Traveling by plane and train with a small child. Useful tips

Going on a trip with a small child in their arms, many par­ents are afraid of the prob­lems that they may encounter on the road. Is it worth tak­ing a stroller with you? If yes, where should I leave it? Should my child bring their own dish­es? What should I do if my child gets sick on the road? The type of trans­port cho­sen for the trip large­ly depends on the answers to these and oth­er sim­i­lar ques­tions.

So, if you are trav­el­ing on an air­plane with a small child. In prin­ci­ple, you can take a child with you on a plane at any age, start­ing from a few months. Anoth­er ques­tion is how impor­tant this trip is and whether it is pos­si­ble to do with­out it. Air trav­el is a phys­i­cal and psy­cho­log­i­cal bur­den for the baby. Sud­den pres­sure drops, noise and vibra­tion from the motors can cause dis­com­fort to the child. And the younger the child, the hard­er it is for him to cope with this dis­com­fort.

If cir­cum­stances per­mit, it is bet­ter to start air trav­el with the baby from about a year old, when the child can already walk with his moth­er by the hand. At this time, he is not as help­less as a new­born, but not as hyper­ac­tive as a two- or three-year-old child.

Dif­fer­ent air­lines treat baby strollers dif­fer­ent­ly. Depend­ing on the size or weight, the stroller is clas­si­fied as both bag­gage, for which you need to pay sep­a­rate­ly, and as hand bag­gage, which does not require addi­tion­al pay­ment. In order not to get into trou­ble, it is bet­ter to find out from the air­line in advance how things are with the trans­porta­tion of prams.

What might you and your child need dur­ing a flight? It all depends on the age of the child. If your baby has dia­pers, then be sure to take a few pieces to the salon, prefer­ably with a mar­gin. You will also need an extra set of clothes in case the dia­per leaks. If your child is already pot­ty trained, you can bring him along as well. Often a child in an unfa­mil­iar envi­ron­ment can­not go to the toi­let nor­mal­ly, so a favorite pot­ty in this sit­u­a­tion will help him relax. You can also take along trav­el pot­ty. it Con­ve­nient for walk­ing and trav­el­ingthat won’t take up much space in your lug­gage. If you want this baby hygiene item to take up the min­i­mum amount of space, you can even pur­chase inflat­able pot­ty. It can be eas­i­ly inflat­ed even by mouth, with­out spe­cial devices. Many par­ents also use a nor­mal air­plane toi­let, hold­ing their baby over the toi­let.

Be sure to take a first aid kit with basic med­i­cines with you to the salon. Wound med­i­cines, antipyret­ics, painkillers, includ­ing col­ic med­i­cines, aller­gy med­i­cines. Take your child’s indi­vid­ual med­i­cines with you.

Nutri­tion for the child. It is allowed to take baby purees and juices of small vol­ume on board the air­craft. If the child is big enough, of course, you can give him the same food that is offered on the plane. But in a new envi­ron­ment, the baby can be capri­cious, so it is bet­ter that the food is loved and famil­iar to him. Also, don’t for­get to bring dry and wet wipes with you. The child can spill, get dirty with food or some­thing else.

If you are at home use a sling, then on the plane it will be very use­ful to you. The baby can sleep in it, and if you are breast­feed­ing, it is very con­ve­nient for the baby to feed in a sling.

When fly­ing, you need to take water or can­dy with you. After take­off, it is bet­ter to imme­di­ate­ly give the child a drink so that the ears “decom­pose”. Lol­lipops for old­er chil­dren also help them to tol­er­ate ear plugs more eas­i­ly. If your child uses a paci­fi­er, be sure to take it with you on the flight. This will help the baby calm down or even fall asleep. A few of your child’s favorite toys will also help calm them down. Qui­et games, col­or­ing, puz­zles will help the old­er child to spend time.

If you are going to trav­el by train, then in many respects the rec­om­men­da­tions remain the same as for air trav­el. But there are oth­er ques­tions as well. For exam­ple, which tick­et is bet­ter to take: in a com­part­ment or a reserved seat. It all depends on your child and trav­el time. If your child is small and sleeps almost all the time, or the trav­el time coin­cides with the child’s nor­mal sleep peri­od, a coupe is best suit­ed. The com­part­ment is qui­et and calm, no one will dis­turb the child’s sleep. If you do not have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to take a tick­et in a com­part­ment, try to make the baby’s stay on the train as com­fort­able as pos­si­ble. Take with you spe­cial are­na designed for trains, in it you can safe­ly leave the baby and go about your busi­ness. Old­er chil­dren may find the com­part­ment too cramped and bor­ing when they are awake, so they are much more inter­est­ed in the reserved seat.

Chil­dren are much more active than adults and on the train they can be dead­ly bored. In the train, every­thing is dif­fer­ent from the usu­al rou­tine of the child’s day, so the baby may lose his appetite, spoil his mood. There­fore, take house­hold items famil­iar to the child with you on a trip: favorite cup, plate and spoon. Try fol­low­ing your baby’s usu­al rit­u­als, such as wash­ing before bed, a sto­ry, or a lul­la­by. Also bring your favorite toy with which the child falls asleep.

Any trip is stress­ful for chil­dren. In an unfa­mil­iar envi­ron­ment, they feel con­fused and inse­cure. There­fore, only par­ents can help their child, because when the rel­a­tives of the baby are con­fi­dent and calm, then the child him­self is less ner­vous. Then the jour­ney will not be stress­ful for the child, but a fun adven­ture.