Traveling with a toddler

Hello everyone!!

I'm back after a while, I know... I know, but motherhood it's such an amazing experience - exhausting and no time for myself, full of love and an adventurous journey.

We just came back from El Salvador, we had an amazing time with family and friends. As you know Bobby is 20 months old now and he's getting at the infamous terrible two's stage.

Flighting with him before was super easy, I'll give him the breast during the take off and he'll be sleeping after a while and also while arriving I'd breastfeed him so his ears wouldn't get blocked. (That was my pediatrician's advice, you can use the bottle or a pacifier)

Well last time we had our flight a couple of months back he was really bad!! I mean really BAD! He was kicking the seat in front of us and not even that, he pulled the passenger's hair who was sitting in front of us. He ended calling the flight the attendant and then she told us " Can please control your kid" I was like b*#^% please he's just a baby!! What do you expect?

So this is what you expect:

*Tantrums

*Noise

*Playing

*More tantrums

*Crying

*Laughing

Usually in the planes, the spaces are so small and toddlers need to run and stretch, they need to play and have some entertainment toys.

This time I was prepared with a lot of options and it really worked for me.

I'm not a fan of the tablet and TV for my son, so I try to limit the usage but anyway we had to bring the tablet and download his favorites shows such as Pocoyo, Mickey Mouse Club, Elmo and of course his favorite jam: Baby Shark doo doo doo doooo.

I packed his favorites toys, including the annoying noisy ones. He loves cars so he played a lot with his cars,

stickers and coloring books are great, it kept him busy for at least an hour.

Books for story time, he loves reading books together.

He never says no to a snack and especially if are small treats that he needs to grab one by one with his hands.

Incredible but true, he played with a plastic cup for at least an hour. Small things do great things.

I'm against giving him medicine to make him sleepy but unfortunately this last time he got the flu and I had to give him tylenol for babies and so it helped him to fall asleep easily for 2 hours.

I was scared to death traveling alone with my toddler but thank goodness it was pretty easy!

Another mistake I used to do before when traveling was packing a lot of stuff that is not that necessary, you can leave behind. If you can pack one suitcase for you and baby it's a win!!

I usually pack my essentials like definitely a bunch of diapers, diaper rash cream, changing mat, wipes, teething medications as organic chamomile powder, lavender essential oil, a fresh outfit (in case of an accident) I usually pack 7 outfits and pajamas independently if we are staying 15 days or a month, I just keep repeating clothes. Also his favorite toys, tablet,1 or 2 books, snacks, first aid kit specially for him (baby meds), stroller of course for those walks at the airport and empty bottle of water that you can fill in the plane or airport.

Next time you travel with your toddler remember to bring things to keep him/her busy and be prepared for anything. Remember to keep a positive attitude all the time, because if you're nervous or scared your baby could feel the same way too.