The first rule of thumb is stop caring what all the haters think. You are just as entitled to live, travel, relax and enjoy as they are. Your infant is a human being with wants and needs too. Ignore the hate. Accept the help offered. Enjoy your trip.
So, What Makes a Great Parent of a Flying Infant?
First ….. Put down the tech – pay attention to the baby. This is time to rock all your best parenting skills. It is time to spoil that baby rotten and enjoy your little person and the time you have with them.
Co-Parent – if you are in the fortunate position to be traveling with multiple adults – discuss a plan ahead of time – split the care – give everyone a break time – and then be prepared to throw away the plan and just make it work together when the baby rejects your thoughtful plan.
Bring entertainment – there is nothing more boring than a tin can with seats and that’s a great description of an airplane. Bring things that excite your baby at his or her current developmental level. This could be your car keys, rattles, a favorite toy, books, and more and more ….
Bring extra everything – flights delay, flights cancel, anything that can go wrong, might go wrong. Be over-prepared. Yes, the downside is lugging around more stuff. But the upsides are large … One of the major upsides is a reduction in stress. If you are worried about running out of diapers or food if there is a delay, you will project your worried mood to your baby – and once that spiral starts, it is very hard to escape. Unique situations create unique needs. Your normally iron-stomached baby may not adapt fabulously to a pressurized cabin. An upset feeding schedule may cause tummy issues. And we all know that blow-outs happen at the most inopportune moments, don’t we?
If you are anywhere near a new developmental milestone – prepare for the milestone. Is baby getting close to cutting teeth? Bring a teether. Now, I would not suggest encouraging developmental changes in the midst of travel but some are unavoidable. You want to think ahead and include the possibility in your plan.
Prepare ahead of time. Do you plan to have baby in a car seat? In your arms? In the period leading up to travel, it helps to familiarize your baby with this new routine. Hold them more or less than normal to mimic the plane situation. Are they best soothed by pacing and patting – this might not be possible on the plane. Practice soothing baby while sitting in a kitchen chair when baby is upset at home. You will both learn soothing in restricted conditions without a plane of annoyed baby-phobes staring daggers and you will have the confidence to sooth in the airplane’s restricted environment.
Maybe going a tad controversial here but I recommend throwing out a few of your stricter parenting choices when on the airplane. Juice is not great for teeth but a bottle of juice might be a huge blessing during take off and landing (depending on age, etc.). For older “babies”, a lollypop can be a big help – a treat to sit and stay buckled in a very unnatural setting. You child is not designed to sit still for hours at a time and making what is uncomfortable into a special treat can really help everyone through the flight.
Booking travel:
Booking an upgraded seat – if you are in the position to do so, consider a ticket upgrade to give you more space. You may want to seriously consider extra legroom at a minimum and selecting seats at time of booking to know you will be together. You probably want at least one in the group to be on the aisle for diaper changes.
To buy an infant seat or not?
The only con with buying an infant its own seat is cost. If you can afford a place to strap in a baby seat for the flight, you can put the infant down. Any car seat used on board must be FAA approved in the US. You should be able to find information on the car seat itself. Here is the link to the FAA page with all of the pertinent information.
And Finally the Pros and Cons of booking flights to coincide with nap or sleep time.
So the plan is … buy a ticket for a fight that takes off right at baby’s naptime so the soothing engine hum will put baby right to sleep.
If this plan goes well, it is so, so nice. So peaceful. A baby or toddler that sleeps the flight away gets nothing but praise for their cherubic ways from all around you. The downside of a baby sleeping for the entire flight if you do not have a car seat for them, is that you cannot move to go to the bathroom or eat or well anything, without risking waking a sleeping baby. If this is your plan, prepare ahead of time. Use the restroom. Have your snacks or books or devices handy. Then sit back and enjoy some relatively quiet time.
On the other hand, if this plan goes wrong, it can go REALLY wrong. A baby who will not go to sleep is now probably an over tired and unhappy baby. Flight delays mess with your schedule. The fates are capricious. If you plan for your baby to sleep the flight way, also plan for them to not sleep the flight away.
If we had the time today, I would tell you about that international flight from Houston to Heathrow with kids 6, 4 and 1.5 years of age who apparently made a pact to stand guard over the plane so that at no time on the overnight flight were all 3 children asleep – so therefore at no time did their mother sleep. It was a painful morning in London. We will save that story for another day!
