The Art of Flying with Baby
I call it an art, because creative skill and imagination are definitely needed when flying with a baby or small child for any length of time. Whether it is a short flight or a long flight, traveling with an infant can be exhausting. Not only do you have to get through the duration of the flight, but you must also count the time it takes once you and your babe hit the road to the airport, parking, going through security, carrying luggage, checking in at gate, and so on and so forth. A 3-hour flight can easily turn into an 8-9 hour “adventure”!
I recently traveled to Miami, Florida to visit my aunts and cousins. My husband didn’t go with me because he couldn’t take time off of work, and we also just could not afford two round-trip tickets across the country. So, crazy as it may seem, I decided to endure it solo. I figured, how bad could it be? My 9 month old little girl (Skye) is a pretty even-keel, upbeat, little baby and doesn’t cry much unless there is a good reason. I thought ”I can do it!” Well, no matter how much I pep-talked myself into purchasing the ticket, the closer it got to the departing date the more nervous I got!
For this post, I gathered some ideas that I had read about before my trip, and came up with a few thoughts of my own to pass on to you, in case you will be travelling soon with your precious little cargo. Keep in mind, a few of the tips are not only for the Mom (or Dad) who is flying for the first time with a little one, but carrying out this venture ALONE!
THINGS TO BRING:
Baby carrier – This is a must on any trip. You may be at a relative's house or staying in a hotel room which has not been baby-proofed. Therefore you may end up holding your baby more than you usually do at home. And if you are not with your significant other, you definitely want to bring some type of carrier since you will be the baby taxi during your entire trip. Also, when visiting the zoo or sightseeing around town, babies eventually want to get out of their stroller and have a look around and a carrier will come in handy. I have a Baby Bjorn, which I love, and I made the mistake of buying a new carrier (one that could hold a heavier baby) a day before the trip, thinking that my baby would fit better in it since she was getting close to her top weight of 25 lbs in the Baby Bjorn. Well, the new carrier is great (Ergo), but I shouldn’t have taken a brand new carrier on the trip with me. I recommend purchasing your carrier at least a few weeks before you leave and practice using it, so by departure time, you AND the baby are familiar with it. Skye didn’t take to the new carrier right away, mainly because she is not facing out like she is used to in the Baby Bjorn. This carrier has the option of wearing her on my back, which I know she will love down the line, but since I was by myself and not used to using the carrier, there was no way I could get her on my back by myself to even see if that would be an option. It’s best to practice that with someone else beforehand so you can get the hang of it. The point is, get your carrier broken in so it’s comfortable for both you and your baby before you leave on your trip.
Food/Snacks – I brought water in a baby bottle, formula (unopened in the to-go bottles), organic yogurt melts and baby puffs. I had read to bring jar food too, but I could just imagine the mess it would make trying to feed her jar food on my lap. No thanks. My instinct was right, it just would have been too difficult with just me. I could have brought the food pouches and that would have worked quite well (only if your baby is at the point where they can eat it straight out of the pouch). The puffs and melts worked quite nicely, because I would break them into little pieces and dole them out one at a time. I stretched that activity out, capturing about a half hour of her attention! It’s recommended to be feeding your baby (breast/formula) when you take off and land so that the swallowing pops their ears, which hopefully, deters crying. So I ended up opening her formula right when we started rolling down the runway. I did the same thing when we started to descend,
and she seemed happy to eat, ignoring everything else while we landed. No crying! Whew!
Boppy – One thing I really missed on my trip and on the plane was my Boppy. I am still breastfeeding Skye and I have used the Boppy since day one. I had come across the travel Boppy on the internet, but I figured I wouldn’t really need it that bad and it was just another thing to carry. Well, it would have been really handy on the plane, trying to balance her without any pillow for six hours is extremely tiring on your arms and the Boppy would have cushioned her better. Then when I was at my Grandpa’s house, it would have been much nicer to have a Boppy during all my feedings, instead of a flat pillow that had seen better days!
Mini DVD player – I decided to go out and splurge on a DVD player because Skye loves watching the Baby Einstein’s DVDs. I don’t have her watch much on TV since she is so young, but I received a few as a gift and she ended up loving them. So when I put her in the swing, I turn on her Baby Einstein DVD and she gets excited, laughs, and eventually falls asleep! So I thought those would be perfect to occupy her on what was going to be a very long 6 hour flight. I just bought the basic Sony for about $90.00 and it ended being a godsend. I had her play with all of her toys individually first, gave her snacks, fed her formula, and as a last resort when she started getting fussy and tired 5 hours in, the last hour she zoned out watching the DVDs. Whew, crying diverted yet again!
Toys – I ended up reading that you should buy new toys for both the plane ride there and back. I ended up getting about 7 small, new toys and ended up using 5 on the plane ride there. Next time I will buy 10 new toys, 5 for each leg of the trip. I also ended up using the two extra “new” toys during my stay, so when I went to fly home they weren’t “new” to her anymore and it ended up being a problem. I will keep those 5 stashed in my bag for the ride home, because it’s worth it! It really does capture their attention when they are brand new toys, and not a week old! I didn’t buy loud toys since I didn’t want to disturb my neighbors and I ended getting some toy leashes for them which ended up being a godsend for both her toys and her pacifiers. You just attach a leash to the toy and when she all of a sudden drops or throws the toy, you don’t have to lean over and apologize to the guy typing his business proposal on his computer in front of you. Or try to bend over with baby on lap and try to get the pacifier off of the dirty floor. The leashes are a must. Just attach one leash to each toy and pacifier when you are packing your carryon bag.
Diapers, etc – A friend of mine had recommended I stash one diaper, a couple of wipes, and a disposable changing pad into a Ziploc bag, and to have about 4 of those for each plane ride. It was a good idea, because all I had to do when I needed to take Skye to the bathroom and change her diaper, is grab the Ziploc bag, change her, and then throw it all away. Easy. And I did use the changing table on the plane. If you don’t have a changing table, you can sit down onto the cover of the toilet seat and use your lap as the changing space. I didn’t find the changing table too small, but it might be a bit too cramped when she is an older baby.
Phone apps –
CHECKPOINTS:
Security – One thing I wasn’t prepared for was how hard it was going to be going through security with just me, the baby, the stroller, car seat, and a backpack. Up until this point my husband had been with me, but since he wasn’t flying with me, he had to leave me at the security gate. I miss the good ‘ol days when your significant other could carry your carryon and escort you to the gate, kiss you romantically goodbye, and wave goodbye as you back up to the runway. You still have to take off your shoes when you arrive at the security belt. Then if you are like me and will be taking your stroller and car seat, you must take the baby out of the car seat and carry her through with you. That wasn’t the hard part, the challenging part was getting all of those grey bins you must put your stuff in, while taking off your shoes and sweater, taking the car seat off of the stroller, breaking down the stroller while keeping an eye on baby, then taking baby out of car seat, putting the car seat on the conveyer belt along with your backpack, shoes, diaper bag, etc. All while everybody stares at you for taking so long, sweating and looking like a disheveled mess! There is NO graceful way to do this all! You have to just suck it up and know that this moment too shall pass! Then I had made the mistake of having both the water and formula in my bag, but since it was not put out in the open (in clear view for security), they must flag it and have it tested which takes a good 5 more minutes waiting. After that they asked if I could be searched, which at this point I didn’t even care anymore. I actually attempted a small joke and made the serious security woman hint at a smile by telling her that, her searching me was the closest thing I had had to a real massage since before I got pregnant! Meanwhile my 4 grey bins had been clogging up at the end of the security belt, and I was finally okay-ed, which meant I had to put it all back together again, with baby in my arms!!! You can’t just plop your baby down in the middle of the airport security floor with hundreds of people around, so I just had to start with the car seat, then stroller, etc, etc…Make sure you leave plenty of time for all of this to go down. For me it took about 20 extra minutes than normal, and check your humility at the security gate!
Gate checking – This is what you do when you want to take your car seat and stroller with you to your destination, but you don’t want to check it through baggage claim. You can stroll right up to the gate where you give them your ticket and then down the accordion tube and check it with a handler right before you step on to the plane. This can be extremely handy since you don’t have to carry the baby through the airport and they will have your stroller and car seat waiting for you the minute you step off the plane. They even make special bags that you can buy from most baby stores that are specifically for the purpose of gate checking. You don’t have to put them in bags, but I had read some horror stories of strollers being broken, scratched, and damaged in some way and car seats being soaked from rain at their destination points. So I bought both a bag for my stroller and for my car seat. Britax even makes one specifically to fit their car seats, which is what I ended up getting. I think it is a great idea to have the bags, but keep in mind, you need actually carry these large bags with you to your gate and then physically put them on before you board, which sounds easy, but let me tell you it is not! Especially if you are travelling alone, I would NOT recommend doing it this way because this is the way I did it and I will never do that again! Let me explain, I had her baby bag which was also my purse that was stuffed to the gill with our stuff. I had a backpack on my back which held some toys, small blanket, the DVD player, and some formula and snacks. Then the baby, the car seat, the stroller, and two large black bags to deal with through security and at the gate. That doesn’t include my luggage that I had checked earlier. When I am waiting for them to start boarding I had to put all of my stuff down, put the car seat with baby on floor, then start taking apart my stroller so it would fit into the bag. Meanwhile the baby is starting to fuss due to all of the commotion, and now people are starting to stare at you. One lady with a baby and all of this gear is just something to look at while everybody has nothing else to do but wait for their row to be called. Then I had to take the baby out of the car seat and get that into a separate bag…but where do I set the baby? Well, I had to sit her on the floor and I don’t know about you but I don’t know any 8 month old out there that is just going to sit there and watch you put the seat into the bag. She wants to start crawling off! Well, I can’t be chasing her, leaving all of my stuff on the ground unattended, so I pick her back up and I am trying to jam the car seat into the bag with one hand while holding her. This is when I start sweating and my bangs are in my eyes and everyone is burning a hole through my back with their stares. I can hear what they are saying, “Look at that poor mom, she has no help and so disorganized. That poor baby! Look, she’s even sweating the poor thing. Hmmm, do I have time for a Starbuck’s or not?” Well, needless to say somehow I got the two bags ready but they are extremely heavy and I just had to leave my other bag unattended for a second to drag them to the Southwest gate person only to have her tell me, Oh no, you can’t give those to me, you have to carry them down the accordion tunnel and gate check them there. “Whaaaaa? For some reason I assumed gate checking was where you checked them at the gate! Silly me, you must carry them down that tunnel and gate check them before you step onto the plane. So now I realize I don’t know how I am going to carry a baby in my left arm, with a backpack, diaper bag, stroller bag and a car seat bag by myself. The Southwest woman would not help me, “I’m not allowed”, she said. She also said I could not leave my two bags with her to watch while I dragged down the car seat and stroller bag. Finally, out of nowhere a man behind me who had probably witnessed the last half hour of my struggles asked me, “Do you want me to take that for you?”, motioning to the stroller bag. “Please!” And I carried everything else somehow and made it down the 100 feet to the plane. I know this is a lot of detail for such a short period of time, but considering that this was the hardest part of my entire trip both ways, it’s worth explaining so you are prepared if you do the same thing. Next time if I travel alone with baby, I am going to carry Skye in a baby carrier, hand carry my other two bags and rent a car seat and stroller at my destination spot. I didn’t even know that type of service existed until I had gotten back from my trip. Baby's Away is the largest baby and child equipment rental service with over 70 locations throughout the US. So keep in mind, it’s not actually at the gate it’s down the ramp, and when you are by yourself, it’s pretty hard to maneuver. I must say I was pretty disappointed with the Southwest staff for not helping. When I had landed in Florida I had to pick up the stroller and car seat and put it all back together again right there in the accordion ramp over on the side and there were three male Southwest workers standing about five feet away talking and watching me without one asking if I needed any help.
Destination – I stayed in my Grandpa’s house while visiting and because I had to travel so far, I felt I couldn’t take the saucer or travel crib with me. It was the first time I had travelled without those items, because when I have visited my Dad several times in the past, we drove and stuffed them into the car. But I already felt weighted down by how much I had with me, so I felt I just shouldn’t add to my load. I do regret not bringing a travel crib. They have cribs are smaller and more convenient and this would of helped me out during the trip. I didn’t have anywhere to put Skye where she couldn’t wander off in my Grandpa’s house, and of course, it wasn’t baby-proof, so I had to hold her much of the time or have her in the Ergo carrier. Next time, I won’t leave home without one, it’s worth the investment. When I had to go to the bathroom quickly, I would have to carry her in the room with me and set her on the ground and close the door. And when she fell asleep during naps and bedtime, I laid her on my Grandpa’s bed and built a fortress of pillows around her so she wouldn’t roll off. These types of things would have been a lot easier if I could have just plopped her in a safe zone throughout the day. Another item that would have been handy to have is a travel childproofing kit. Skye ended hanging out in the main family room where all of the action was and it would have been nice to have some of these items installed temporarily to make the room a bit safer.
These are just some of the tips and observations that stood out for me recently on my trip, so I wanted to pass them on in hopes of helping out fellow mommy and daddy fliers out there.
Moral of the story: Trying to entertain an infant for hours while flying 35,000 feet in the air can be quite the challenge. But once you see your smiling relatives’ faces, or finally arrive on that sandy beach for a vacation, it will all seem worth it!