For the past 7 years, my husband and I have travelled to the Cayman Islands over Christmas, as I have two sisters who live there, so we have a lovely sunny break to escape the hideous weather in England! Pre baby, our holidays consisted of relaxing in the sun all day and taking a lovely stroll down the most beautiful beach in the world - Seven Mile Beach. Our flight was always relaxing, with a few movies and a snooze, accompanied by a few glasses of red wine and we arrived relaxed and care free!
WOW how things have changed. This year we booked our yearly holiday and then it dawned on me... not only do I have a walking ( or shall I say running ) toddler to deal with on this trip, who's totally fearless and will try his very best to run and jump in to the pool everyday, bit I also have a 12 HOUR DAY FLIGHT to get through (by the way, I never really took notice of how long the flight was because it never used to matter... but it DEFINITELY matters now. )
So while I drove myself crazy wondering how I was going to entertain this wriggly, strong willed little boy, I decided to do a blog post for all you mums going through the same toddler travel anxiety!
I am going to talk through my tips , tricks and the products that I recommend when travelling with a toddler.
Fly Safe Harness
This is an interesting one, I was recommended it by a friend and the reason I used it, is because Zack had his own seat, but I knew he wouldn't sit still and would love to get off and wriggle around. This harness holds them in place the same as a car seat would and makes them feel more secure - it's also recommended by the airline for extra safety. They're generally recommended for 2 year olds, so because Zack was 17 months, I still had to have him on my knee for takeoff and landing. Here is some info from the website
- CARES is the first and only harness type Aviation Child Safety Device to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an alternative to a car seat.
- CARES is an elegantly designed belt-and-buckle device that works in conjunction with the regular airplane seat belt and provides young travelers the same level of safety as a car seat.
- CARES weighs just one pound and fits into a 6″ stuff sack! It is easily portable, simple to install, adjustable to every size airplane seat, and usable on any window or center seat in the airplane, except in the emergency exit rows.
- Need your car seat on the other end of the trip? Just check it through as luggage – and carry CARES on board in your pocket!
Plane pal
The Plane Pal is one of those things that you wish you would have invented yourself. It blows up and goes at the bottom of the plane seat, pretty much extending into a bed. It's genius, especially for a night flight. One thing you must know is that not every airline approves it, so make sure you check before you purchase one. British Airways who I flew with didn't approve them, but I still used it!
It also works better on extra legroom seats as there has to be enough room for it to blow up.
Ipad
An iPad seems like such an obvious one but it literally saved my life, I pre-downloaded all of his favourite things- Peppa, paw patrol, Baby Shark, nursery rhymes etc and it kept him entertained for hours! This is also a fabulous case as it stands on it's its own.
Headphones
In all honesty, I thought headphones were a must and if your child is old enough to wear them and is happy to keep them on their head, then you're winning! I thought Zack would be fine with them but he just kept throwing them off, so I actually wouldn't recommend these unless you know your child will keep them on.
Keep em quiet kit
This company basically tailor make packs for your toddler to travel with to keep them entertained. These consist of colouring in books, toys, books, sticker books and some snacks! What I like about it is that they basically do the hard work for you and everything was new, so Zack had never seen any of the toys before.
Lunch Box
So one thing that I didn't know, is that if you're flying with a baby, you need to request a kids meal 24 hours before the flight online, or you won't get one. I did this but I also wanted to take my own food because as we all know, plane food is gross and one thing I didn't want was a hungry toddler!
I got this cute insulated lunch box from Skip Hop. Inside I put the following
-Sandwiches - Cheese & Jam
I didn't want anything to smell and peanut butter isn't a great idea on a flight because of potential allergies.
Pasta with cheese ( I took the cheese separately and added it on the plane and asked them to heat it up)
-Full Banana
-Full Apple
( I just gave this to him whole and it kept him entertained for 30 minutes! )
-Grapes (cut up)
-Baby bell
-Yoghurt pouch
-Baby snacks (rice cakes, Organix snacks )
-Water bottle
( I filled this up once we went through security )
It seems like a lot but my flight was 12 hours and he ate everything !
Flask
As my flight was cutting into bedtime, I brought milk with me. Zack is on cows milk now so I brought it in this flask to keep it fresh. I think it's always a good idea to bring milk in case they get fussy.
Pillow
I went to Asda and bought a cot pillow which was rolled up really small so it would fit in my hand luggage, but any pillow is obviously fine. It was only £7 so I just left it on the plane!
What to do on the plane to get through it
This is what gave me anxiety beforehand. I was thinking what the hell am I going to do with him for 12 hours?? Well with all the book reading , iPad watching and eating out the way, I let him just walk around up and down the aisles. In his case he RAN up and down the aisles - I would take him to the toilet to wash his hands & look in the mirror and occasionally he would make friends with another wandering toddler.
Puddle Jumper
Now this isn't for the plane, it's just a general holiday recommendation, but I had to include it as this is an absolute MUST! we put Zack in it anytime he was near the pool and he was even able to jump in and would float. This really put my mind at ease as my toddler generally likes to run wild
(As they all do)
I hope that helps you all when preparing for a long or short hall flight! Any questions, please message us on Instagram xxxx
