Flying with a toddler can feel intimidating. After all, you’re sitting in a tiny metal tube thousands of feet in the air… with a small human who has very big feelings.
The good news? With the right preparation, flying with a toddler can actually go surprisingly smoothly.
After several flights with our 18-month-old (and thankfully very few meltdowns), these are the items that helped us the most.
Here’s a quick list of toddler airplane essentials that are included in this post:
- Ear pressure relief
- Favorite snacks
- New, exciting toys
- iPad (optional backup)
- Water Bottle
- Nap comfort items
Below is a more detailed breakdown of what has worked best for us.
1. Ear Pressure Relief
This was our biggest mistake during our first flight. We underestimated how badly we would need multiple options to help with ear popping.
I recommend bringing at least three different options to try during takeoff/landing to help with ear pressure (because plan A doesn’t always work).
- Bottle (milk or water) or breastfeeding
- Pacifier
- AND a pacifier clip to keep the pacifier from falling into the crack of the seat and disappearing forever. Not that that happened to us…
- Suckers
- Snacks that require chewing
- Our favorites: cereal puffs or a toddler-safe granola bar
- See below for my full list of snack recommendations
- Airplane ear plugs
- I personally haven’t used these yet, but I’ve heard they can be helpful
2. Snacks & Water Bottle
Snacks are a must-have on an airplane. It’s not only needed to help with toddler hunger, but it’s also a great way to keep little ones occupied for a period of time.
A snack organizers can be incredibly helpful for keeping everything easy to access during the flight.
Here’s a list of snacks that we loved on the airplane:
- Once Upon A Farm Fruit & Veggie Puffs – by far my toddler’s favorite
- Once Upon A Farm Tractor Wheels (a toddler-safe granola bar)
- Amara brand yogurt melts
- You can bulk buy these at Costco for a great price!
- Veggie Straws
- Belvita Crunchy Crackers
- Applesauce puree pouches
- Banana
- Cut into larger chunks with skin on to prevent browning
- Peanut butter sandwich
- Cut into smaller sizes to fit in the snack organizer
3. Airplane-Friendly Toys
The key here is to have some new toys that your toddler has never played with before. New toys feel extra exciting and can hold their attention much longer.
Here are some of our tried-and-true toys that kept our toddler entertained for the longest amount of time (and were small enough to fit in our diaper bag or carry-on):
- These sticker books!
- I cannot recommend these enough
- Each time we brought a new one out our daughter was entertained by it for 20-30 minutes
- The stickers are reusable and last a long time
- This busy book
- Another favorite that kept our daughter busy for a LONG time between all of the different pages
- Everything is Velcro so very reusable
- Mini Magna-Tiles
- The box they come in is tin so all magnets can stick to it for easy building on the tray table
- Water Wow!
- Mess free (the pen “paints” with water)
- 1-2 of your toddler’s favorite books
- Random household objects that are winners:
- Painter’s tape
- Keys
- Wallet with lots of cards inside – our daughter loved to take them out and put them back in
- Small photo album to look through with photos of family, past trips, etc.
4. Screen Time (Optional)
This is completely up to your personal preference, but having an iPad was a great backup tool for us if our daughter started getting restless.
If you don’t use screens at home and are worried about introducing a screen on the flight, let me give you some reassurance. I was worried that if we let her watch the iPad once, it would cascade into wanting it at home. But we used it for maybe 20-30 minutes each flight and she hasn’t asked for it since.
Before the flight we downloaded a few shows from Netflix, including:
- Ms. Rachel
- Peppa Pig
- Llama Llama
- Little Baby Bum
We paired the iPad with these toddler headphones from Amazon, which worked great.
5. Water Bottle
This one seems obvious, but deserves it’s own section because it’s surprisingly helpful on flights.
A water bottle is important because:
- Staying hydrated on a flight is key
- Drinking can help with relieve ear pressure during take off/landing
We love Dr. Brown’s straw cups because they’re non-spill and the cap can close over the straw when it’s not in use.
6. Nap Time Encouragement
Flights don’t always line up nicely with your toddler’s normal nap schedule. For some toddlers, it’s not easy to fall asleep if they aren’t in their own environment.
Bringing a few familiar things from home can help encourage a mid-flight nap. Consider bringing:
- Favorite stuffed animal
- Blanket/sleep sack
- Pacifier
- One of these airplane toddler sleep beds
Even if your toddler only naps for a short period of time, it can make a big difference in how the rest of the travel day goes.
Final Thoughts:
Traveling with a toddler can feel daunting, but it doesn’t have to be.
The key is to have lots of tools at your disposal, and a plan A, B, and C for just about anything.
Which, if we’re being honest, pretty much sums up toddler life in general. 🙂
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