This post originally titled 5 Easy and Simple Baby Snacks for Travel was originally published in 2017 and has been completely updated in November 2022.
Are you getting ready to fly with a baby? Nervous about how it’ll go and all you have to plan? Freaking out a little bit?
I totally understand! Flying can be stressful enough, right? Now add in a baby and it’s just that much more to think about, plan, and pack, including food.
If your little one has already started eating ‘solid’ food and you’re looking for some great snack ideas for them on your flight, I’ve got you covered!
Now, I’ll be honest, none of these are crazy, never heard of items. They are all things you probably already have at home. And if not you can make them or purchase them easily at your local store.
In this post, we will cover some of the basic snacks for babies that will work well on a flight.
I love to travel and when I had my little one that didn’t change….but the process did, well, sort of. Mostly it’s just adding more stuff to your packing list. More clothes, more toiletries, and more snacks.
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The Best Travel Snacks For Baby
Side note – Helping your baby pop their ears :
Bare with me here, but are you worried about your little ones’ ears? The pressure when you take off and land?
It can be hard enough for us as adults to clear our ears. At least we can chew gum or purposely pop our ears.
Our little ones can’t do that.
All these options below will work great for take-off and landings.
The act of swallowing is what helps pop the ears so giving your baby/toddler something to drink or eat will help.
So, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get started:
Milk (Breast milk, formula, or regular)
I say, have it premade.
I not only had some formula premeasured into my formula holder/dispenser but I also had my water premeasured into the bottles.
This way, when it was time, it was easier for the milk to be ready.
Messing around with measuring the powder, and pouring the right amount of water, is not worth the trouble.
If you bring breast or regular milk, you shouldn’t have any problems.
Again, though, if you can have it premeasured then that’ll be one less thing you will have to worry about.
And in case you’re wondering, we didn’t have any problems getting through security with what we had (in 2017).
We did get pulled off to the side at one security checkpoint. They wiped down one of the bags and briefly looked through it but they never confiscated anything.
As long as we told them the water was for the baby it wasn’t a problem.
Frozen fruit
I know this one may sound weird but if your little one is teething this one will come in as a lifesaver.
I personally love this mesh teething feeder.
It’s small and simple to use. You do need to make sure the fruit is in small enough chunks to fit into the mesh container but other than that, you just stick the fruit in, screw on the top and you’re ready to go.
Of course, it works for non-frozen fruits too – actually, this mesh container is what helped get my little guy to start eating bananas! I know, what baby doesn’t like bananas 🙂
Having frozen fruit can also help work as ice packs for your milk and other snacks.
Homemade Cheerios
Inspired by a post I saw titled Ghetto Cheerios.
Now, don’t let the name fool you or scare you away!!!
I have been making these for my little guy since I found the recipe and he loves them.
As she states, they don’t really taste like Cheerios but if you are like me and would rather have something homemade for your little one than processed, or you like to bake/cook, then these are awesome and easy.
This recipe has items you already have at home, like oatmeal, or will be easy to find in the store.
And of course, using store-bought Cheerios will work great too, especially if your little one already loves them.
Pouches
We were preparing for a trip to the Philippines where we weren’t sure if we’d be able to have vegetables my little guys was used to while we were there.
I started doing some research and saw these pouches (previously I was making all of his baby food so I hadn’t been paying attention to premade foods in the store).
I started him on them a week or so before leaving and they worked great.
Although I’ll be honest he still wasn’t too thrilled with them during the trip.
Since then though, they’ve become a staple in the house. Even now, since he’s starting to get ‘picky’, he’ll eat his vegetables with no fuss if they come in the pouch!
I had planned on getting reusable pouches before the trip but long story short, that fell through so the store-bought pouches worked great.
I also found these great pouch toppers for the pouches. The toppers have a lid that will close the pouch in case they didn’t finish it so it can be saved for later. They are also very soft and will help protect their mouths from the rough spout of the pouch.
So, for me the idea of having plenty of good, healthy, and easy snacks available on a flight is three-fold.
One is being able to have something for your little one to drink or eat during take-off and landing to help with the ears.
Two, a full or at least not hungry baby is a happier baby.
And three, if all else fails it could be used as a good distraction from a possible unhappy baby.
For some other great options, especially for a road trip, head over to The Real Housewives of Minnesota’s Easy Road Trip Snacks for Kids!
What do you use for snacks for your baby during travel? We’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Please just leave them in the comment section below 🙂
Happy Travels!!!!!
