Traveling with Children

The holidays are a time when many travel to visit family. Some by air and some by car. As a first time parent, traveling can be stressful...look at all the stuff you need to bring with you just so a baby can sleep and eat. It takes a lot of planning, but I believe traveling can be fun and without much of the stress that we, as moms, tend to place on ourselves.

What are some of your traveling tips?

As a family we have traveled by air and car. To me, traveling by air seemed to be of greater stress to me, I guess because there are other people to be concerned about. We've learned many things, that for me, have made air travel less intimidating.

- Your attitude and stress level can affect your child. I decided that I was going to relax and know that my child may be squealing out of excitement at all the airplanes and that was just fine. I think we can learn a lot from children and how they see the world through fresh eyes. Many people need to have joy like young children.

- When going through security, look for a specific line that is designated for families traveling with small children. I've only seen this once, and it was at a peak time of travel, but it made getting through security less stressful.

- Gate check your stroller at the end of the jet way...they will bring it back to the jet way when you have landed. A stroller is handy for carrying all the carry on bags, as well as, allowing you to get from one gate to another much quicker than carrying your child.

- Give your child something to suck when taking off and landing. Whether that be a bottle, a paci, or a sippy cup. It helps their ears pop since they aren't old enough to pop their ears on their own. If they won't drink, try to have them copy some wide mouth silly faces. If your child does cry, just know it is not because they are bad, they are just uncomfortable.

- Ask before you go through security if your lap child needs their own boarding pass. For us, this has varied depending on different airports. We now just request one not matter what, it can't hurt to be over prepared.

- There are changing tables on the airplane bathrooms...but if you don't want to try to maneuver it, your seat works just as well. :)

- If you cannot bring your child's sippy cup of juice through security, don't buy juice. As soon as you board, ask the flight attendant for a can of juice. We've never been turned down. The flight attendants have always been more than willing to accommodate.

- We've traveled with a little boy, so a window seat has always been one of the best things for us. It seems as though watching all the activity going on at the airport is a great source of entertainment before take off.

- Try to purchase or have waiting as many of the necessities as you can. If going on an extended trip, I have just packed enough diapers to get us there with several spare and then purchase diapers once we are there. It saves on packing space. I've done this with formula and food as well. If you are renting a car, ask the rental car agency if they have car seats available to rent.

You can check your car seat, but if you would rather not deal with it, that may be an option. As we've gone to visit family, even great grandparents, we've asked them to try to borrow a pack and play for us. It really saves on another bulky item you have to maneuver. Check to see if you can rent a crib from a hotel or resort if you are not staying with family.

- Pack your own pack and play sheets or crib sheets. We have found, that our child sleeps better when he has something that smells like home. Now that he is older, his blanket does the trick, but as a baby, sleeping on his own sheets really helped.

I've listed some of the tips I have from traveling. Leave a comment and share yours. I know we will be traveling this holiday season, and I'm always looking for some more "tricks" to make traveling with a child easier.