Before I embarked upon my first trip to India as a parent to an almost 1 year old, I was one of those people who wondered why kids would not stop crying on the aircraft.
Now of course I knew that I would be on the other side of that equation. Before I embarked upon my trip, I had a couple of other friends in the same boat travel to India and was really looking for them to give me tips on what I had to do or be prepared for on my trip. That unfortunately never happened. So this post is my attempt at cautioning people about to embark on long flights with kids who are in the baby/toddler stage.
Everyone did tell me that during take off, the change in air pressure hurts kids ears and we have to keep them sucking on something or eating something and that usually helps. Also Benadryl/Tylenol are helpful.
The part that people did not tell me was to travel light with a kid. That is such a paradox though because one wants to pack all the possible things that they can and can carry in hand with the fear of what if I don't have this specific item in the flight or the airport. The reality of the matter is, you can pack certain things and take them for your child, but then you should really not carry anything else. You kids stuff, your kid and you. That is all that should come onto the plane. All the extra things that come in as your hand baggage should really be dispensed with. For the plane ride to India just carry roughly 2 days worth of stuff in hand. Beyond that you can deal with things. As usual, I over packed and had so much trouble managing all the stuff between my husband and me.
I pushed as much water, and food I could into a diaper bag and added 2 attachments to the diaper bag including 2 icepacks. Thus I had an unwieldy diaper bag, a stroller, a kid and a harness.
Separately, we had a backpack and a roll on. We were allowed one more roll on but thankfully I listened to my husband and did not bring the second roll on. In hindsight, we could have probably done without the one roll on too.
One thing about food is that you can get baby food on the airplane and so you really need to have food to deal with the non airplane part of your journey. You do need to have enough diapers to last 2 days. Also formula, medicine like Tylenol, teething medicine if needed and some toy that is not a sound making toy.
In the flight, I tried to let me kid play around on the floor for a bit but that did not go down too well since she started going about and pulling other people's stuff.
Other things you absolutely need are a couple of pairs of clothes, some baby cream and your own baby blankets. They do give you blankets on the plane but wrapping your kid in your own baby blanket gives them that familiar warm feeling.
Ofcourse having some electronic device to keep them engaged with videos of either themselves or whatever they like watching is an absolute must. Unfortunately in this digital age the lack of these devices is unacceptable.
The safest foods to give that one does not have to carry are bananas, bread/croissants/yoghurt. All these things are available in airports and in the airplane (in addition to the baby food).
You can carry some cereal and Gerber fruit/vegetable/grain packs. That way you can keep things light.
Make sure you keep a few spoons but all other utensils are easily available everywhere.
Keep a couple of different types of wipes. Also carry some saline solution. That is about all that one really needs.
Now of course I knew that I would be on the other side of that equation. Before I embarked upon my trip, I had a couple of other friends in the same boat travel to India and was really looking for them to give me tips on what I had to do or be prepared for on my trip. That unfortunately never happened. So this post is my attempt at cautioning people about to embark on long flights with kids who are in the baby/toddler stage.
Everyone did tell me that during take off, the change in air pressure hurts kids ears and we have to keep them sucking on something or eating something and that usually helps. Also Benadryl/Tylenol are helpful.
The part that people did not tell me was to travel light with a kid. That is such a paradox though because one wants to pack all the possible things that they can and can carry in hand with the fear of what if I don't have this specific item in the flight or the airport. The reality of the matter is, you can pack certain things and take them for your child, but then you should really not carry anything else. You kids stuff, your kid and you. That is all that should come onto the plane. All the extra things that come in as your hand baggage should really be dispensed with. For the plane ride to India just carry roughly 2 days worth of stuff in hand. Beyond that you can deal with things. As usual, I over packed and had so much trouble managing all the stuff between my husband and me.
I pushed as much water, and food I could into a diaper bag and added 2 attachments to the diaper bag including 2 icepacks. Thus I had an unwieldy diaper bag, a stroller, a kid and a harness.
Separately, we had a backpack and a roll on. We were allowed one more roll on but thankfully I listened to my husband and did not bring the second roll on. In hindsight, we could have probably done without the one roll on too.
One thing about food is that you can get baby food on the airplane and so you really need to have food to deal with the non airplane part of your journey. You do need to have enough diapers to last 2 days. Also formula, medicine like Tylenol, teething medicine if needed and some toy that is not a sound making toy.
In the flight, I tried to let me kid play around on the floor for a bit but that did not go down too well since she started going about and pulling other people's stuff.
Other things you absolutely need are a couple of pairs of clothes, some baby cream and your own baby blankets. They do give you blankets on the plane but wrapping your kid in your own baby blanket gives them that familiar warm feeling.
Ofcourse having some electronic device to keep them engaged with videos of either themselves or whatever they like watching is an absolute must. Unfortunately in this digital age the lack of these devices is unacceptable.
The safest foods to give that one does not have to carry are bananas, bread/croissants/yoghurt. All these things are available in airports and in the airplane (in addition to the baby food).
You can carry some cereal and Gerber fruit/vegetable/grain packs. That way you can keep things light.
Make sure you keep a few spoons but all other utensils are easily available everywhere.
Keep a couple of different types of wipes. Also carry some saline solution. That is about all that one really needs.
