International Travel W/ Toddler

I make several international flights a year with my 16 month old. So far her passport has been all I've needed to get her out of the country. However, I drove across the border into Canada one time and the customs lady asked for a letter from my husband. I did get a notorized letter from my husband that I carry with her passport after that because it's better to have and not need than need and not have. Of course nobody has asked for it. I can't find anything on the State Department website that mentions it. Maybe you'll have better luck. Go to www.travel.state.gov.

I think the most important thing is to travel at night when it's close to bedtime, frankly. Our son is 2 1/2 and has been to 6 countries, and we take road trips to visit family, but night travel is sooo much easier. Not only is the ticket often substantially cheaper, but he sleeps through much of the trip so I'm not jumping around trying to entertain him as much, AND Europe is AHEAD of our timezone, so sleeping at night could just be early morning their time; a short nap in the daytime instead of a "regular" nap (or skipping altogether, depending on how your child sleeps), and she could be ready for bedtime in the evening. Also, night flights usually have other passengers sleeping too, so there's less distraction. We put him in the stroller with his blanky and car so that we don't have to worry about him disappearing in a crowd, and he can be settling down. When we get to our gate, we'll feed him some dinner. I do agree that life is better if you bring the car seat on the plane-it is more comfortable and easier to sleep, but also you'll need it when you're hiring a car at your destination. They'll let you board in the first group so you can get settled in without the crowd, and right before take off, give her a sippy cup, pacifier, or those soft peppermints (she'll need to SUCK to keep her ears from popping). When you feel the cabin pressure level off, the ears won't be popping. I'd give a little packet of gummies to nibble on, read a book or whatever you do when putting your child to sleep, and "tuck her in". Maybe even pretend to sleep yourself a few minutes so she'll nod off. This works with my son because the little hum of the plane and slight vibration knocks him out. Have something already prepared for the landing, because the ears pop a lot longer than take off. Have little books, colors, stickers, or whatever entertains your child. Maybe even download her favorite music onto your ipod. I do suggest having more snacks and more diapers than needed because if you have to sit on the plane forever or some other inconvenience, which you can't predict, it's better to be prepared. While on the plane, drinks aren't that big an issue because the flight attendents are good at assisting you with that; they want happy babies as much or more than you do.

We took our 9 month old and 21 month old to Paris and things went well, Our Flight left late afternoon so I had my youngest one take an early nap and my oldest one no nap.
45 Minutes after we took of they were both asleep.
It was a bit challenging to wake them up and get to them to their strollers after we landed. With the time difference it was 3:00am for them.
On our was back I had plenty of snacks, coloring books for the oldest, stickers and an I pod full of music!!
Have a safe trip

I traveled to England in February with a 4 month old and a 20 month old. I did not have to dump out my son's sippy cup. They said that if it was for the kids, it was allowed. Maybe they were just being nice? Anyways, the best thing I found for the trip was a sticker book. You can get them at Toys R Us or even Walmart. The one I found had stickers of Dora, Diego, Backyardigans, and Blue's Clues. My son LOVED it. Not only did it keep him busy on the trip, but also on the long car drive after. I also found Colorforms to be very amusing for him. The DVD only kept him busy for about an hour! It wasn't too bad, though I'm not looking forward to doing it again anytime soon!
Good luck!

Hello C.,

You may want to call the airline to see what paperwork you need since you'll be traveling alone with her. take any meds you may need (even over the counter stuff) because they don't have the same there. also bring extra diapers and extra wipes. I usually put the wipes in a ziploc bag. and bring extra ziploc bags in case you have to bag something. extra snacks. when we fly with our kids I put on a medical ID bands w: parents names, phone numbers in the US and destination. flight numbers, etc. little toys and videos. Good luck and have lots of fun! ~C.~