Travel Tips

Traveling can be particularly challenging with a child who has dietary restrictions, or if you have dietary restrictions yourself.  As many of you know we recently took a trip to New York to see a pediatric food allergist for Major.  I was VERY nervous about how to navigate the air travel with his level of sensitivity to dairy so I did A LOT of research.  Some of it I found to be very useful and other things that I did were not necessary.

When traveling with a baby who has sensitivities to foods:

         1. Bring your own food and drinks on the plane; according to TSA you can bring a “reasonable” amount of liquids for your young child or baby.  I brought a few sealed boxes of coconut milk for Major, and a straw cup full of coconut milk and it was no problem.  They put it in this strange machine to test it, but it was no big deal.  I also brought a soft-sided cooler with enough meals for Major for about 3 days (overkill I know) and two sandwiches for me, just in case we got delayed.  The food was no problem, we put it through the x ray and nobody even looked at it.  If you are an adult traveling and have dietary restrictions I would highly recommend bringing your own cooler of food! 

         2. Buy your child their own seat and bring your stroller and car seat.  We had 4 adults traveling with us, so bringing all of these things was no problem.  If your child has a skin sensitivity and are around the age of 2 or younger, I would highly recommend bringing a car seat.  It is a way to prevent them from touching things on the plane that may be cross contaminated with various allergens.  I also wiped down EVERYTHING that I could touch or Major could touch.  This way when we were in flight there would be no slip-ups.  I said to bring a stroller with you too… why would this be necessary?  In the airport, Major wanted to get down and crawl SO BADLY.  I was able to use the stroller to stroll him around so that he wasn’t as upset.  Another thing that you could use in lieu of a stroller is a baby carrier/wrap to wear your child.  I brought both and I much preferred the stroller.  You definitely don’t need both!! 

Eating out/finding food in a new place:

When staying in a hotel, I found it to be incredibly helpful to get a hotel with a kitchenette.  This way I could go to the grocery store and cook all of Major’s food for him so I knew there would be no risk of cross contamination.  If a hotel room with a kitchenette is unavailable/cost prohibitive most hotels have mini refrigerators that you can request (usually for a small fee).  The same goes for microwaves at some hotels.  It is best to talk to the reservations agent and ask them how they can accommodate a food allergic guest!  Usually if you explain the situation to them they are more than happy to accommodate you in whatever way possible.  I explained our situation to the reservations agent and it got us upgraded to a 2-bedroom suite with a kitchen in it!  Whenever we went out of the hotel and would be possibly gone for a mealtime, I carried a meal for Major in one of these. 

As I am breastfeeding Major still, I have to eat as though I have a severe allergy to dairy as well.  I have found that when eating out (as we did almost every meal on the trip) if at all possible, I call the restaurant in advance and speak to either a manager or a chef (sometimes even both) and explain my dietary restrictions to them and ask them if this is something they can accommodate.  I usually read a menu on my phone and ask them about specific dishes that seem to be dairy free.  If this were not possible, like if we walked in off of the street, I would ask the host or hostess if they could accommodate a dairy allergy.  I found that if I was up front with my dietary restrictions people are more than happy to help me out! 

I really hope that someone can use these suggestions to make their travel a little bit easier!  Safe travels!