Last year, I boldly set out and traveled by air with my then 12 week baby girl. I pulled together my thoughts on traveling alone in a blog here.
The next time my daughter traveled by plane, we were with a large group and I had many adult hands to help. At six months old, she was becoming a champion traveling companion. We took another trip, just the two of us, when she was about nine months old. The same advice that I posted earlier still continued to hold true.
Fast forward to toddlerhood. Boy, oh boy, was this traveling experience different than any in her infant days. Most of the advice I gave about security and luggage is still spot on. But no longer was she content to be held for hours while we flew. Oh no, she was miserable, wanting nothing more than to get down and walk.
For sure, she wasn’t the most well behaved child, in fact someone probably later told a story about a screaming child on their flight. I tried my best - we read a lot of books and played with some small toys. Still, all of that got old quickly for her - after all, the world is so much more interesting to her right now than sitting on moms lap for four hours.
If there was one thing that I learned this time around, it’s this. If you’re going to nurse and are on Southwest (or any of the choose your own seat carriers) nurse from the start. That really does send people right on by (you might end up with an extra seat) and those that it doesn’t deter are going to be fine with you nursing. I didn’t do this on one leg of the trip and ended up sitting next to a young man. Boy, oh boy, his face sure did turn red when he realized what I was doing, even though I was using a Hooter Hider!
So, no, it wasn’t easy traveling alone with a toddler. It’s not something that I will look forward to in the future, but I know that it will be done again. Having family who live many states away makes it inevitable. Thankfully, most passengers around me were fairly sympathetic and I didn’t get too many dirty looks.
JennyLou
Gosh can I ever relate. At 18 months old, my DS has taken 10 flights and has really become a seasoned traveler. But his last flight, at 16 months, was way trickier. We had a portable DVD player. Oh, and of those 10 flights, only 2 have been with others so I feel your pain about traveling with the little one. It’s never easy.
What I do like to do (we almost always fly SW as well) is befriend the other parents in the preboard section and create a “baby section” on the plane in the front — we become allies in the not so easy tasking of flying.
Okay, that’s about it. Our next flight is scheduled for XMAS. Sigh. Not looking forward to that.