Lessons Learned from DW’s 1st Plane Ride

Flying with a toddler can be daunting! Here are 5 things BDW and I learned when we took off for Dumaguete and I’d like to share them with you 🙂

Granted that the trip was just one hour, BDW and I were bracing ourselves for a meltdown or a super hyper baby that would not sit still in the plane. But DW was a trooper and he was a quiet little passenge who sat between me and BDW. Good jab us!

1) Dress Comfortably – Both BDW and I wore shirts and shorts. BDW wore sneakers and I wore flats. We both anticipated that DW would be hyper and would be running around the airport. He absolutely loves airplanes and so we braced ourselves for an afternoon of him just counting the planes and chasing those that are taking off. DW wore a shirt, shorts, socks and sneakers. The plane would be cool enough for his socks and we packed his jacket in his carry-on bag.

2) Bring His Favorites and some new ones – Distractions are important and so we packed DW’s backpack with his favorite books + a few new ones to surprise him and keep him busy in the plane.

3) Bring Foodie Reinforcements – We brought a lollipop, YanYan and bread sticks for DW so he could chew on something to relieve the ear pressure during the plane ride. We also kept a bottle of his milk handy plus a couple of bottles of water just in case we need to mix up a new batch of milk.

4) Keep Everything On Hand – We brought a bag that was large enough to keep DW’s stuff in but sized just right so that it would fit under the airplane seats. It had all of DW’s stuff including his milk, snacks, food, his favorite pillow, extra change of clothes, bottled water, books and small toys. We kept the bag under the seat in front of BDW so that everything’s within reach and any possible crisis is averted haha 😀

Last but not the least

5) Relax! Take it Easy – Kids feed off the energies of the people they’re with and the last thing you’d want is to be frazzled with an equally frazzled kid. We allowed DW to play and just run around the airport (just reminding him not to scream….well we tried). We actually thought that tiring him would work well for us so he could just nap on the plane (and it worked!). Babies and toddlers are unpredictable and I’ve learned that it’s really best to be flexible and to bend with them but our goal was for DW to enjoy his first airplane experience and by the looks of it, I think he did!

For more tips on traveling with babies, you might want to go to this post, written by a fellow mom who’s travelled internationally with her baby 🙂

We’d be travelling again soon and we hope these tips would still hold up but how about you moms, what fool-proof, time-tested tip can you share about travelling with kids??