Seeking Travel Advice for a Pregnant Mom with a Toddler

We are a military family and always traveling. I found that the easiest thing to do is ck the carseat when you get there. I use an umbrella stroller when traveling too, it's light wieght and compact and you can have the flight attendant hold it for you when you get on the plane. If you really want your child to have somekind of support in the seat, try using a booster seat on the plane. It gives them a little height, usually has cup holders, and it's a lot less bulky than having the carseat. (Plus everyone around you, including yourself, has more room).
Another thing that I do....I get a small backpack that they can fill w/ toys,papers and crayons that they want. While they are being pushed in the stroller I just hook it on there and it's so easy. When they get out of the stroller the backpack goes on. (My daughter loves it...she sees everyone else w/ their luggage so it makes her feel like a "big kid")

You can buy a travel bag for the carseat that has wheels. They are about $30 at Babies R Us.

I would recommend taking the car seat on board with you for safety reasons and because its something you can strap your two-year old into and she'll stay put :-)

I've made a few trips pregnant (domestic and international) with our big Britax toddler seat. It happened to fit perfectly into our umbrella stroller's seat (Maclaren), so around the airport even it was car seat into stroller, toddler into car seat and viola! The car seat was a really tight fit and our daughter not too boisterous so we didn't do anything special to strap the car seat into the stroller. I just held the top of it by hand. When alone, I would take the whole sha-bang down to the airplane door, have the stroller gate checked and get an attendant to help carry the seat in. It helps to be one of the first people onto the plane so you're not knocking anyone in the head :-)

Good Luck!

Hi L.,

When my boys were little, we used to travel with them all the time. We always got our two-year-old his own seat for safety and comfort even though he could have sat on our laps. That was just not a fun or safe option for any of us. We had a backpack that was designed to fit the huge comvertible carseat. We got it at Babies R US for about $25. It made for a very large, awkward load on our backs but it did make it much easier to carry along with the diaper baga and all the other baby equipment.

We also had a Combi stroller (Savvy Z is the model, I think) that was perfect for travel. It was lightweight, easy to fit in the overhead compartment (even though the gate agents always tried to stop us from doing so, we insisted. narrow enough to fit down the aisle and the front wheels could lock in place so the swivel wheels were not always trying to wander in an out of each row that we passed by.

These two pieces of equipment made traveling by plane SOOO much easier for us! Good luck! Call me if you need any other travel advice. I was in the travel industry for 17 years so I used to fly all the time with the boys.

M.
www.GoodHealthMadeSimple.com

Hi L.!
Look at www.sensationalbeginnings.com or www.onestepahead.com. At One Step Ahead there is The Pac Back #11798, and a car/booster seat carry bag with wheels #12340. When ever we have traveled, we have covered and carried on the car seat, put it on a cart with our luggage, and had our toddler in a light weight stroller. To make it even easier, you could even rent a car seat when you get to your destination. Car rentals and other rental places rent them, then you would not have to drag it on the airplane. Sensational Beginnings has a Car Seat Travel Bag with Wheels and it also has a shoulder strap #T3216X. I hope this helps.

E.

When we have traveled in the past we didn't take the car seat on board. We checked it. You can buy a car seat bag to put it in and check it with your luggage.

As well, the damzel in distress mode works well too ... and to get around the airport find the guys that drive you around ... your toddler will have fun and you will have a much easier time ... just keep some singles on hand to tip the guy. When I traveled with my son people saw the full hands n such and pitched in with my bags n things while getting on/off the plane and offered to situate his car seat ... it was quite nice and helpful. GOOD LUCK

If it were me, I would not try to lug a car seat around an airport. Your 2 year old will want out of it half of the time anyway, and then you are stuck chasing a 2 year old with a car seat to boot.
I always rent one with the rental car for about $8/day. Alternatively, if you are travelling somewhere where you have friends, you could have them pick you up a $40 or $50 car seat at Target just for the trip.

I worked for an airline for 10 years! My advice would be to check it! Your two year old can sit in a seat with out a carseat. They will bag the car seat and check it for you. It's a lot easier for you and your two year old will like sitting in a big girl/boy seat.

K.

Well, you know that officially, you do not have to put your child in a carseat on the plane so, you could check it with your baggage. But in my experience (I have two children 3 and 8) when we fly, my children traditionally do better in their carseat for the extended time on the plane, because they are used to sitting in their carseat. As far as getting through the airport with the child and the seat, I always take a light weight stroller. I place the child in the stroller and I hook the carseat to the back of the stroller by snapping the shoulder straps around the bars on the back of the stroller. This works really well as long as your child is sitting in the stroller, because the weight is balanced.