2 Year Old Flying for the First Time

Hi Kimberly. I assume that your little girl likes to color with big crayons and look at age-appropriate books. These are good things to keep her occupied during the flight. I don't know how long this flight will be, but if it will be a long one, she may like to have a familiar pillow or blankie to cuddle. Dolls with removable items aren't a good idea. A soft rag doll is the best. If you are visiting relatives, bring along a photo book to remind her of the people she will be seeing. Good Luck.

My daughter was just about 2 when we flew to southern california for the first time, my best suggestion is to take things to keep your daughter occupied, and take juice or something for them to drink because during the take off and landing her ears might bother her and having her drink something will help with that. Hope you guys have a safe flight... Thanks J.

Don't give her sugar. :-) You don't want her hyper on the plane. But you do want her engaged on the plane. Make it an adventure. Buy her a "plane" outfit. Buy her a little suitcase with wheels that she can pull along filled with her toys. You want to have snacks but nothing messy and nothing sugary. Water is the best, just remember that those plane bathrooms are tiny! Also, you can preboard because she is under 5 years old. Definitely do that. You won't be able to take liquids through security. So pack light for your carry on stuff. Place all make up, gels, or liquids in your checked baggage.

I took my two year old to India and that is 32 hours flight.. a portable DVD definately was a big help and you can carry it .. and also I took some books so i read it to her... Sandieg is not that far so a DVD player is probably all she will use...

When I flew with my son when he was 18 months we didn't have our portable DVD player yet so we just took books - which didn't even get looked at very much. I would definately suggest the DVD player. My son was very excited about looking out the window so if you have a window seat that would probably be good too. That way if she starts to get fussy at all you can kind of redirect her to look at something neat out the window. We took a short flight as well up to Boise and on the way up my son wasn't sure what was going on - on way back you would've thought he owned the plane - he was very comfy!

Good luck and have fun!
~H.

Bring the portable DVD player, though bring a short DVD (Like a 30 min. episode of something) because you won't have a very long flight and you want to avoid having to deal with a temper tantrum when its time to put away the DVD player. As well, bring a few new toys and a few oldies but goodies. Before you take off give her a little bit of tylenol. This is because her ears are going to try to pop going up and coming back down but it will hurt and they don't tend to understand why it hurts. Its harder for young kids to have their ears pop because they can't understand all the ways to get them to pop. The tylenol will help lessen the pain and make it much easier for her to deal with it. As well, take an empty sippy cup with you through security and fill it up with something she likes to drink on the other side (or you can get her something with a straw on the other side). Have her drink during take-off and landing because it will also help her ears pop.
Those are the main things that should help. I've taken my now 19 month old son on 2 cross country round trips with flying all day and changing planes so I've become pretty good at this.
I wish you luck on your trip.