International Packing for Littles

International travel with a toddler is no walk in the park. Most parents would never dream of being stuck on a tin can with a 2 year old for 10 hours, let alone wondering a metropolitan city like Paris with a stroller in tow. I on the other hand have dreamt of this moment as soon as I became a mom. The idea of wondering the streets with my little half French baby and French hubs just made my heart flutter. But I did have to overcome the hurdle of the dreaded flight. So this post is dedicated to packing, prepping and enduring an international flight with your toddler.

Packing for a trip like this can be complicated. We went in mid April, so the weather was moderately warm in the afternoon, but generally started off cool in the morning. We planned to be in France for 2 weeks (never enough time, but I’ll take what I can get) so we would need a fair amount of clothes and layers to make it through the trip until we found a laundry machine. We moved locations several times the first week then planned to be in one Airbnb in the Marais for the majority of the second week, where the laundry machine came into play. So with that said, here is how I went about the pack job. I had read a blog years ago that had mentioned packing around two outfits for every day you’re traveling for your little, and to make your life easier, pack an entire outfit head-to-toe in a ziplock bag. This way, when you’re looking to get dressed in a rush, you could just grab a bag and not have to riffle around your suitcase to find your toddler an outfit. This also helps dramatically when your husband always asks for outfit input for LBB. I can just toss him an outfit bag without fuss and be on our merry way with the day. These Target ziplock bags I’ve used countless times for packing outfits, I just keep them folded up in our suitcases so I can continue to reuse them for each trip. They also come in handy if you have any wet or super soiled clothes when you’re on the go. The other win is that these bags give a bit of a compression effect so it’s a space saver in my mind. I’ve found that I’ve stuck with this 2 outfit rule when packing. We usually come home with a few unused outfits, so I know I have room for improvement, but I always like to air on the side of caution in the toddler department.

The other must have for all packing projects are packing cubes. I was turned onto these magical traveling drawers in my 20’s and I’m not sure how I survived without them previously. Grab a color for every family member so you can quickly identify where your goods are, and you have yourself a well oiled and organized suitcase machine. I find this helps tremendously when you are changing locations frequently as well, it doesn’t make the re-packing quite as overwhelming. Just keep your cubes clean and toss them back in your suitcase. We have a few different sets, but these Shacke Pak and these Yamiu’s have been our go to sets for years. I also recently added these mesh bags (I have mytagalongs but looks like they don’t make them any longer) to the mix for socks and undies, it’s been a win. I’ve also used the larger mesh bags for LBB’s sleep gear, like sleep sacks, lovey’s, and pack-n-play sheets. Easy to see and snag quickly out of the suitcase. Last but not least… Consider what cube goes where. If you plan to check some bags and carry some on, ensure you have at minimum a change of clothes for all family members readily available. Also anything critical that you can’t live without if a suitcase gets lost or delayed, keep it in the carry on. We’ve been stuck in Morroco without swimsuits and flip flops before because of a suitcase delay. Needless to say, I always keep that in mind now when packing. For us, we keep all sleep related items in the carryon for LBB. Slumberpod, sleep sacks, sheets, PJ’s etc. Just helps ease our minds that we’ll for sure have them upon arrival.

Once I feel good about what outfits we all need, I move onto the wipes, dypes & cheeks. Since we have used Dyper bamboo diapers that we know keep LBB’s bum happy and rash free, we are the crazies that pack diapers for the trip. My theory is, whatever diapers we use, we gain in space for returning gifts and souvenirs. I’m not sure I’d recommend this to everyone, most folks pack just enough to get through the flight and the first few days max and then reload at your destination. But even though we generally travel to first world countries where I know I have access to everything I would need, I just gravitate towards keeping with me what I know works. So I grab a pack of water wipes, whoopsie wipes, and enough sleeves of diapers to last for the trip. We are at the 6 diapers a day phase so that helps me calculate.

So now, the flight you ask?! How to tackle those dreaded 10 hours. Step one…keep your toddler entertained. This is no small feat. Although there is novelty in air travel for littles, there is quite a bit of hurry up and wait. So be prepared with captivating toys and or activities to distract from TSA or customs wait times. LBB’s godparents got her a Cath Kidston Backpack (similar to the one linked) that we have used since she was born as her travel toy stash. It’s the perfect size for LBB to wear around herself, and it’s surprisingly deceiving as to how much you can stuff in there. I’m always on the hunt for tiny novel toys to add to this stash that will keep her attention. Anything from windup butterflies, to slinkes, small jelly cats and shakers have made the cut. I went to my local toy store before this trip to really step up my game and found so many fun things that LBB loved while in flight. I kept everything new in the packaging to make the ‘newness’ take longer to saver and she could work on opening it first before actually enjoying the toy. I’ve also heard of some parents wrapping up toys for flights. I frankly didn’t have the time or energy to do that prior to the trip, but if that works for your little, more power to you. I also highly recommend heading to the target dollar section before a trip. There are loads of fun little activities that are easy to travel with for under 3 bucks. Mess free markers and coloring books, sticker books, and even some small toys that are easy to stash in a backpack or carry on. I used these clear zip bags to keep all toys and books organized in my carry on. They are amazing. I’ve also stuck just a few diapers and changing pad with water wipes in one as well so you can easily grab it in flight. Trust me. It’s a lifesaver.

But of course, once the backpack toy sparkle has faded, and you’re 5 hours deep into a 10 hour flight with a toddler who should have been asleep 3 hours ago… You turn to the ipad or inflight entertainment. I bought these children’s headphones before our trip and tested LBB wearing them several times at home before we took off. Although she wore them at home and enjoyed it, once push came to shove…she could care less about the sound and ripped them off within two minutes of wearing them. She was just captivated by colorful moving characters on a screen. So who am I to judge?! Do you girl! I did pre-download a whole season of Peppa Pig, her fav telly time choice, just incase the inflight wifi was down. I’d highly recommend that move before you go. But low and behold, she watched the Lorax on the inflight entertainment… 3 times, sans headphones… P.S. I usually have rules around screen time at home. But all rules go out the window while traveling.

Another major component of traveling with a little is food. The magical word SNACK goes along way. You never want to be caught red handed with no food on hand when traveling. When hunger strikes, it usually won’t wait for you to rummage around before it gets cranky. I used the same clear ziplog bag and stuffed it with some LBB classics that I know will make her happy. And also filled two Mushie Cups up, one with blueberries and the other with crackers. Both where gobbled up within the first 10 minutes of being in the air. A go to for us for take off and landing are Yogi’s Organic Yogurt Melts. We try and distribute them one at a time to elongate the eating process and help her swallow or chew on something to alleviate the pressure build up on the ears. It seems to do the trick.

Plane sleep… we all want it, but how to get it?! Aymeric and I have done this flight from SEA to CDG so many times we have the routine down like clockwork. Dinner service comes around…watch a movie…take your melatonin. BOOM. Zonk out for the remainder of the flight until you are awoken to the wafting smells of plane coffee and orange juice. But… with a toddler in tow, we were setting ourselves up for a night of no sleep. We invested in the Stokke Jetpack Bedbox prior to this trip because I just couldn’t see another way for LBB to sleep while on such a long haul flight. It is a handy little roller bag that also doubles as a ride along suitcase. There isn’t much room in it for anything else other than the mechanism and pads that turn the plane seat into a bed, but just enough to slide an ipad, sticker books and a few lovey’s to keep handy. Unfortunately, because LBB always sleeps in a slumberpod, and prior to this trip was small enough to fall asleep in an Ergobaby while inflight, sleeping just wasn’t in the cards for this kid. After several hours of struggling to get her to fall asleep, she finally acquiesced and crashed on Aymeric’s shoulder after some rigerious rocking sessions between the WC wall and coach. It was the only dark area onboard that somewhat simulated the blackout tent experience. She slept for a whopping 2 hours. So needless to say, she was overtired when we landed. But… what I will say is that it helped with jet lag. She was so exhausted that she slept through the night on the first night of arrival. Miracle I tell you. My other recommendation for travel sleep is to ask your pediatrician about the use of melatonin for your little. Ours gave the ok, and said we could use 1mg. Although we used it on the plane to no avail, it worked when we landed just fine. We used it for the first few nights of sleep and on the plane to help get ease the transition into a new time zone. We also used it when we got home for a few days to help readjust to our usual routine. Just remember to only use it for a time that is intended to be 6 hours of sleep or more. So essentially, only at night, and not nap time.

Some things I learned from this experience. Have low expectations. Even though we followed our usual bedtime routine in flight; change diaper, put on PJ’s, sleep sack, book and snuggle into ‘bed’, it just didn’t do the trick. Expect the unexpected from your little on long haul flights. If they don’t sleep, do whatever you can with your partner to get as much sleep as you can so that you can manage meltdowns without being in tears yourself. If all else fails, just remember the flight is only one small portion of the trip. The adventure awaits on the other side!