Flying with Toddlers

So we did it, we survived flying with a 13 month old. I thought I should dedicate a small (I think it will be small) blog post on how we survived, things I’m glad we did, things we regretted, and so on.

First of all, our flight was at noon on a Tuesday. We did not let him nap all morning, and we had him running up and down the aisles of the Austin airport. 

We made friends with about every couple that was sitting around us. Noah was very interested in their luggage, and he bee lined for every bright sparkly luggage tag he would see. They all assured me that a fussing baby on the plane wouldn’t bother them. I appreciated their words but in my head prayed that they would not regret saying that.

Anyways, we kept him running and gave him a hefty dose of Benadryl right before we boarded. I thought for sure we had a long nap coming, and I was for sure WRONG. Homeboy slept a good 20 minutes and was ready to party the rest of the flight. He was a little subdued, so I’m going to thank the Benadryl for that. Things that worked for us: feeding him a bottle on the way up and a pacifier on the way down. This kept his ears from getting clogged.  I brought lots of finger foods. Our favorite little snicky snack was the Gerber fruit and vegetable freeze-dried snacks. They are about the size of the penny, and we just kept offering them to him. They kept him very entertained and happy. They aren’t really filling, so it was nice that he could eat a whole bag and it was only like 100 calories.

I also brought lots of books. The problem with the books I brought was that he had already read them, so he wasn’t very interested. Next time we fly, I will be sure to buy a couple new ones.

As for IPad apps, I downloaded six and he wasn’t interested in all but one of them. The one blessing of an app that I downloaded was an interactive book. It’s called Nils. The book is a story and you push the animals and characters and they do certain actions as you read. Noah LOVED this. The book kept him entertained a good 30 minutes.

I did bring a few toys, jars, and bags of goodies that he could go through. The little dood liked this. He would unscrew lids and pull out toys. He did this for about 15 minutes, but eventually turned to his favorite hobby, throwing all items on the ground, so we had to put an immediate stop to that activity.

Another nice plus was our flight had mini TVs in front of every seat. Best of all, they had remotes on the chair arms. Noah loves remotes, so he enjoyed pushing every button over and over again throughout the flight.

The last 30 minutes, Noah wasn’t having it anymore. This is when I brought the dum-dum. Boy, was this little thing a lifesaver. He was obsessed with it and this small sucker kept him entertained as we landed and taxied. One problem- it was blue, so you can guess that his whole mouth and shirt were blue as well. Note to self- bring a different color next time like butterscotch.

I hope this offers some insight to traveling with toddlers.

Our flight home looked very similar. There was a small nap in the beginning of the flight and a wide awake baby for the rest of it.

Would I do it again? Yes. Would I do it alone? Heck no. Matt was a lifesaver. I remembered again why I love him so much. He was a constant source of help and kept this girl sane.