Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
sphynx920
member
Traveling with a 18 month old
sphynx920
member
I know this has been talked about before... so I am sorry for the repeat.
In June, DH, DS, and I will be traveling from Illinois to Washington (state). We will be flying both directions, renting a car and hotels, etc...
My question is, for those who have done this... How did you do it? What did you bring? How did you keep your sanity?
Please, any advice will help put my mind at ease.
TIA
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Re: Traveling with a 18 month old
It will help concise advice if you can answer:
Are you visiting friends/family that may have access to stuff for you or are you doing a vaca/work trip with noone on the other end?
How long a trip?
We recently took a trip to WDW and previously had taken DS on a long driving trip.
We went ahead and got our DS a seat on the plane (just worked for us), so he was in his car seat and he slept the whole flight, both ways. Ours usually sleeps in a car seat so this worked very well for us.
You can also check your carseat if you don't want to get a seat on the plane. Most rental companies will provide you with a carseat for a fee, and if you do that you may want to bring a carseat cover for comfort/sanitation reasons. They sell them on amazon.
You'll also want an light weight/umbrella type stroller, which you can check right before you get on.
We also brought some new to him toys and books for the plane, but didn't end up using them. They were handy later on in the hotel, though.
We took lots of snacks and some gerber packs of food - mini meatballs etc. Those were handy even though he usually ate off our plate. We put those in our checked bags in platic baggies.
We bought more disposable stuff than we normally use every day, the most important of which were disposable plastic place mats that stick to tables, disposable bibs. These were so helpful in restaurants.
The most important thign to bring is an adjusted expectation of what your trip will be b/c traveling with toddlers can be fun, but it's just totally different chasing your kid around vs. traveling with the two of you (obviously). It's just good to try and wrap your head around this early on. If this is vacation, just realize that your LO will need to stick to his schedule if you are going to keep him happy and that may mean you go home early or go to the hotel for naps during the day etc.
We just got back from a trip to Florida.
Since we needed a car seat for our rental car and we bought DD a seat we decided to take the car seat on the plane. OMG what a mistake. We have the Britax Boulevard and it was way too big for the seat. DD had absolutely no room for her legs/feet. She was squished in that damn seat. My Mom was with us so she switched seats with the guy sitting in front of DD because she was constantly pushing on his seat.
So, if you decided to take car seat on plane, you might want to make sure you don't run into this issue! We checked the car seat on the way home and DD did wonderfully sitting on my lap and in her own seat.
Obviously, as mentioned above, bring snacks and toys on the plane. Our DD loved the sticker books I brought and she also spent time on iPad.
During our entire vacation, most of my anxiety was around our DD being totally off schedule. She was so happy and behaved great, but it was my own stress about her staying up later and napping at random times. My family kept telling me "get over it, you're on vacation".
We stayed at a family house and rented a crib. DD has always been a great sleeper and has always slept in a crib. Ugh, not on this vacation. She could not deal with the fact that we were 3 feet from her in a bed. So, I did what I said I would never do....brought her in the bed with us. Not gonna lie, that was tough. I was constantly waking up to her moving or snoring or farting or coughing. Not sure what you're sleeping arrangements will be, but just be prepared if things don't go as planned!
Call ahead to the hotel and ask about a crib and a refrigerator for the room. Go to a grocery store for essentials when you land.
We are only going to be gone for a 4 day weekend, but will have to stay in a hotel. We don't have family there, just friends.
I didn't know hotels offered crib options. I was just planning on checking his travel pack and play.