Plane Rides/ Plan Rides and Snacks for 2 Yr. Old with Dairy Allergy

One time, when I was on a long flight to Thailand, I saw the mother of a two year old do something I thought was very creative. She took a paper cup, and put a small hole through the bottom of the cup, then she attached a straw to a thin disposable glove. The straw went through the cup, and the glove tucked down into the cup. When she blew on the end of the straw, the glove would pop out of the cup. her little boy laughed about this for the longest time...he just didn't tire of seeing the glove pop out!

Hi L.,
I feel your pain on the allergy, My daughter has a few of them as well. We pack alot of snacks for a plane ride.
My daughter loves the Craisins, it doesn't matter what flavor she will eat the small bag in a day if I let her.
Pretzels, Gold fish, Trail mix. I know that sunflowers market have these fruit leathers ( like fruit strips but less sugar) by there checkstand. My daughter loves these flat earth chips and they are veggie chip and i believe there some with fruit flavors.

As for fun activities, we went and got some color wonder packages. They come with 6 markers and a coloring nook and the markers only work in those books. We went and got a portable dvd player and packed a couple of movies for her. Then we had her pack 4 of her favorite books ( her choice so she can feel she is part of the process)

I would pack extra clothes if he is potty trained, my daughter had to go potty and we were getting ready to land with in the 10 minutes and the stewardess would not let her go, she did good and held it but never know.

We went to sports authority and got these toddler sports bottles and filled them up with juices (in our case milk)so she had something to drink at all times. I think we were only allowed to bring 4, and if they have an issue let them know its for toddler with tons of allergies and these are what he can drink. they should leave you alone .
I hope this helps and have a wonderful trip.

My almost 3-year-old, daughter is allergic to egg and dairy. Her favorite snacks are fruit, the Just Fruit freeze dried fruit snacks, fruit leathers, Nature's Choice fruit bars, Enjoy Life cocoa loco bars, raisins, Sunbutter on crackers, dry cereal and pretzels. She also loves soy yogurt, but that would be hard to pack. She did well on a 4 hour flight with a hand-held DVD player. She had never used one before, so it was a special treat and we got a couple of new movies. We took her car seat and that was a big help. She is comfortable in her car seat and knows that she needs to stay seated in it when we are in the car, so we hoped that would translate to the plane and it did. We walked around a few times, but she understood that she was supposed to stay in her seat most of the time. Small toys, new books and coloring books also helped us pass the time. Good luck and have a wonderful trip!

First off just relax and know that everyone will survive. I travel with two toddlers by myself and am always worried what everyone else is thinking. Do your best and don't worry about anyone else. Here are my suggestions: wrap the toys as presents. The kids always love opening them. Bring a few new toys they have not seen. The dollar bins at Target always work well for this. Uno makes a kids version that works well teaching colors and numbers. My 2 year old starts with 3 cards and my almost 4 year old plays with 5 cards. They feel important playing a "real" game and it is small to pack. If you are not bringing a carseat on the plane I suggest thinking about a pillow or something to make sleeping easier. My kids can never get comfortable on planes. The longer they sleep the better! As for snacks raisins work well. Annie's makes some dairy free crackers that my daughter used to like. Also a few suckers for take off and landing to help their ears. You can find sugar free ones if that is a concern. Good luck and enjoy your trip.

Look in the health food or Organic food section of your local grocery store. There you will find TONS of healthy snacks to choose from that are dairy free. I am vegan so I live in the organic section because it is the easiest place to find dairy-free, easy snacks. "Just Fruit" has a great selection of freeze-dried fruits and veggies as well that my daughter LOVES. Freeze-dried fruits have a lot less sugar than dehydrated fruits which just might be a plus on a long plane ride. They also have freese-dried veggies as well.

Plane rides alone tend to make kids pretty sleepy...he will experience some jet lag so just make sure that if he wants to sleep on the plane, you give him the opportunity to do so. I've found that whenever I've travelled with my, also very active daughter, also 2 yrs old, she does extremely well in her car seat, you could also try sitting in the front row of the plane where there is more "leg-room" giving him a small area to play in front of your seats. You can also ask the flight attendant if it is okay for you to walk your child to the bathroom and back for some exercise once an hour or so. As long as you are with him, and there is no loitering or running freely, you should be fine.

Also, if you do decide to take a cooler with an ice pack you might also consider taking a doctors note explaining that your son has a food allergy. Some airports are a lot more strict than others and it would ensure that you could get through with your needed items.

Good luck and l please let us know what worked and what didn't!!

The best thing I've found is to bring snacks they don't usually get. We eat really healthy normally but when we fly I let it all go out the window. I figure one day won't really hurt them and they behave so good! I'm not sure how this will work with your dairy allergy. But their favorite is the Pringle chips snack packs. It takes them awhile to go through them. I also do the 100 calorie snack packs. They have alot of different ones. My two girls get really excited about the "treats" especially since they don't get them normally. I also bring more filling food, PB and Jelly sandwiches.

A while back, I broke down and bought a portable DVD player. We only use it during long trips so once again it's a treat. It's great and worth every penny!

Good luck, hope you have a great vacation

For the plane, one of the greatest things is to get a mini-dvd player and a couple of videos. I have travelled with my son with and without one. With is MUCH better. Your child can carry his machine a little backpack and take it out after takeoff. We went to Belize with it and it was a lifesaver....

I just took my 2 year old daughter and 13 month old son to Hawaii. We flew direct from Denver on the way down, and stopped in LA with a layover on the way back. We SURVIVED!!

My question at the time was about the time change - 4 hours behind is a lot. Both kids acclimated pretty fast to the evening change (they went to bed between 7:30 and 8:00), but my 2 year old was up really early the first two days. I put her in the bathtub while brother and dad slept and when brother woke up, we went outside to see the sunrise. Just try to do things at the normal time - if you eat breakfast here at 8:00, then eat there at 8:00. It was harder for them to adjust back to Colorado time when we got back than it was to adjust to Hawaii time.

Now getting there...It was a long plane ride, and I have to say I LOVED the looks everyone gave us as we got on the plane (jerks...). Anyway, we packed Color Wonder coloring books and markers so my daughter did not color on the seats, window... She read books, did a puzzle and colored a picture for the pilot. We took a DVD player and she watched a movie when she began getting tired and took a great nap. We had 4 seats but my son sat on my lap most of the time, so she was able to choose between 2 seats and that kept her active.

About 3/4 of the way there, they were both antsy so we did laps around the plane (I assume yours will be a large plane with seats in the middle). I did not allow them to run and they had to walk quietly in the middle of the aisle.

Snacks are tough. Can he have peanut butter? Celery with peanut butter, raisins, pretzels, saltine crackers, animal crackers (do those have dairy?) would all be easy to tote.

We have been to 3 different islands in Hawaii and at each airport there is a long haul from the gate to the rental car or pickup area. Just one more thing to think about...

Have fun and don't fret - all will go well!

We love stickers and sticker books on plane rides. Magnadoodles are also fun. Matchbox cars. Maybe one or two little people/animals. We like to get a couple of new, small, cheap toys before a big trip. Kids seem to be more interested if it's not the same toys they are used to playing with.

Snacks - I have never dealt with a dairy allergy, so I am not 100% that these are dairy-free...but here are a few ideas....

fruit leather (pure fruit, fruit roll-ups)
apples (our son loves eating whole apples)
carrot sticks
teddy grahams
goldfish
homemade oatmeal cookies
raisins/dried cranberries
individual fruit cups (peaches, applesauce, etc)
mandarin oranges (easy to pack and peel)
beef jerky (my son started eating it at 2.5 and loves it)
hard boiled egg
chex mix
cereal mix (make your own w/favorite dry cereal and rasins)
banana chips

Good luck! Enjoy your trip!

Hi - I also have a dairy (and egg) alergic child. She is just about to turn one so her snack choices are more limited but we did just discover that she loves dehydrated fruit...they make the little toddler sized pieces of dehydrated apples, strawberries, raspberries, etc... THis might appeal to your child as it looks more "snacky" and not so much like actual fruit. Also, my older son (not dairy allergic but usually I try to feed evryone the same thing)loves hummus on whole wheat tortillas...either rolled or folded in half and cut into triangles. What about soy yogurt? I feed my baby the adult version...usually plain or vanilla and she enjoys that quite a bit. I also make smoothies with soy yogurt, soy milk, a banana, and a few avacado slices. The kids even ask for the avacado so apparently it blends in quite nicely. Good luck and enjoy your trip!

I'll respond to the snack ideas since my son is allergic, too, and I always feel like I'm struggling! -

Sliced deli meat, or barbequed pork - it's easy to pack in small amounts for a quick snack that's filling.

Snap peas - you open it, they pull them out and eat them- my son has loved this one lately!

You can take a small cooler with small ice pack with you on the plane. I've done it four times recently without hassle from security. The one time I was questioned about the need for this, I explained what it was for and that I can't trust food at the airport/on the airplane, and they let us go through easily.

Good luck and have fun!

We usually take something like an etch a sketch or magna doodle and a ball for in the airport to play soccer in a quiet area. This last time we got a kids pack and even though it was for school kids, our 2.5 yo played with it for the entire 4 hour flight minus snack and nap time. We also take binoculars to look out the window with. For snacks, I take Ritz peanut butter crackers (don't know about dairy on that) or the Gerber Graduates snack foods. The latest favorite is apple and strawberry, I think. They have a wide variety of foods. None of my kids care for the ones with pineapple even though they like fresh pineapple. As far at the time change goes, I usually feed a forth meal after dinner to get them to sleep longer. Probably you'd need that anyway with such a long day. We just flew West and the first morning I just told the kids it wasn't time to get up yet. I did nurse the baby, but put them all back to bed. It worked pretty well since their tummies were so full. We've been on a normal schedule since. Hope this helps some. Have fun in Hawaii!

When i flew to hawaii I noticed a little one totally entranced by a portable DVD player. It seemed like a wonderful way to handle the problem so I suggested it to my daughter when she flew to HI. She said it worked great and my granduaghter was very calm the whole trip. this may work for you, if you can purchase a DVD player.How I wish they had such things when my kids were little!