Our son will be between 13 and 17 months on our big upcoming journey (which includes some long haul flights) and we wanted to make sure all of us are comfortable on the plane without spending a fortune.
We’ve flown with him quite a bit already but babies and toddlers change so much so quickly, so I also relied on the advice of 100+ other traveling moms, who I surveyed for this study. Here’s what they had to say about making sure you have a comfortable flight with your toddler!
Request a Baby Bassinet in the Bulkhead Row
If your child is still a young toddler (usually up until the 1-year-mark and a bit after), you can request to sit in the bulkhead row, which is the row at the front of the plane, or at the front of economy seating, that has a bit more leg room. In this row, the airline can set up a baby bassinet for you. You’ll usually have to call your airline ahead of time to make this request.
A baby bassinet on the plane is practical for many reasons. It allows you to be hands and arms-free for at least part of your flight, giving you a spot to put your lap baby down even if they aren’t using it to sleep. Otherwise, your arms can get awfully tired — believe me! I’ve held my son in my arms for many hours on flights while he slept! It’s not the end of the world but being able to put him down would be much more comfortable (for him and me!).
Dress Everyone for Success
Wear pants with pockets, and if not, take a fanny pack or light crossbody bag. You want to be as hands-free as possible (getting through the airport but still having easy access to your essentials). I use 1-2 carabiner hooks on my backpack (personal item) to hold different things.
one smart mom in this survey
Dressing correctly for the airplane is so important for a comfortable flight with your toddler. This means dressing yourself and your toddler appropriately, and remembering to bring at least one back up outfit (for everyone!).
For your toddler, the best possible airport and airplane outfit to put them in is a cotton, footed onesie (long sleeves and long pants) with tread on the bottom of the feet. And make sure that the closure is a zipper and not buttons or snaps. This is the easiest outfit for you to do diaper changes (the zipper makes for easy access) and for not losing items of clothing (no separates!).
I wrote a detailed article on the best airplane outfit for you and your baby which I encourage you to check out. Moms should dress as comfortable as possibly too while still feeling “put together” (for the sake of your own mental health — it’s important for you to feel good in the clothes you choose too!). A neutral athleisure look of leggings or loose pants, and a top that offers easy-access if you’re breastfeeding, as well as a warm cover-up or sweater, is perfect.
Keep Your Seat Area Clean and Organized
I’d say have your carry on really organized with snacks, toys and stuff you will need. I also brought a reusable shopping bag (not on purpose) but it came in handy at the end of the flight when our crap was everywhere and I just threw it all in the backpack and the bag and walked off the plane alive somehow
One traveling mom in this survey
More than one mom in my survey advised that you try your best to keep your seating area clean and organized. This will help preserve your sanity and be much more comfortable. To do this, you’ll have to keep a few things in mind before and during your flight:
- Don’t pack messy snacks like berries, or anything sticky. Pack dry snacks and keep them in snack catcher containers to limit the possibility of your toddler spilling them.
- Think about the items that you’ll need most frequently during your flight (diapers, wipes, pacifier, toys, etc.) and make sure they are easy to access in your diaper bag or carry-on and stow them under the seat in front of you.
- One mom suggested bringing a seat back organizer onboard to store and have easy access to your things throughout your flight. I concur that it’s a pain to constantly be digging under the seat in front of you for diaper bag items.
- Bring toy straps to attach your cups, bottles, toys, etc. to either the netting of the pocket in front of you, or to your own clothes — to prevent having to search for items constantly hitting the floor.
- Bring a reusable shopping bag. At the end of your flight when there is stuff all over the place, you can just shove everything into the bag and get off your flight (and then reorganize everything later).
- Dole out one activity to your toddler at a time. This will help you stay clean and organized but also help you keep your toddler entertained longer.
I attached every toy, cup, bottle and even my phone to a toy strap. On my first flight the back of the seat pocket had netting so I was able to attach them, on the second flight I wrapped them around a finger. Nothing hit the floor.
One traveling mom in this survey
Consider Bringing an Inflatable Toddler Cushion
There are inflatable toddler cushions (like a foot rest cube) that you can blow up on the plane and place in the foot space area in front of your toddler’s feet to make a bed for them. This allows your baby or toddler to lay completely flat in their seat and hopefully have a decent nap — out of your arms.
We’ve considered bringing one of these on our long haul flights for our son. Of course, you’ll need to either purchase their own seat for them, or hope that an extra seat is available, in order to use this option.
Get Them Their Own Seat, If Possible
One of the most important things you can do to have a more comfortable flight with your toddler is, of course, to buy them their own seat. Babies and toddlers fly free (or cheaply on international flights) until the age of 2, so it’s tempting to not buy them a seat.
Get them their own seat! I did a 14.5 hour flight (the baby having his own seat and took his car seat) and it was the best thing. I opted out of the bassinet since you lose the option to place your bags underneath the seat in front of you. I needed quick easy access to all our backpacks diaper bag etc. My carry on was stored in the overhead bin with extra diapers, wipes, snacks, outfit changes. I flew with a 3 month old and a 5 year old.
one mom in this survey
But if you purchase a seat for your bub, you’ll have a guaranteed space for them to make their own (not on your lap the entire flight). You can bring their car seat onboard, if they’re a fan of their car seat (my son is NOT, unfortunately). You can use an inflatable footrest bed or just have them sitting comfortably in the seat by themselves. Many, many moms in this survey suggested getting them their own seat if you can.
To be honest, we still haven’t bought my son his own seat on any of our flights. We’re taking advantage of the lap infant age as long as possible! And often, the flight hasn’t been full so we’ve had an empty seat next to us to use anyway.
Practice Your Airport Set Up
It’s important to think about your comfort while navigating the airport as well. A horrible airport experience could put you all in a bad mood and spill over into a horrible flight experience. So in the days before your flight, think about your airport time. Consider these questions:
- When going through the airport, how are you going to carry all your bags? Who is in charge of carrying what?
- Where will your toddler sit/be carried in while going through the airport?
- Can you carry/manage everything comfortably?
- What documents will you need and do you have easy access to them (pockets/fanny pack/etc.)?
- Will you have liquids or electronics in your diaper bag and/or carry-on bags and what is your plan at security?
- What activities do you have planned for your toddler while waiting at your gate?
If you envision the scenarios of checking in, carrying your bags through the airport, and going through security with your toddler before the day of travel, you’ll feel more prepared and comfortable with the real thing when it’s happening — and you’ll be better prepared to deal with any possible mishaps.
Practice carrying your bags and toddler in your living room and talk through the airport scenarios with your toddler and others who are traveling with you, even if it feels silly or like overkill! You’ll feel better.
Don’t Pre-Board
For the most comfortable flight possible, you want a toddler who is worn out and not bouncing off the walls with energy. One tactic for accomplishing this is quite simple: Don’t board the airplane early. Stay at the gate as long as possible.
This sounds counter-intuitive because you’ll have the privilege of boarding early when traveling with a toddler. But many moms in this survey suggested not using it. They advised staying at the gate as long as possible to tire your toddler out — instead of getting on the plane quickly and having an antsy toddler onboard in a small space for longer than necessary.
If your tickets are assigned, don’t preboard! Preboarding means way more time in the small confined plane than you want your active kiddo to be. Spend as much time running around as you can before boarding.
one mom in this survey
The ideal situation would be to split up when boarding, if you’re traveling with another adult. One adult boards first with most of the bags and sets up the seating area. The other adult stays behind with the toddler and tires them out, boarding at the last possible moment.
Ask For Help
For many moms, asking for help is hard. We don’t want to inconvenience anyone and we want to prove that we’ve thought of everything, that we are perfect, and that we don’t need help. But that’s not practical — many things are out of our control when traveling with babies and toddlers, even if we do the very best planning in the world.
So when you need something (a snack, a door opened, an extra hand), ask someone for help and most strangers will be very kind and willing. One mom suggested asking older women or other families to watch your bags if you need to go to the bathroom with your toddler. As one mom said simply in this survey:
Ask out for help.. don’t hesitate
Be Kind
Who is charge of your comfort while thousands of feet in the air if not your flight attendants? Be kind to your flight attendants (and gate attendants) from the moment you arrive… not only while traveling with toddlers, but especially when traveling with toddlers! And being kind to yourself is important for staying comfortable too! One mom in this survey suggested:
Learn the flight attendants name and be SUPER nice to them. This one named Brittany sat with my son while I would go to the bathroom alone on our 16 hour flight. Also be kind to yourself, remind yourself that you probably won’t see any of these people ever again, so the stress won’t help you stay calm. Also practice changing standing up with your toddler (pull ups are helpful) they don’t fit on the tables unless they are tiny.
Kindness for others around you and yourself is key. Positivity is key to your comfort when flying with a toddler! I also liked her suggestion of practicing diaper changing on a plane. Toddler diaper changing will probably best be done standing up on an airplane, if this is possible for you!
Mentally Prepare for the Worst
While it’s crucial to think positively, we also want to be realistic and mentally prepare ourselves for the worst possible scenarios. If you think through the worst that can happen, and then take a breath, and realize you’ll still live through it — you may find that you’re able to squash a lot of your anxiety.
Mentally prepare for it to be the worst time ever. If you aren’t mentally prepared, you’ll be sorry. If it ends up not being the worst thing ever, that’s a bonus. Also, I found going through security to be been one of the worst and most chaotic places to go through with my kids… try to just keep calm and go slow, go at your own pace, don’t worry about anyone behind you, and just be organized and know what is in each bag (such as electronics that need to be taken out).
one mother in this survey
I include this tip not to scare you or to say that it WILL be the worst, but just to show you that even if things are crazy and stressful — it’s not forever and you’ll get through it! Moms are the strongest!
Fly During Their Naps or Bedtime
Of course, we can’t talk about being comfortable on a flight without discussing plans for sleeping. It’s nearly impossible to perfectly time toddler naps, but do your best to TRY and plan to fly around their regular nap or bed times.
Keep your toddler awake and tire them out throughout your airport time and then plan to have them napping or sleeping once you’re in the air. One mom suggested:
Fly at night – red eye if possible so they sleep. Bring an iPad with downloaded shows (Cocomelon and Masha and the Bear are our go-to). Have baby drink their milk while take-off and landing. My son sucks on a lovie/bunny (kinda like a pacifier) which helps with their ears so they pop and soothes him as well.
one mom in this survey
Bring a Baby Carrier or Wrap
[Bring] a carrier, I have done this many times, and all intercontinental travels, the carrier is your best friend.
one mom in this survey
Some moms suggested baby wearing for ease and comfort (at the airport and on the airplane) and I 100% enthusiastically agree.
My son has always loved his Boba wrap and later his Lillebaby carrier and I can’t imagine flying without it now, even though he’s a bit bigger. I actually wrote an entire article about the rules and some tips for baby wearing in the airport and plane which you should check out if this seems like a good fit for you and your baby or toddler.
If you have a younger toddler, consider bringing a baby carrier if only to carry them onto the plane and have your arms free (because you won’t have your stroller while boarding the plane, obviously). One mom also said it was useful in this scenario too:
I put my baby in a front carrier when I had to go to the bathroom… Lol
One smart mom in this survey
This mom’s experience sounds so much like ours at the airport. Like I said, we also rely heavily on the carrier:
Till 4 months I was the fabric carrier the I tied around myself, but he got heavier and I needed more support for my back so I switched to the buckles carrier (I used the LilleBaby but there are other great brands). I carried my son around the airport in the carrier on my and he was quiet and content, fell asleep while I was in the passports line… easy! And then when he was awake and I wanted to let him out I unbuckled the top buckles but left the buckle that was around my waist still buckled so I could easily put him back in it. I flew alone with him (3 times, actually! At 4 months, 9 months and 13 months) so leaving the waist buckle on me made it a little easier, because I used the carrier to much throughout the flight.
Another smart mom in this survey
Plan to Be There Super Early
One huge enemy of comfort is RUSHING. You don’t want to be rushing through check-in and security lines or running to your gate with a toddler! Your toddler has many needs that have to be attended to (feeding! diapers! play!) and being on a tight schedule to catch a plane is a recipe for absolute meltdown disaster… or just missing your flight.
So plan to get to the airport extra early. I always try to get my family to the airport one hour before we usually would arrive. So for an international flight, we arrive 4 hours early.
This may seem insane, but it’s saved us once when the airline messed up our baby’s ticket and we were stuck at the check-in for THREE HOURS (I wish I were joking!) — We had one hour to get through security and to our gate, and we managed to do it!
Try to eat before you go as well, and to have snacks on hand not only for the toddler(s) but for the adults too. If you’re tight on time and lines are long at the airport shops, you may find yourself starving on the plane, which is not very comfortable at all…
Treat Yourself to a Drink (or whatever a treat is for you!)
Many moms in this survey, half-jokingly but not really, suggested getting yourself a glass of wine on the plane, because… you deserve it! I haven’t tried this yet but possibly on my next flight with my little buddy, I will order one!
Here’s cheers-ing to you, me, and all of us parents on our upcoming flights with our little ones! We got this 🙂 You can follow our adventures on Instagram and reach out to us there!
