In the year of 2018, I flew internationally twice solo with our daughter who just turned two years old at the time. First trip is Seattle - Beijing - Nanjing (China) (14 hours total flight time + 4.5 layover). Second trip is Nanjing - Osaka (Japan) (3 hours). Both trips went much better than I expected or rather, dreaded. Partly because our little toddler is a great travel companion, and partly because I prepared a lot, especially for the worst. Here are the tips and lessons I learnt about flying with a toddler. 1. Choose the flight tickets according to your baby’s schedule, if available. Our toddler usually takes a nap in the late afternoon, and then sleeps for night around 10 or 11pm. So for a flight within, say 5 or 6 hours, I’d prefer tickets of which the flight time covers her nap time, so that I could get some free time for an hour or two. For longer flights, like from Seattle to Beijing which is about 11 hours, I’d prefer the takeoff time as close to her night sleep time as possible, which in this case, is around 5pm. I would try to let her skip the nap that day or nap shorter, so that she could go to sleep at night earlier, hopefully. The overnight flight is surely easier for our toddler, though red eye guaranteed for me. On the first trip Seattle - Beijing - Nanjing, I slept for about 15 minutes in total, even though my daughter slept for about 6 hours. And you will know why as you read on. The second trip from Nanjing to Osaka, only 3 hours, was much easier to handle. Even though our flight time covered her nap time, she was too excited to nap. That happens with a busy toddler. She finally fell asleep in the stroller at around 6pm when I was waiting to claim my luggage. I took the opportunity to have a peaceful dinner at the airport. 2. Bring an inflatable foot rest pillow on the plane to help your baby sleep. I forgot how I got the idea of buying this HOMCA foot rest but it worked great for our toddler to sleep on the plane. When it’s inflated, which only takes about 2 minutes, it fits snuggly between the seat and the back of the front seat, and is almost of the same height of the seat, which means, it extends the seat almost as a baby bed where she can lie down and not invade your own seat space. Of course, I am talking about the case when the baby has her own seat. It’s not required until the baby turns two, but when we flew to Copenhagen when she was 20 months old, we splurged and bought her a seat, which I think, totally worth it. She would lay her head on the foot rest, saying “baby’s bed” and tried to sleep. Even if the baby is too small to buy her a seat, this foot rest would still be helpful to the mom/dam to rest feet on, especially when your baby sleeps in your arms or mom’s breastfeeding. It doesn’t work well though when the toddler gets taller (longer). Then the extended seat with the foot rest would be too short for her to stretch out and sleep. This is unfortunately what happened during my first solo flight with her from Seattle to Beijing. I took that foot rest out from my bulging diaper bag and expectantly blew it when I thought it was about her bed time. She sat, stomped, jumped on the foot rest, and an hour later when she finally decided to sleep, she put her head or legs on my leg, and later my seat, instead of on the foot rest! So while she was soundly asleep, I only had half of my bottoms on the seat, with hardly any arm or back support. There was, tragically, no empty seat on that plane, for me to move to. So in my experience, the foot rest pillow could help the baby to sleep until s/he is about 85cm (33.4 inches), but it can help the parents to rest their feet any way. Of course, when the baby is very little, you can try to get a bassinet on the plane instead. 3. Read books and talk about taking flights or the destinations a few days/weeks before departure. Since I love traveling and looking at maps, we have many picture books of maps for kids. I would read the pages about Sweden, China or Japan (our destinations) and London or Beijing (our layover cities) with her, and she loves it. We would read books about taking a flight and I bought her a baby luggage with rollers and a furry monkey. I would talk her through the process of checking in luggage, going through security check, boarding the plane, buckling up, waiting for yummy food and drinks, sleeping, landing, taking a taxi or train to the hotel. So actually after her first international flight to Sweden, she already knew what to expect and how to behave on the plane. She knows that she would be confined within a patch of one or two seats and is not supposed to run up and down the isle, but she also knows that the air hostess will be serving her food and drinks that she usually doesn’t get at home. After we came back from China and Japan, she sometimes plays the game of taking a flight, pushing her shopping cart and toy stroller full of toys going through security check. 4. If your toddler is potty training, bring a foldable toilet seat to ensure the consistency. We love our OXO Tot 2-in-1 Go Potty for Travel. I actually bring it whenever we go out of the house, whether to a playground, a friend’s home, or a plane. It works even if there’s no restroom. Just bring a couple of plastic bags with you, for excrements or baby’s wet pants. 5. Always bring an extra set of clothes or two for baby and yourself. Choose the comfy and lightweight ones so they don’t take up too much space. It’s not rare that my toddler spills juice all over me on the plane. 6. Bring a few small toys the baby has never played and a couple of her favorites. Before our flight, we usually go to second-hand shops, dollar stores, garage sales or Amazon for small and cheap toys. Every kid is different, ours at the current age like animal figurines, color pencils and crayons, necklaces and bracelets, bags and containers, and books. 7. Bring some of her favorite food. Flight probably means to most of the kids unlimited snacks and screen time. Ours is not so much into the screen. Finding Nemo is the only one she’d watch over and over again, without an earphone. Instant cereals, dried blueberries/cranberries/goji berries/dates/figs/nuts, crackers, baby pouches, and even fruits and avocados, are some of our favorites. 8. Gate check in your stroller. You would need the help of the stroller all the way to the gate or right off the plane, especially when you are traveling alone with the baby. Coats, diaper bags, backpacks, and a wiggling baby, there are too much for two hands to handle. And in our experience, sometimes she falls asleep while waiting for boarding or before getting off the plane. The stroller is a moving bed on wheels. Sometimes we don’t get our stroller back at the plane gate, but at the baggage claim. So always double check with the air hostess before getting off. 9. Check if the airport has strollers free for use. On our flight from Seattle to Copenhagen, with a layover in London, we didn’t get our stroller back at the gate when we got off the plane in Copenhagen, and the baby was asleep. I scooped her up gently in my arms and miraculously she stayed asleep. I was planning to carry her like this all the way through the immigration until we got the stroller at the baggage claim, but instead, there were strollers at the arrival area in Copenhagen airport. What a life saver! 10. Look for playground in the airport. Sometimes there’s one in the gates area. I think every airport should have one at least. 11. If you are afraid that your baby might disturb the neighbors on the plane, it might be a good idea to warn them beforehand or prepare some small gift bags to distribute, like chocolates and a little note. But if you baby does get disturbing, don’t feel embarrassed or angry if you hear unwelcoming remarks from others. Stay cool or nonchalant. You need to preserve all your energy to deal with your baby.
12. Most importantly, just stay calm and be sympathetic to your baby when s/he gets fussy. After all, it’s not their choice to take this trip. Flying internationally could be tough for them and actually most of the cases, they are also trying to be cooperative. Relax, deep breathe if you need, and enjoy your little companion. You are creating wonderful memories for both of you by traveling.
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