How to survive a plane ride with a toddler

we survived our first trip in an airplane so I'm now 1% qualified to share our secrets to traveling with a lap child

This is not a photo of me and my child. This is a stock photo. I would bet that this mother has a very different story (or maybe not) about her experience navigating the airport with her child. He seems like a chill baby.

My husband worried himself sick about our upcoming first plane ride with our 1.5 year old. I dealt with the nerves in the same way that I try to tackle all future events that I’m dreading: by repeating the phrase, “This is one small moment in time. This is one small moment in time.”

Although, I prefer how my therapist phrased it, “Look, I’m not going to lie, it might be a total shit show. But the moment will eventually end.”

All the odds were stacked against us for a miserable trip. Our son spent several days leading up to the trip with a very high fever, congestion, cough, sleepless nights, vomiting, doctors’ visits, etc etc etc. Basically, we were looking into all the ways to cancel our family vacation which made me too sad to even consider after months of planning and anticipation.

At 5am on the morning of our flight, we woke him up and assessed the scene. No fever. Fairly pleasant demeanor. Keeping breakfast down. Cleared to travel after negative test results for everything. All signs pointed to GO! GO! GO!

And so we went! Shows downloaded on the tablet and ready for pure survival mode.

Here’s what happened immediately upon entering the airport: While my husband checked in our bag, he heard the screech of a belligerent child from at least a football field away. Yes, this was his child. We had done what everyone advised and brought a small stroller with us to the airport. My husband’s child (not my child in a moment like this) decided he did not like the stroller and would rather flail his entire body on the dirty floor of the airport and basically do a convulsing version of the worm across the walkway.

You can imagine the glares I received roughly two-and-a-half minutes into the start of our adventure.

I will pause this story to give a brief apology to all mothers who I glared at in the past BEFORE I became a mother. Often, I thought, Please, calm your child down.

Or worse, what kind of parent allows their child to thrash across the filthy airport floor?

Yes, I did have an innate level of empathy, but you can’t truly know until you experience it, just how hard it is to make a toddler do anything rational or sane.

We ended up ditching the stroller for the trip back home, but if your child is relatively calm and enjoys stroller rides, then maybe this is the trick for you to navigate to your gate and then check it in at the plane. I decided to strap him to my body in the carrier and just take the beatings on myself whenever he decided throwing his head back and thrashing his whole body would solve his discomfort with new surroundings or exhaustion or hunger. (Note for the reader: it solved nothing.)

Remember when I claimed to be a mom concerned with limiting screen time? None of these principles apply to time on a plane.

Any signs of distress or even the smallest whimper on the way to the plane, on the plane, off the plane, or really through the entire vacation were solved by handing him his minty fresh tablet loaded with a curated selection of his favorites: Paw Patrol, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Sesame Street.

Here kid, watch another! I couldn’t believe that he put on his little baby headphones and watched episode after episode during the entire flight, barely noticing we were flying “highhh in the sky,” as we had practiced by imitating a plane before his big adventure. We had to beg him to look out the window and make his cute little plane sounds he had practiced as his imaginary plane flew through the clouds.

Snacks on snacks on snacks — my biggest recommendation. He fell in love with the little cinnamon graham crackers they passed out on the flight.

I packed a bottle of milk to give him to help with his ears popping. Everyone had warned this could be the hardest part, especially after battling congestion. We had stopped bottles in January and moved to sippy cups, so I wasn’t sure it was the “right” move. The funniest part was that he acted like he completely forgot how to use bottles. He was more frustrated than it was worth because it didn’t work like his Paw Patrol sippy cup.

Next trip (will there be another?) I’m going to try lollipops for take off and landing.

And next trip, I will once again bring my brother and sister-in-law on our flight to help us navigate the chaos that is traveling with a toddler. Highly recommend bringing two sets of extra and loving (and patient) hands.

I had all these grand plans for plane activities. I googled (of course) for ideas, I polled all my experienced mom friends, I watched all the trendy Instagram moms bursting with great ideas. The plot twist for this devoted creative writer committed to the arts: I even asked ChatGPT for ideas on how to entertain a toddler on a plane. According to ChatGPT, snacks are #1 on the list (and bring a variety), but #10 suggests that screen time should be used as a last resort… so we can confirm that this post was not written by any form of artificial intelligence.

How I thought it would go: I would make homemade play dough! And create activity bins! And bring painters’ tape and window clings and buckets of enthusiastic fun for all!

How it actually went: Life happened. We barely made it on our plane (God bless the flight delay). My son watched an endless loop of overstimulating shows that lulled him into a trance.

Winning.

But, hey! Guess what?! We survived our one brief moment in time, enjoyed our time away, and we’re all home in one piece with plenty of stories to tell. Isn’t that the recipe for a successful family vacation?

Give these a try…

1. These are the miracle headphones that I’m shocked my son kept on his ears while we flew and he laser-focused on his tablet.

2. A great gift for friends planning long road or plane trips. We have a similar fidget toy with buttons to press and pop, and colorful rubber tubes to pull. Possibly more fun for adults at this stage of our parenting.

3. In our early morning rush to make our flight, I grabbed the baby monitor… without the camera. We Amazon Primed this camera for $19ish and it brought us peace of mind while he slept alone in a dark walk-in closet in his travel pack-and-play (IYKYK).

Vacation vibes provided by

Naomi Gottlieb-Miller

, author of

What moves you

“But I am the kind of mom who can read books at night and cuddle my kids to sleep for as long as it takes. Especially when I’m on vacation, I don’t have a dog to walk or dishes to do, and no one needs to be up early for any reason.”

Positive affirmations lesson provided by

Aleks Balazy-Knas

, author of

Unscrewing Motherhood

(I need more of this for my next moments of travel chaos)

“By incorporating affirmations into our daily routine, we can cultivate resilience, self-compassion, and strengthen self-belief, empowering us to tackle the ups and downs of motherhood with full confidence (and sanity!). Whether reciting affirmations during moments of chaos or setting aside dedicated time for self-care and reflection, these affirmations play a vital role in prioritising mental well-being and nurturing the soul of motherhood.