Toddler Tips Tuesday - Flying

Last week I shared my tips about traveling through the airport with kids.  Since then I learned of a product from Go-Go-Babyz called the gogo Kids Travelmate that is also aimed at helping parents navigate the airport with ease.  I haven't tried the Travelmate myself, but it sounds like a great idea, so check out their site!

This week's tip is about managing a flight with your toddler.  Most airlines allow your toddler to fly for free before they are two  years old.  My little man is 16 months old, so we're planning on milking this free flying for another 8 months.  But there's a catch: they sit on your lap. (Disclaimer: the safer option is probably to buy an extra seat and bring your convertible car seat on the flight for your toddler to sit in.  We've never done this and I'm not in any way qualified to tell you how best to safely fly with your kid.  The best tip I can give is to follow whatever flying advice your pediatrician offers you.  Also, some airlines claim to have reasonable "infant fares", but when I recently called Southwest Airlines to inquire about purchasing such a seat for Lukas on an upcoming flight this summer, I was told that the "infant fare" was MORE expensive than the online fare.  So, yea, that doesn't exactly help from a monetary standpoint. So if you choose to not purchase an extra seat for your bambino, hopefully my tips will help, but they should in no way stand in the way of your talking to your pediatrician about safe flying tips. And yes, if you didn't know, I am a lawyer.  Why do you ask?)

If you have met a 16 month old boy, you will recall that they are very, very busy.  So the thought of keeping Lukas contained for FIVE hours on a flight was putting me into near panic attacks for the few days leading up to our flight.  I had convinced myself that we were in for five hours of torture.  Or rather that our neighbors on the flight were in for five hours of hell.  But our flight was full and there were no upgrades available.  My first traveling tip is to upgrade to business class if at all possible - the extra room is worth the extra money in my opinion. But since an upgrade wasn't an option, all I could do was arm myself with as much toddler distractions as possible and pray that Lukas would fall asleep at some point, sooner rather than later, preferably.

Toddler plane distractions fall into two categories: food and books.  They're both crucial for a cross-county flight.

Food: I don't know about you, but my kid loves to eat.  Given the right food, we can waste a good hour eating. But when thinking about food for the flight, I was concerned about Lukas dropping his food on the ground and then the ensuing breakdown because I wouldn't give him the food from the gross airplane floor.  So I opted for GoGo Squeez Apple Sauce - it's kind of like go-gurt (which, honestly, grosses me out, but for some reason the apple sauce doesn't...) - Lukas could hold on to the packet and suck up the apple sauce.  He loves it!  And I love the fact that it's 100% fruit and has no sugar added.  So he was at least eating something healthy. The other food we brought was a not-so-healthy snack, but a favorite of toddlers worldwide: Goldfish.  Lukas loves goldfish.  And in an effort to not have them all over the airplane, I bought a Munchkin Snack Catcher, which was worth the $4.50 I spent at Target.  Lukas could hold the cup and grab fish as he wanted them.  It was a huge hit. On the flight home, we filled it with Ritz crackers, which were a good idea in theory, but are really messy and more of the crackers ended up on the floor than in his mouth.

I also brought water in a sippy cup and milk in my boobs.  If you're nursing, you already know that it helps soothe a crying baby, and that's especially true on a plane.  But I have to admit, that I still get self conscious and nervous about breastfeeding him in "public" (and by public, I mean under a nursing cover or blanket with absolutely zero boob exposure whatsoever).  You'd think I'd be over that by now, but in all honesty, I'm not.  But I did it anyway and I don't think anyone noticed.  If anything, they would've noticed the fact that I had a sleeping baby within five minutes of his hiding under his blanket. And while we're on  the topic of sleeping babies on a plane, another necessity is a small pillow (thanks Greer!).  We stuffed a small pillow in a regular pillow case and sewed a ribbon on the case so that we could tie the pillow case to my diaper bag.  The pillow helped Lukas sleep comfortably stretched out over our laps.

Books:  Buy this book if you're flying with a toddler any time soon:  First 100 Words by Bright Baby.

available on Amazon.com

Lukas spent two hours looking at the pictures in this book.  Actually, he looked at the pictures and said "what's that?" about 100 times in 2 hours.  I'm sure everyone around us was sick of hearing me say "elephant", "dump truck", "airplane", "orange" etc.  But I imagine they'd rather here us talking than him crying.  I cannot stress enough how awesome this book was for flying.  We would not have had an enjoyable flight without it.  I am sure of that.  And I have Mr. Cob to thank for the book - he picked it up at Costco the day before our flight.

Also, before you take off, make sure a diaper and wipes are easily accessible, as well as the food and books.  Take a deep breathe and don't worry.  What's the worst that could happen?  You're stuck with a screaming baby on a plane for a few hours.  Sometimes babies cry.  Sometimes babies cry on a plane.  If that happens, with any luck you'll never see the people on your flight again.  And if you get desperate, you can always buy you're neighbors a stiff drink!  But hopefully, with enough food and books, your neighbors will compliment you on your well behaved baby upon arriving at your destination.

Anyone else have any other tips for managing a flight with a toddler?  I'd love to hear what other mom and dads do to keep their little ones occupied while flying the friendly skies!