lot of snacks with us including this little bentle box full of different foods that he loved this kept him happy and busy for a very good chunk of time so baby food as well as milk and formula over 100 milliliters or three ounces is okay to bring through security even these like Blended fruit pouches you just have to be traveling with a child I think to bring these pouches milk you could bring separately if you weren't traveling with a child and they might test it so just be aware of that so if you are finding these tips helpful and you want to make sure you don't miss out on any future videos like this make sure you click that subscribe button and hit that Bell and check out my how to travel ebook which is over 250 pages of tips and tricks and hacks just like this video it covers everything you need to know for planning booking and packing as well as advice for when you're actually on your trip and right now it's at an all-time low price so check out the link in the description at the airport and layovers during layovers we wanted to let him walk as much as possible to just help get up all of that pent up energy now some airports do have playgrounds or just an area for kids to Simply run around so we definitely got him playing in there I'd also give yourself a longer layover I would not recommend any tight connections I mean without kids I'd quickly be able to clear pre-customs get some food coffee and get to the gate with plenty of time to chill with a toddler it's a whole different story Matt and I ended up dividing in conquering when it came to Gathering food diaper changes and entertaining Elliot also when we were in Orlando we were even ushered into a separate TSA line which was for families and people with special needs now I don't think this is available at all airports but it definitely was nice and it saved us some time so keep an eye out for that boarding so we did take advantage of our pre-boarding because it was our first time flying Plus on the way back we had Fuller flights and we really wanted to make sure we got overhead space for our carry-ons I also tried to wipe down everything on our first few flights but by the last few I mean it I feel like it was just the lost cause he was grabbing everything so really we just focused on wiping and sanitizing his hands before we ate now one of the things that I wish that we had done was actually split up the duties where one person goes ahead with all of the carry-on bags and puts those away wipes down the area and then the second person would come with the toddler baby at the end of the boarding time so they're the last person on the plane less time sitting on the plane would be great because Elliot just hated that waiting time during the flight so for all our flights we booked the window and the aisle seats hoping that nobody would book the middle now for our first few flights this was true and it worked great we had the entire middle seat to ourselves but on our return they for full flight so we just ended up swapping with the person in the middle and we took the middle and the window seat and it wasn't a problem everybody was cool to swap I mean no one really wants to be between you and like a toddler I you know no one I mean chances are and everybody would swap with you regardless now for entertainment on our first few flights just the whole experience of being on a plane and the fact that we had a middle seat was enough to keep our toddler entertained however on our return flights we were in full entertainment mode so we brought out all of his toys including several new toys that we had actually wrapped up and wrapping paper as an extra layer of like work and entertainment now the key is to just make everything take longer and kill time so during taxing takeoff and Landing you're supposed to hold your child securely against your chest but Elliot did not want to stay in this position he was so wiggly so this is where we used screen time here now initially we wanted to save our screen time for like the Hail Mary's but it worked really well during taxiing takeoff and Landing to just keep him still which we felt was the safer option I mean many people will tell you this you just kind of let all your screen time limits go out the window on flights whatever is going to help get you through those hours of sitting on a plane headphones were definitely nice to have Elliot's not huge into screen time so that only kept him busy for so long but he loves listening to music and he was just jamming out having a silent disco party by himself if you are putting headphones on a taller though make sure you get the ones that have built-in limiters to help keep audio at a safe level so we brought an extra outfit for both Elliot and myself and I didn't actually think I would need this until our last flight when our hyper overtired toddler dumped his entire cup of water all over me and I was very thankful to have a dry shirt to change into I mean just having an extra top is really key because he had no no what's gonna happen and last when it comes to naps and sleeping it's so child specific that it's really it's gonna depend on how your kid falls asleep to what best works for you are toddlers still breastfeeds so we just simply nursed him to sleep and I used his sweater to help keep my arm propped up and to just make it a bit more comfortable and that worked for us if you have any other tips on flying with toddlers please leave them down below in the comments and if you want to know what my carry-on Essentials are you're going to want to watch this video right here bye

Channel: Hey Nadine

Views: 237,244

Keywords: Travel, Traveller, How to Travel, vlogger, Female travel, Solo Traveller, Travel tips, Travel advice, Toddler, Family Travel, Flying with a baby, flying with a toddler, Toddler travel

Id: YAMgugPl1sk

Length: 8min 32sec (512 seconds)

Published: Sat May 20 2023