Tips on traveling with a toddler

In My Humble Opinion
1

We live in Atlantic Canada and will be flying across the country at the end of January with a 16 month old toddler (and to say I’m expecting the actual traveling to be a nightmare is an understatement).

Anyway, the flights are booked. We’ll have to wake up our daughter about 6 hours earlier than usual, then the obligatory waiting around at the airport to board. She has her own seat and we’re bringing her car seat as well. We’ll switch planes about halfway across the country, and stop the flying part of the trip in Calgary. Then we will drive 4 - 5 hours to the grandparents in BC. Ugh.

It looks like I’m going to have to buy milk after since the guidelines read as though only formula or breast milk is allowed in carry on. And we would love to bring a lot of snacks for her, but I don’t see anyway we can keep things cold without using liquid or gel.

Between the new carry-on guidelines, lugging the car seat, etc., I am just dreading this. How can I make this trip bearable?

2

I just did this a couple of months ago, with a 2-year-old. It was not fun, I have to be honest. We did the same thing with bringing the car seat, etc., and we had to change planes, as well.

My main recommendation for entertaining her is to bring books, if your daughter likes to be read to. My husband & I basically read to my daughter for the entire trip, and this, while not too exciting for us, kept her quiet.

Bring your stroller to the airport…they will gate-check it on the plane. We figured out in advance a good way to strap the carseat to the stroller handle, so one of us could tote a carry-on, and the other could push the stroller with the baby & the carseat. It was a little awkward, but at least we didn’t have to carry anything.

BE SURE when you get to the gate that they know that you will need the stroller brought to you when you get off the plane…then you can get to your next plane easily, gate-check it again, and have it available when you get to your final destination.

Bring as many snacks as you can think of that don’t have to be kept cold…Cheerios, crackers, granola bars, bananas…whatever she likes. Usually you can get milk on the plane, but not on all flights. If your daughter will drink formula, you might consider bringing some powder you can mix on the plane…they always have bottled water available, of course. There are single-serve powder packets that will mix 4 oz of formula. Bring a bottle or sippy cup that has ounce measures on the side, and use that to mix the formula (I brought a 4-oz baby bottle, mixed it in that, and then poured the formula into her sippy).

That is all I can think of for now…if I have any other ideas, I will let you know! :slight_smile:

3

Thanks!

We have two strollers, both of which are small (too small to attach our monster sized Britax car seat to). We have the most basic umbrella stroller, and then one that is about the same weight as the umbrella, but doesn’t fold as small.

Another question: I cannot imagine travelling with our playpen in addition to all this crap, and my inlaws won’t have a crib. Baby refuses to sleep with us. Any lightweight or convenient solutions as far as baby sleeping arrangements?

4

How about going to Wal-Mart after you arrive and picking up an inexpensive playpen that you can leave at your in-laws for when you visit?

We have a playpen and high chair that we keep at home just for our grandson when he comes.

5

Put a wee drop of whiskey (just a tiny amount) in the milk.

With luck, the kid will sleep the whole trip.

6

Well, I would still recommend bringing one of the strollers. You COULD just use a baby carrier (the Baby Bjorn-type), if you are using one, but at your daughter’s age, that could get pretty tiring with all that traveling. What I would probably do is minimize my carry-ons (only bring 1 bag for all of you…the baby’s stuff will take up most of the room, but it will be easier than each of you having one, plus the car seat, plus the stroller).

Another question: I cannot imagine travelling with our playpen in addition to all this crap, and my inlaws won’t have a crib. Baby refuses to sleep with us. Any lightweight or convenient solutions as far as baby sleeping arrangements?
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That’s a tough one…I defintely agree that bringing the pack & play is too much trouble! If you can baby-proof the room, I don’t see anything wrong with just having her sleep on the floor, on folded-up blankets for softness, surrounded by pillows to keep her from rolling away.

7

This was my other thought…I think Target carries the cheapest Graco pack & play, and it costs maybe $40. Might be a worthwhile investment.

8

snort I don’t think there’s any whiskey that would have her sleep 12+ hours in the daytime. :wink: Although, I’m starting to think I may have to be under the influence in order to handle this trip.

9

We flew with my son this past summer–he was 21 months. Luckily, we had only one flight followed by a three-hour drive.

What saved us was a portable DVD player. As much as I don’t like him watching excessive amounts of TV/videos, I was really happy to have it. But that only works if your daughter will actually WATCH.

If she likes books, I second that suggestion. Also, pick up some toys and books and don’t show them to her until you are on the plane. The novelty factor can be important!

Have your parents checked if any of their friends have a Pack & Play for their grandchildren that they could borrow? My parents have a used one that my son uses when we visit.

I was expecting it to be horrible, and it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. Good luck!

10

Is she “entraced by TV” age yet. We got a lot of milage (still do) out of the portable DVD player.

Snacks - there are all sorts of snacks that don’t need to be kept cold - raisins, goldfish, cereal.

Do bring gum (if she’s figured out how not to swallow it) or a sippy cup for takeoff and landing. You can buy juice or milk on the other side of the gate for it.

If you can spend the day in Calgary letting her run off steam, and do the drive at bedtime and let her sleep in the car, you might have a more pleasant trip. At least think about taking a LONG break at a McDonalds with a Playland or something in Calgary - and maybe scope out another playland around the halfway point. (In the Twin Cities we have all these indoor city playgrounds now - its like $5 a kid - because in Minnesota in the Winter you will kill your kids if they don’t have someplace to go and run it all off).

See if your Mom and Dad have friends or neighbors they can borrow a pack and play from. Pack and plays turn out to be one of those things a lot of people have in their closet for when their grandkids visit - and the littlest grandkid is now seven. Or they kept around from when their own kids were little knowing they’d use it for nieces or nephews. My parents pack and play has come and gone on loan several times.

11

You may think this is nuts, but the people I’ve talked into it all agree it’s a great idea.

Mail or FedEx or UPS (whatever’s cheaper) most of your stuff to your destination a few weeks ahead of schedule.

I’ve even done this with hotels (but it has to arrive pretty close to your check in date). Traveling only with what you NEED is a huge burden lifted.

12

I have done this every year at least once a year since my children were born (they are now 7 and 5) The last five years I have done it with two kids.

I won’t kid you, two is hard. Two is hard because they just do not and cannot get why you cannot just wave a wand and be there. They have no concept of space or time and so every minute is a year to them. However, it isn’t really, really terrible.

I will say that I have never tried it with the car seat in the plane; I have always checked my car seats with my luggage. People tell me that kids are more likely to sleep on the plane with a car seat and for that alone it may be worth it.

With two of you, lugging the car seat won’t be too bad; be sure you have some cash on you because what you do is get one of those push carts after security and push it with your carry on and the car seat all the way to the gate. The push carts are free in some airports and you have to pay for them in others. Check the stroller at the gate.

Bring lots of food in little tiny containers as the containers are part of the entertainment. Give up all hope of a balanced diet for one day and bring all the great stuff she otherwise can’t have. Pringles in the tiny containers are good as they don’t crush. Apples are good, tiny baby carrots are good. The pretzel goldfish are good as are the rgular goldfish. Lollies are not to be forgotten but reserve them for bad moments. Sandwiches cut up in shapes.

Lacing toys are choice as are those wooden tip mazes. I know she is too young for them; balls rolling around are interesting anyway. Crayons and paper. String for cat’s cradle. Pop up books. Gift wrap some of them because unwrapping is haldf the fun. A portable DVD player is indeed the gold standard and some teletubbies dvd’s go a long way (or whatever). I always took a metal flat box along and magnets to play with; you can get a magnetized farm box thingie or what have you for a couple of bucks. Colorforms. Window clings are the topper. A small flashlight is great fun.

But mostly you have to be prepared to act like a fantasy preschool teacher for many hours: ever cheery, upbeat, and ready to play with and pay attention to your child every second. That’s the tiring part. Though the fact is my kids love to travel for this very reason.

Sleep her on the floor. Get her a sleeping bag with Dora (or whomever) on it and there will be no problem. :slight_smile:

13

Cyros, there’s a carseat/stroller kind of thing you can get for situations just like this - I believe it’s around $100? It’s called a Sit and Stroll - I’m not sure where you can get it, but maybe Babies R Us or Target? It’s a carseat with a handle so that they can use it as a stroller, too - kind of like rolling luggage. We’re planning to get a Britax Marathon in my car for my 3 1/2 month old - I can’t imagine trying to travel with one of those things, they’re huge. The Sit and Stroll seems like a good option.

WalMart has a basic Cosco playard, too, for $39 on their site. Perhaps you could order it online and have it shipped to your destination? Then just have your in-laws keep it there for the next time you visit.

E.

14

I was just going to suggest this. All you need to bring are your most essential items. Everything else can be shipped FedEx or UPS and you won’t have to juggle all your crap plus a little kid.

15

We once checked in the stroller and strapped the car seat to a collapsible baggage carrier with wheels. It worked very well around the airport. The problem was getting everything unstrapped and stowed once we were on the plane - we had two kids so this took a while and we were blocking the aisle.

16

Thanks for the ideas! Unfortunately, some are out of our price range (The Sit & Stroll is more than $200 Cdn, plus we have no place to store it afterwards in our apartment, and hubby won’t spring for a portable DVD player yet.) Will definitely bring containers of snacks and lots of books (her favourite thing). I saw an interesting little do-dad that attaches car seats to rolling carry-on luggage (www.thetravelingtoddler.com) but have to check out international shipping.

We’ll have to see what our inlaws want to spring for as far as her sleeping arrangements. I am somewhat concerned about her sleeping on the floor because I doubt they will childproof, and I won’t be able to put her down awake like I usually do if she isn’t contained at least a little.

I would certainly prefer they visit us rather than schlepping the baby and gear to them, but they have their hearts set on showing off the grandchild and they are supplying the tickets. We’re flying the discount carrier here, and it definitely no frills (can’t even buy milk onboard). I’m getting overwhelmed just thinking about all the logistics, how a 3 hour time change will affect the baby. Fortunately, I don’t think we’ll be doing this again anytime soon - I wouldn’t call it a vacation by any stretch of the imagination.

17

Sleep her on the floor surrounded by sofa pillows–something big and soft, so she won’t roll around. We use this but the sides are soft so you need big pillows to keep her from rolling out. My son loves the thing because it’s his very own travel bed. It’s lightweight, rolls up and has its own carrying case with a handle.

Gate-checking the stroller is excellent; the first time I took my kids on a plane, I didn’t know you could do that. It’s very cool, and the size of the stroller didn’t seem to matter. It was waiting for us right outside the plane door when we got out. I didn’t bring the car seat on the plane (checking a car seat is expensive, by the way, because they’re so heavy). My suggestion is to get a luggage cart at the airport, or a redcap, if you can afford one, to schlepp it for you.

Lollipops are excellent for the ear pressure problem on takeoff and landing, and my kids loved it because at the time they didn’t get lollipops very often, so it was a special treat.

We occassionally had to walk the kids up and down the aisle on the plane–it’s hard to sit for so long. Trips to the lavatory were good for the novelty. On the drive, prepare to stop once for running around. we try to break up trips longer than 3 - 4 hours into 2 days if we can.

18

The Calgary airport does have some play stuff for kids. I found suckers (sugar free, natch) were a good way to keep my toddler busy during take off and landing. Also a little bit of dimetapp to keep the congestion down.

Anytime you are off the plane - play with your child - run around, let them burn off as much energy as possible, start settling them down closer to flight time, change their bum before going on board (there just isn’t enough room). Also bring some kitchen catchers for stinky diapers if the need should arise.

As for sleeping stuff - check the listing in your in-laws area - lost of places rent baby equipment including playpens and toys. Usually their customers are daycares but it worked out really well when I went to Saskatoon with my little one.

The other option is the buysell in their area, ask them to pick up a playpen cheap - or even freecycle.

19

One other thing - you will need to fold the stroller down so they can inspect it/scan it. If the two of you are together it’s not a problem but as mom travelling by myself carrying my diaper bag, carry-on, purse and child (that was was too big for the baby seat but too small to stand) folding that stroller down was a PITA!

20

Thanks so much, Poysyn! Great ideas!