Tuesday, June 12, 2012

travel advice

This is a post in which I beg ask for your travel advice.  In just 3 weeks, I will board a plane with my baby boy, husband, sister, and parents.  We will head to sunny California for a week long vacation.  I'm so excited to go visit friends in California and spend some time introducing Kason and Duane to a state that I love.  At the same time, I am totally and completely freaking out!  You see, going on vacation with a baby is much different than going on vacation with a group of adults.  We took Kason to the beach when he was 3 months old, and it was so hard.  I am convinced now that he is a little older, and not eating every 2 hours, it will be a little easier.  That's my hope at least!

My biggest fear is definately the plane ride.  Flying is not one of my favorite things anyway.  I get anxious and nervous from the time the plane takes off until it lands safely on the ground.  Now that I'm adding a baby into that anxiety..I may need an anti anxiety medication.  I can see it now, that plan takes off, Kason wants to get down and walk around the plane and when I have to hold him on my lap he will SCREAM.  And everyone on the plane will give me that look.  I know that look well.  The why can't you control your baby look.  I'm sure I gave that look a few times before I became a mama.  I did and thought a lot of things before I was a mom.  I am all the wiser now.  Anyways, I'm a little nervous about the plane ride.  That's where I need your help!  If you have flown with a small child what are your tips?  What should I bring in my carry-on?  What should I do to comfort him during take off and landing?  Anything that will help would be greatly appreciated!  Just leave it in a comment below.  I will be forever grateful! :)

And here's a picture of my sweet soon-to-be traveler!
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7 comments:

  1. I have never taken my 2 year old on a plane, but anytime we travel in the car we take our portable DVD player and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVDs. My child loves him some Mickey Mouse. If your little one likes tv at all, it might help you out! Good luck, I am like you I have a lot of anxiety about flying and with a toddler it would be even worse!

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  2. I would suggest getting him his own seat. I haven't flown with a toddler for a couple of years no because my kids are now 5 and 6, but we fly quite a bit. When they were in that squirmy stage, we always got them their own seats and buckled them into their car seats. The car seats do have to be approved by the airlines, but it worked great for us. They knew they had to be in their seats in the car, and it was no different on the plane.

    Of course we took lots of snacks and gadgets to play with. I tried to get some things that they had never seen/played with before so that it would hold their interest longer than something that was old hat.

    Good luck! Safe travels!

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  3. Does he take a pacifier or drink from a sippy? The sucking really helps during takeoff and landing.

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  4. Snacks, snacks, snacks and more snacks! :) We always arm ourselves with lots of goodies and fun things for our kids to do and/or eat. They love new stuff, they love opening boxes with little surprises inside. If you have a Trader Joe's close by (and feel comfortable attempting this), I'd recommend buying some of their lollipops. GREAT in an emergency/meltdown situation (should you encounter that). Not the safest thing for little ones, but we did it with Sutter and watched his every move - it was a blessing for us :)

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  5. Just stopping by to say Hi! Your boy is very cute :) Just want you to know.. I got that 'look' when my baby crying in the plane. And the journey was only 2 hour (crying for 30 minutes before landing). Snacks is a must and lots of distraction e.g soft toys or key chains.

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  6. I'm new to this blog, I actually found it by googling Kason's Nursery since I'm expecting a Kason of my own this September and am starting to come up with nursery ideas :) I have a 20 month old and we flew from Virginia to Maine and back again back in March. I couldn't afford another ticket so he traveled as a lap baby. My first word of advice is try to stay as calm as possible. If he senses you're nervous and anxious, he will be nervous and anxious. I know people hate crying kids on planes but guess what, we can only do so much. They're little people who don't understand why they have to stay sitting. I second the snacks. I bought these bowls at WalMart that have lids that only allow the child to take out two or three goldfish (or whatever) at a time so it a) reduces choking hazard and b) makes it so the kid can't chuck the entire bowl and spill toddler goodness everywhere. Joseph loves to color so I also bought one of those colorwonder only colors on the paper books. He loved it and it really got us through the antsy spell. Good luck!

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  7. Thank you all for your advice! Hopefully it goes smoothly! I'm sure I'll blog about our travel adventures when we get back! :)

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