- Drinks. Bring along favorites in a sippy cup, drink-box, or bottle. You may even want to pack these in a soft lunchbox cooler.
- Infant pain reliever in case of ear pain or other discomfort. (But don’t try anything new; make sure it’s something your baby has tolerated well already.)
- Lots of new toys, or old favorites that have been hidden for a few weeks. Avoid noisy toys that will annoy fellow passengers. Great travel toys include:
- Crayons and a small pad or sticky notes
- Stickers and sticker books (Sticker books have the advantage here; their stickers are reusable if stuck on their specially surfaced pages, whereas a sticker placed on paper is there for good — which is fine, too, but a sticker book prolongs the activity.)
- Building toys like Legos TM or Duplos TM
- Paperback books
- Puppets
- Tiny plastic animals, cars, or dolls
- Playing cards (Go Fish or other games that feature interesting cards)
- Tape or CD player with kid music or books on tape
- Bib
- Extra pacifiers, or your baby’s lovey, special blanket, or toy
- A book, magazine, or activity for you when baby is sleeping or playing, should you be lucky enough for that to occur!
- A small medical kit with bandages
- Wet wipes for diaper changes and cleaning baby’s hands and face
- Empty plastic bags for soiled diapers
- If your baby uses a bottle, bring several. It’s usually easier to take along premeasured powdered formula and small bottles of water for mixing.
- A complete change of clothes for baby and an extra shirt for you (spitup and spills happen).
- Toothbrush and toothpaste for unexpected layovers.
- If you're traveling as two adults with two children, divide up the children’s supplies into two separate bags in case your seats are separated on the airplane.
- Consider packing toys in a small child’s backpack for any child old enough to carry one.
- A small belt-bag (fanny pack) is handy for tickets, ID, and cash. Wear it on the front of your body, not the back.
- Test your bag in advance to be sure it’s not too heavy!
