There are a few things I would do differently for our next flight with Prim (especially if it’s a long one). Here’s what I would bring with me on the plane:

• ONE carry-on bag
  • As I mentioned before, between the three of us we carried on a diaper bag, two backpacks, two suitcases, and a stroller. This was partially because we were moving to our destination and so maxed out on free checked luggage, but we ended up lugging around a bunch of stuff that went unused during the flights. When you’re already trying to wrangle a child on an airplane or in an airport, anything else you have to lug around feels about ten times its actual size — try to downsize. I bought this diaper bag before our flight and I can’t recommend it enough — I love the size, the fact that it can hang from the stroller, the built-in changing pad, and that it’s a backpack.
• One small bottle with sippy top
  • I packed four large bottles for our flights — 2 with breastmilk and 2 with water. Not only did this lead to additional screening time in security, I ended up not using 3 of the 4 bottles and so was lugging around 3 extra liquid-filled glass bottles (read: heavy and bulky). Since P was still breastfeeding she preferred to nurse rather than take a bottle of breastmilk, and the extra bottle of water was just overkill. Next time around I’ll pack a small empty bottle and will buy a water prior to boarding the plane to fill it as needed.
• Snacks
  • I brought a lot of snacks for P on our flight, but next time around I’ll make sure to pack snacks that are time-consuming to eat (like the heel of a crusty loaf of bread. Or like a sh**load of caramels. kidding guys.)
• Extra diapers (especially high-absorbency ones)
  • Yeah, I figured out Prim had peed through her diaper right after she had finally calmed down in the carseat at one point. Always fun to have that internal conversation of, “Should I change her? Should I just leave it? Am I the worst mom in the entire world? PROBABLY.”
• Wipes
  • One or two small packs (10-20 wipes) is fine, no need to pack the gigantic pack.
• Changing pad
  • Soooo necessary in the airport and on the plane. Bonus points if your diaper bag has one built in!
• Change of clothes
• One lightweight blanket + one heavier weight blanket 
• New toys
  • Make sure they’re small and don’t have a lot of pieces to fall and get lost
• New-ish books
  • Prim is particular about books, so I made sure to introduce new books to her in the two weeks before our flight to identify which ones she really liked, and packed those.
• The hope-you-don’t-have-to-use-them essentials
  • Baby Motrin/Advil, Baby Tylenol, Children’s Benadryl, Nosefrieda + saline, Melatonin, antibacterial spray, thermometer, Tide pen
• Kindle with kid shows
  • All of our no-TV rules went out the window for the flight (and I’m sure that future flights will continue to be a “do whatever you want, just don’t scream” zone).  Which, the Kindle is awesome for this — they have tons of content you can download for free if you have  a Prime membership, and the Kindle itself is so cheap compared to other tablets!.
• Carseat
  • Again, I’m not sure whether or not I’d really want to bring this with me onto the plane next time around, given how bulky and hard to transport it is + the small amount of time Prim spent in it last time. But it is nice having this on hand when you arrive at your final destination (because how do you get home otherwise??)
• Portable stroller
  • Our stroller folds up small enough that you don’t have to gate-check it (it fits in an overhead bin). This is great because I didn’t have to worry about it getting wrecked by careless airline personnel and it was available as soon as I off the plane. The downside is it’s one more thing to lug around.

If you have any suggestions for must-haves for flying with baby, feel free to leave a comment!