M and I have travelled with infants as young as 3 months young. I have travelled with 5 month young and 8 month young alone. So let us start our preparation list for traveling with infants. Your baby is just born. She is completely demanding. She has left you sleep deprived and tired already and now you need to travel with her. You feel petrified and concerned. How? How can you manage a tiny little baby who needs to be nursed and changed around the clock in the tight can of an airplane? How can you burp her? How can you change her?
Allow me to ease your concern. Out of all the ages I have travelled with kids the easiest by far were the trips taken during my kids's infant hood. Such a joy and breeze of flight! Believe you me ;)
By now you know and have experienced how infants love to be held, they enjoy white noise, and they take much space. Guess what? These all are satisfied in an air travel with an infant on the lap.
If you have purchased a ticket for an infant on the lap, your baby will be held at all times and the hum of the moving plane will help putting her to sleep. Chances are she will sleep most of the trip. There is a caveat and that is if the baby is suffering ear ache due to changing pressures while ascending and descending. An infant with ear ache would be a nightmare to travel with. Worse, it might turn to an infection which would mean a travel ruined for all.
Thankfully, there is a practical solution to prevent ear ache for the infants during take off and landing: nursing/bottle feeding/pacifiers actively chewed on. Check with your pediatrician of course but this was a pediatrician approved solution for us. If possible, nurse/bottle feed your baby before you head to the airport so around 2-3 hours after when you are on board and the plane starts to taxi to the take off runway she is thirsty for more. Make sure to start nursing/bottle feeding before ascending begins and continue until the plane has elevated to the intended hight. For these reasons I think active feeding is more effective than pacifiers because you can make sure that the baby is swill owing which is the secret in preventing ear blockage due to changes in the air pressure.
Repeat the same upon landing even if it means to wake your baby up. If you are going through the trouble of traveling with an infant chances are your trip is more than 2 hours long otherwise you would have taken a car trip. Therefore, upon landing the baby will most probably consider another course of milk even in shorter flights.
In longer international flight make sure to call the airline and request a bulkhead seat with bassinet. The flight crew will provide you with a bassinet that will mount of the wall that divides the cabins and an extra blanket. This can be a life saver specially if you are the only adult traveling with the infant.
What to pack for the infant:
1) nursing blanket/bottle and formula and pacifiers
2) baby's blanket - the airplane cabin is usually colder and the baby will sleep better if she is comfortably warm
3) baby moisturizer - the cabin air is very dry and chances are your baby's delicate skin will dry up. Considering applying baby moisturizer with your pediatrician's permission will help prevent dry skin.
4) a diaper for every 3 hours of flight plus additional 2 in case of delays and unexpected changes in the scheduled trip.
5) change pad and wipes
6) extra set of cloths - we always preferred onesies - remember? We are minimalistic travellers - but make sure they are breathable and you have both thinner and thicker kinds
7) toys: I don't recommend anything for babies younger than 3-4 months. When they start paying attention to distracting noises and patterns you might want to consider a jiggling toy or two for longer haul of flights - if your infant sits already and after the age of 5 months I recommend a few small and different kinds of cheaper toys. Make sure not to pack any toy that she is already attached to - chances are that the toy will drop and you can't find or retrieve it, you don't want to lose a favorite or expensive toy - finger puppets and hand puppets are our favored and also small thin books - you might want to consider dollor section of the department stores to pack on small and cheap and variety kinds of toys and books for every 30 minutes of your trip
8) medicine: in the rare occasion of a cold, fever, or ear infection, you want to be prepared with infant pain killer/fever reducer after consulting with your pediatrician - make sure to pack it in the diaper bag that you take on board and not in your checked in bag
9) disinfecting wipes: you might want to consider wiping your seat handle, seat tray, and the bassinet if you got one for obvious reasons
10) pacifiers and one bottle (even if you nurse)
To add to the fun remember that infants don't require a seat on the plane which helps with trip economy. So go abead, take your first trip with your infant and enjoy your ride! Just be attentive to those tiny little ears.
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