Travel with Children - What liquids can go in the diaper bag/carry on?

This is the first time I am travelling with my 20 month old son. Can I take sippy cups of water and milk on the flight? Does everything else have to be in the luggage (diaper cream, sunscreen).
Anything else I haven't thought of?

I am still looking through the forum to find ideas of what to keep him busy for 4 1/2 hours of awake time.
Thank you for your replies!

no worries, you'll do fine. just did 24+ hours flying with my infant and I survive to talk about it. got through security with diaper cream, sunscreen as they were the small tubes, but its a no-go on the water and should be fine on the milk. funny thing was when I unpacked the diaper bag after the trip, there were 2 bottles of water in the bottom of the bag that i forgot to remove and no problems. dvd player should keep him busy if you have a small portable one or laptop. also, he might just go to sleep on the plane, you never know. gluck!

Any liquids meant for a baby are exempt from the 100ml liquid limit imposed on other passengers. You are supposed to show it to them at security.

Pack the sunscreen in the suitcase. Only bring on board what you and your baby need for the flight. Keep it simple!

Bring a few brand new toys he's never seen along with some proven favorites. Give him the occasional "present", especially right before the plane leaves the gate, especially if he's a lap baby. It can be tricky to keep large toddlers to stay still, especially if they don't have their own place and you can't strap them into their familiar car seat.

When the aisles are clear, you can get up and walk around with him. Please don't force him to stay in his seat or on your lap the whole time. I've seen so much crying on airplanes just because a parent either doesn't want to get up or doesn't realize how much that can calm them down. Try to subject your fellow passengers to as little crying as possible.

Speaking of, it's not necessary to force him to drink on take-off and landing. Too many parents unnecessarily wake their babies to do this and cause them to cry. If you're concerned about his ears, visit the ped a few days prior to flying and make sure his ears are free of any infections or other problems. Healthy ears can handle pressurization changes.

Be sure to bring a good-quality baby carrier. He's far too big for any fiddly front packs (Bjorn, Snugli, etc.) but something more comfortable (wrap, ring sling, front/back carrier) should still fit. They're magic for calming wiggly toddlers on airplanes and essential when they have a meltdown in the middle of the airport and you need to get to your gate. Pop them in and away you go!

This is a rough age for travel so make sure both of you get a good nights' sleep. Ignore any tips to keep him up or otherwise mess with his schedule beforehand. The secret to easy flying with a toddler is to keep them happy. Relax a few rules (my anti-grazing was shelved when we flew) and keep him from getting too tired, thirsty and hungry while on the move and hopefully, keep those meltdowns at bay!

Bring all the liquids you want and pack them in a separate bag for the baby. If you get questioned about it, tell the TSO they are for the kid. If the TSO questions you further, tell them that you need to prepare in case of delays or that your child dehydrates easily. Tell them they are free to test the liquids by waving their magic strip of paper over them to make sure that your son's water is not a cleverly disguised explosive.

We traveled with twins at 20 months and, while it's not easy, we also survived to talk about it. Lots of books and fun toys. A little walking up and down the aisle. Most people will be charmed by him.

Mike

You can bring milk, water, and other necessary liquids for your infants. I've never tried bringing juice.

Be prepared to spend extra time in screening. I filled up empty baby bottles with water and then had some normal unopened bottled water. On one departure, the TSA screened it with their magic strips. On another, they chose to ignore it and just let it through.

I bagged the liquid containing bottles in their own (giant) ziploc bag to make things easier and also to avoid spills.

With my toddler, I twice had TSA agents make me empty a sealed juice container into a sippy cup. ("Otherwise how do I know that the juice is for him and not you?") But otherwise no problems.

we have brought bottles of water, milk, and juice. just be prepared to spend a few more minutes at security. at EWR, those liquids go into this black box where it is examined by an unknown being using secret technology.

With my toddler, I twice had TSA agents make me empty a sealed juice container into a sippy cup. ("Otherwise how do I know that the juice is for him and not you?") But otherwise no problems.

I'm active in the TS&S forum and have seen and heard a lot of stupid things, but that's gotta rank in the Top 5.

Mike

I had water that was already in the bottles for my daughter taken off me at security once at EWR, i had the milk powder seperately ready as needed, they were helpful with arranging with VS for water to be supplied but wouldn't let me take the water that i had boiled and then had cooled down through :/

Take everything for your child/children with you in your carry-on. While its asking for an argument if you take sunscreen as a necessary liquid for yourself, it shouldn't be as much when you have a little kid (even TSOs usually know kids are more likely to get burned). Same with diaper cream, which is even more obvious.

I had water that was already in the bottles for my daughter taken off me at security once at EWR, i had the milk powder seperately ready as needed, they were helpful with arranging with VS for water to be supplied but wouldn't let me take the water that i had boiled and then had cooled down through :/

They were wrong.

To echo some of the other posters, I would say just about anything that could reasonably be for the kid for the length of flight that you're taking. This includes water, milk, juice, yogurt, applesauce, etc. We just got back from 13 hours in transit from Chile to SNA, and no one really batted an eyelash at the liquids we carried through at SCL or DFW. (I also kept most of it in a Hello Kitty lunchbox.)

Some places, though, don't have the machinery to easily test liquids in sealed containers (i.e. SNA), so when we went through there with tetrapak milk and sealed applesauce containers on the way out, the TSA did a full explosives check on every one of our carryons before letting us through. They were very nice about it, but it probably took an extra 15 minutes. It didn't matter for us, since we were at the airport 2 hours early, but if you have a short international-to-domestic connection and have to re-clear security, I could conceive of it being an issue.

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They were wrong.

I agree, i never had any problems anywhere else, although at STN they made me open and taste the baby porridge which was most annoying as it was sealed :( as for the taste well words pass me