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| I had no idea why G was freaking out, I figured it would all fit in a suitcase |
It’s getting close to holiday season, and I imagine for many of you this involves some travelling to see family and friends. For some it’s a visit to the next suburb, for others it may require getting on a plane. Those of you who are travelling with babies know that whether it’s ten minutes in the car, or ten hours in the sky, the process is similar. Throw in as much as you can and pray for the gods of sleep to look upon you.
I stumbled across a photo today. It was taken just before we headed back to Jakarta with the first little traveller. I had travelled home to Adelaide at 34 weeks pregnant with a plan for G to fly out and meet me around the due date. While G was busy at work, praying not to receive the quick-get-on-a-plane-I’m-in-labour call, I was busy scouring the baby stores, making sure I had every piece of baby paraphernalia possible. I was a marketers dream, I had no idea what I needed, and all the time in the world to convince myself the $20 bath themometer was an essential item. I think I still have the bath themometer somewhere? I can’t say it got a lot of use.
I was asked recently if I would give some tips on flying with babies, and I thought maybe this was the perfect time of year. To avoid major disappointment, those of you who are pregnant, make sure you have a letter from your doctor giving you the okay to fly. And if anyone is traveling without their partner, you may need a letter from them giving you the okay to fly. I know for me it gets tricky as my children have a different surname to me, recently when I flew to London unexpectedly without G, I nearly didn’t make it into the country. It’s not worth being unprepared.
I have about nine hundred and ninety five squillion tips for flying with children, but here’s ten if you’re travelling with a child or toddler over the break.
- Get yourself a compact travel stroller. I know you love that big fancy one, but you’re going to need something that folds fast and flat. Try and negotiate keeping it with you until you board the plane, if the airline ask’s to take it, ask for a courtesy stroller.
- While you’re online checking your seats (I always prefer the window with a baby) see if you can find where the baby change rooms are at both the airport you are leaving and landing in. I know this sounds ridiculously organized but I have been the victim of so many baby poonamis (that’s when the poo explodes and ends up in the crevices of your baby’s underarms and neck) and projectile vomits that require more than a baby wipe to clean up the debris.
- Wear slip on shoes and no belt. Those knee high zip up boots are going to drive you crazy when going through airport security.
- Find a baby-sling with a zip up pocket. You can keep your boarding pass, an extra couple of nappies/diapers, wipes, visa card and some cash in there. You’ll want to keep your hands free for any paperwork, or schlepping of luggage, or better still, last minute airport shopping.
- If you’re not breastfeeding make sure you have a bottle ready for accent and decent on the plane, the sucking will equalize your baby’s ears. It’s also always handy to have a bottle of water, just incase you can’t get your feeding time to match that of the airline schedule. Get the water after you’ve gone through security. Unless your baby is a fan of spicy trail mix, don’t rely on the airline for snacks.
- Keep yourself hydrated, flying sucks the moisture out of every particle of your body, this is the same for your baby. You may find the baby requires an extra drink than usual.
- If you’ve flying long haul ask for a bulkhead or bassinet seat, that extra leg room, or a chance for your baby to sleep flat will be a godsend by about the third hour into your flight.
- Use a baby wrap to keep around your baby while they’re in the sling, this can then double as a blanket on the flight, or roll into a ball as a small pillow. Don’t forget to pack a bib, it can save you two sets of clothes.
- G loves to get on the plane first, but when it comes to babies/toddlers I think it’s better to get on last. What worked for us was for him to go ahead with bags and secure the space, and me to jump on later to reduce the time that we were sitting around with squirmy child.
- It gets cold on the plane, a pashmina may be your best friend if you don’t want to pack unnecessary clothing.
My biggest tip though, is this. Plan on everything going pear shaped. This way when they refuse to let you take your stroller to the aircraft after they’d promised you could over the phone, and the plane is delayed, and you don’t get the seat that you were promised, you won’t be disappointed. You’ll be ready.
Okay, so I want to hear from you now. What are your top tips for travelling with babies? And yes, ordering a double upon take-off should be number one.
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Oh, all great advice. In a demented kind-of way I’m sad that I won’t be doing this again, note it is 3 weeks til we take off with our 3 and 5 year old and I am glad that we won’t need a stroller, or a bassinet seat. The other piece of advice I would add – put a full change of clothes for everyone in the carry on luggage. Huge vomits all over everyone just before a few hours hubbing and another flight with no clean clothes for Ma and Pa are awful.
I forgot the change of clothes for me once. BIG mistake.
Thank you so much, Kirsty. Travel for us with our first bub in tow is still months away but your practical advice has given me food for thought and ideas on what to pack and buy for that first flight home to Perth.
SSG xxx
Oh thank you! I think I might do another one these, maybe things to pack on the plane. Good luck with it all.
Always travel with Panadol/ Tylenol or some sort of fever reducer. You never know when one will pop up. My friend was unprepared and had a baby with febrile seizures on a long flight. No fun at all. Also, if you think you might consider medicating your child for relaxation/ sleep, always test it out before. Nothing worse that opposite reactions and hyper kids when you expected a benedryl induced sleepy kid! Always pack double the amount of diapers you think you might need. There’s my 2 cents!
So true about testing those things! Your story about febrile seizures on the plane sent shivers down my spine. We’ve had a child with food poisoning on a plane, we went through about 40 paper bags flying from Houson to Calgary. She thought it was pretty exciting when the ambulance boarded the flight and carried her off the plane though!
Thanks for the tips.Flying to the States in Feb on two ten hour flights. Total of forty hours there and back. I love flying with my son and fingers crossed so far he loves planes. The only problem for me will be being five months pregnant. I have never flown while pregnant before and I am not looking forward to it. Any tips on that?
You’ve just given me my next idea! Stay tuned. I’ll do a flying when pregnant post next week xx
I don’t have tips, but am passing this on to my daughter!
Thanks Jo, I would love that, these are the sorts of tips I could have done with years ago. xx
I’ll second all your tips after multiple Australia – Canada trips. I’ll add: assemble a mini nappy change pack that you can easily grab out of your carry on bag. The tiny toilets on planes are not great if you’re trying to squeeze a big nappy bag in with you and bub.
Absolutely! Those pull down change tables are tiny! If the pocket in your baby-sling is big enough I reckon you could fit quite a few nappy/wipes in there. Excellent suggestion Martha. Thanks!
Might sound odd, but my tip is to assume that those glances from other passengers are ones of solidarity, not judgement! Yes, there a few people who resent little ones on planes but most people are understanding. Don’t stress out about what anyone else might be thinking.
I agree Karen, I was going to put that in there. I remember telling a flight attendant that I was worried about the first little traveller crying and disturbing everyone around me. In a really loud voice he said “oh don’t worry, you’d have to be a bit of a wally to get angry about that, I mean – no-one WANTS their baby to cry”.
Change of clothes for everyone, including you and twice as many nappies (diarrhea, anyone?) and bottles as your normal routine.
Ah yes, I remember standingI in line checking on to the plane with vomit dripping down my front. BEFORE I’d even got ON the plane! The change in clothes is an excellent suggestion.
Great tips. Im all for slings! seriously ladies they are the best thing to use, especially when travelling solo with the kids. Nothing like having both hands free. I put baby on my back, with a bit of help from the other kids. And Martha’s idea for a mini change bag at the handy is a great idea. Wish I’d thought of that! I’m usually the one carrying nappy (diaper)/wipes etc along with baby down to the lovely teeny weeny toilet. I don’t know why but my lovely little madam always manages to choose a time, that as soon as I begin changing her, fasten seatbelt sign goes back on and we start flying through turbulence! Happened both times this year!
I always found the fasten the seatbelt sign usually came on about 5 minutes after you’d just got your baby asleep in the basinet and been handed your first glass of wine.
When traveling with toddlers on planes, I would buy and gift wrap a couple very inexpensive toys. Then, in case if dire emergencies (the ultimate exhausted break-down tantrum on the plane) you can distract them. Something in wrapping paper works wonders on a child’s behaviour. Coloring books, moulding clay, a small baby doll… Use your imagination (just make sure it is not noisy, and can’t roll away on the floor).
Excellent tip. I loved those little etchasketches for kids, draw/erase/repeat.
To heat baby bottles we carried a thermos of hot water. We found one that was the perfect size as it was the same size as the bottles. We had it timed to perfection and knew how many seconds to keep it in there for the bottle to be body temperature. Once the initial hot water was used up, staff were always happy to give us more.
I loved taking a thermo, although I got stuck in LA and Dubai and was made to empty bottles. You can always get *insert universal coffee chain name here* to refill once you get inside the airport though. Thanks for the tip Maree xx
Really enjoyed this post. It seems like I have a lot to learn 🙂 I am due at the end of May and was wondering from when you can start flying with a baby? I know I will want to escape the heat of a Middle Eastern summer and I want to show our new bundle of joy off to our families (who happen to live on opposite sides of the world) but If I think too much about the flights, about 8 hours in both directions I feel panic creeping over me… This post has been very helpful and especially the bits about expecting the worst and hoping for the best!
My first flew to Jakarta at 11 days old. My second flew KL – Dubai – Malta – Libya at 2 weeks, my third flew from Malta – Libya at 4 weeks and my fourth didn’t get to go anywhere until he was 6 months old when we went from Canada to Australia. I know everyone has a different opinion on this. A lot of people don’t like to fly until their babies have had their first lot of vaccinations. I think you’ll know when you have the baby how you’re feeling about it all. Don’t be afraid though, I bet whatever you choose will be the right decision because only you will know what’s best for your baby. Let me know how it all goes in May? (My first was born at the end of May and she is divine!) xx
Been pan-Pacific many times, most ‘interesting’ trip was solo with newborn and 7 &10. Breastfeeding is the travelling mum’s best friend! A sling or carrier a must for hands-free and a couple of nappies, good to go. And a spare baby-gro (sleeper) or two, but forget the fancy outfit, keep it simple! A flannel blanket useful for chilly moments or nursing in stop overs like Dubai where modesty is important.
And for bigger kids, let go the TV control issue, my kids were thrilled to watch TV the entire time and just fell asleep when the needed to. They will be quiet and you will be the fun mum! Let them eat when they want, watch as long as they want and sleep when the need to, don’t try and keep to a schedule! Hosties are awesome at helping with kids!