Top Tips for Flying with a Baby and Toddler

In this post are my top tips for surviving on a plane (crawling baby and toddler edition). We recently returned from Samoa which was our first overseas trip as a family of four.

While our destination wasn't too far away, we had to catch two planes (Wellington to Auckland, Auckland to Apia), which was about 5 hours flying time in total - so it also wasn't exactly short either (the whole travel day from leaving home to arriving at our hotel took about 11 hours).

For my post on flying with a younger baby, head here.

First up, here is what I packed in each of their carry-on bags. (Not pictured is also their favourite stuffed animal toy). I share below what were the biggest hits and where to get them from.

Top Tips for Flying with a Baby and Toddler

❤ You can never have too many snacks! My 3 year old particularly loved her new pink snack box ($5 from Temu) filled with a variety of choices (popcorn, muesli bar, chips, fruit, biscuits, raisins etc).

❤ Have something prepared for take-off and landing. As a treat my girl got a lollipop and the baby had a snack and sip of his water bottle, plus he had his dummy/pacifier.

❤ Pre-download their favourite shows on Netflix and Disney apps on an iPad/phone to watch offline on the plane. (Especially for domestic flights where there's no entertainment).

❤ You can buy an airplane phone holder ($3 from Temu) that attaches to the back of the seat and it can even rotate side to side.

❤ Have all the baby toys together in a large ziplock bag to pull out and hand one at a time as needed.

❤ Buy some new fun activities for your toddler to do such as a colouring book, painting with water book, Magic Ink book, puffy stickers etc. The ones I got were from Kmart.

❤ Have something new for the flight home too!

❤ Both of them loved the fidget pack I got ($6 from Kmart).

❤ The suction spinner toys for my 8-month old were also a hit with him ($6 from Temu).

❤ Pre-flight let them run/crawl as much as possible to help get out any excess energy.

❤ If they need a nap on the plane be sure to pack their favourite comfort toy/snuggly or sleep association things they may need.

❤ Bring a spare change of clothes for them and also for yourself.

❤ Tag team and take turns with your partner, especially with the baby (or whichever one is the biggest handful!).

❤ When the tough gets going, remember the flight won’t last forever and you’ll be in your holiday destination soon as your reward - it’ll all be worth it in the end.

❤ If you’re flying Air New Zealand they are so accomodating, especially with little ones. They have kids headphones for their screens and a good selection of movies and TV shows (think Moana, Frozen, Peppa Pig, Bluey etc) and the kids meals were great too (remember to select that when booking your flight). There was enough food to share with my 8-month old too (who's a really good eater).

❤ Ask if there's a spare row available - Air NZ have always let us nab it up which is great to have more room for them to move around and play, and you can spread your things out a bit more. You just have to be back in your original seats for take-off and landing.

As a little background, my nearly three-year old girl is a well-seasoned traveller and has been on over 20 flights before, so she was a great little traveller as usual and absolutely loves being on planes, especially now that she got her own seat, meal and TV screen.

Whereas this was my 8-month old boy's first flights. He's also crawling, loves to stand and hates sitting still even for a minute. So as expected he was a total handful, especially on the way there, but it was a whole new experience for him so fair enough. After nearly two weeks in Samoa and finally getting the taste for travel life, he was a whole lot more chilled out for the flights home. :)

Below are a few more photos from our flights and then at our destination! Coming soon will be a blog post all about our family holiday to Samoa, including where to stay and where not to stay...