Toddler Seat Belt for Airplanes | The CARES® Airplane Safety Harness for Kids

There are many ways we keep our kids safe everyday. We have child-proofed our home, bought the best car seats, cribs and strollers we can possibly buy. Yet, when it comes to flying on an airplane, we seem to forget to provide similar safety measures for our kids. Often having babies sit on our lap or relying on the airplane seat belts to do a good job of keeping our toddlers and preschoolers secure.

As a Mom to two children (3 years old and 10 months old), and having flown with my kids three times in the past five months alone, I know that your child can easily get out of that airplane seat belt and that the plane can suddenly jerk and drop as it goes through turbulence. Whether it is safety first or sanity first, these two products are must haves for baby registries or before you book your next flight.
Now, if you aren’t totally convinced you need these for safety, consider this. Do you want to have to hold your baby for 3 hours straight? Do you want your toddler to make easy work of the airplane seat belt and be bouncing around the plane while you tell him to stop?
Me neither.
What is great about the (affiliate link) CARES® Child Airplane Travel Harness is that it keeps the kids safe from airplane turbulance, but has the added bonus of keeping them secure and not bothering the passengers in front of you (loud voices or crying not included.) The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), the National Transportation Safety Board, the American Academy of Pediatrics and even airlines urge parents to bring along certified child restraints for their children when they fly. Probably for the reason of safety vs. keeping your kids behaved, but whatever works, right?
The CARES® Airplane Safety Harness that my son wore on our recent flight is designed for kids 22-44 lbs who have their own seat (which is required for kids 2 and older.) It is light and comes with its own pouch, which made it easy to stash in our diaper bag. It is safe for all parts of the flight (ground, take off, during the flight, landing, taxi-ing) and can be used on an U.S. registered aircraft flying domestically or internationally. CARES is also certified by the aviation authorities in at least eight other countries, from Canada to Singapore.
As you can see, he was cool with it because it is similar to the five point harness in his car seat.

I’m cool with it because it is the only product that is approved by the FAA. Some other products to consider for babies is the (affiliate link) Baby B’Air Toddler Flight Vest. While infants are the safest in a car seat, if you do travel with them on your lap, this will keep them safe in flight. You just can’t use it for take off or landing.
So between the Flight Vest for my baby and the CARES Airplane Safety Harness for my preschooler, we are prepared for wherever our next flight takes us! Just remember to pack lots of snacks, juice, diapers, books and toys (maybe even the electronic kind, like an iPad) as well as to dress everyone in layers, to keep cool or warm depending on the plane, to keep everyone happy en route.
What other tips or products do you recommend for flying?
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Disclosure: I received a complimentary CARES Airplane Safety Harness.