10 tips and advices for traveling with your baby or toddler

Whether it's by train, plane, or car, traveling with a baby or young children can be a real challenge that demands careful organization. Today, we share our experience as parents and provide you with some tips and advice to help you approach the big day with greater serenity.

1. Take advance ... but not too much

Have you ever found yourself rushing to catch a train or a flight due to a tight schedule? Just two months ago, we experienced this situation with our 18-month-old baby in a carrier and our 4-year-old eldest. A transportation hiccup delayed us, forcing us to sprint to catch our train for a weekend in the countryside. Our advice is to plan ahead with sufficient buffer time to account for transportation mishaps and inevitable hiccups that come with traveling with children. However, be cautious not to leave too early either, as waiting isn't a strong point for kids. They tend to get impatient quickly and they'll let you know.

2. Prepare Essential Changing Supplies

From diaper overflows to minor food mishaps, these unexpected incidents happen quite often while traveling. Here are our tips to react effectively and minimize inconveniences.

• Plan for easily accessible diapers, swaddles and wipes. Also remember to bring one or more plastic bags for dirty clothes.

• Plan for a spare T-shirt for yourself as well. While children often get the focus, you'll appreciate having a change of clothes if your baby has frequent regurgitations.

• If you have a choice, favor the direction of the train for your children.

• When traveling by car, keep several small plastic bags handy. Additionally, learn to identify the early signs of motion sickness in your child to react promptly. This advice applies not only to long journeys but also to taxi rides or when grandparents pick you up.

3. Be organized and well equipped for diaper changing

Changing one or more diapers during the journey is inevitable. Here's what we suggest:

• A travel kit with several diapers and wipes. We prefer wipes, which are much more practical when traveling.

• A portable changing mat or disposable changing pads.

• Disposable diaper bags, very useful when dealing with poop or vomit 😉

• For older children, consider panty diapers. For our 18-month-old, panty diapers allowed us to change him quickly while standing, avoiding the use of the nursery area we couldn't locate.

• Identify where the nursery areas are located 😅

4. Plan Entertainment to Keep Them Occupied

For the train and plane, there are plenty of choices: activity or coloring books (possibly from Hubifox 😉), books, stickers, drawing sheets, magic coloring, and more. Avoid toys, however, with the risk of finding yourself crawling into an airplane looking for their little red car (which ended up being in the front pocket of the plane...). In my experience, the stickers are great. It facilitated several solo train trips for me. Drawing is also very good, but limit the number of pencils or you will often find yourself reaching down to pick them up. As a last resort, think about downloading cartoons on your phone, it can also keep them occupied for a while, especially with headphones suitable for toddlers.

For car trips, hopefully, your child will sleep or remain calm for a significant portion of the journey. If not, music, singing, riddles, or musical toys can be useful.

5. Manage Air Pressure Changes

Sudden pressure changes in the cabin can cause ear discomfort for both children and adults. To prevent this, offer a pacifier, a bottle, or water to your child during takeoff and landing.

6. Respect Your Child's Habits

Avoid disrupting your child's sleep routines for the journey. Attempting to shift nap times can be counterproductive and make the journey more challenging.

7. Check with the Airline

Traveling with a baby by air is now much easier thanks to airports and airlines. Very often you will be given priority in the queues, you will be able to go through security with your baby's bottle, water bottle, fruit smoothie, baby food, and diapers (you will have to take them out of the bag, so make them accessible), and you will also be given priority when boarding. Also remember to check with the airline what baggage you are entitled to for your children. In the case of Easyjet, for example, if you are traveling with a child under the age of 2, you can have an extra carry-on bag and 2 extra items to put in the hold (stroller, car seat, etc.) for free.

8. Opt for Window Seats

First, it will be more comfortable because it will be an extra distraction for your children or an extra support when you have the baby in your arms.

9. Utilize Onboard Services

Do not hesitate to ask the cabin crew to heat your baby's bottle or baby food.

10. Be a little more flexible

Encouraging children to sit quietly throughout the journey can be challenging. Their curiosity often leads them to touch everything: lights, windows, air vents, trays, waving at fellow passengers in front or behind, sitting on the floor, or standing on seats. This can drive you crazy, prompting you to clean the entire train or plane with wipes.😅 Thus our advice : be prepared to be a bit more flexible, within reason, to prevent meltdowns.

We hope you find these tips helpful. Please feel free to share with us your experiences or your own tips and suggestions.