Air Travel with an Infant
This has been a highly requested blog post, so I’m here to answer the requests :) Our little family of three has been on two trips to Florida in our daughter’s < 4 months of life, and while we’re definitely not experts, we have gathered up a list of tips share that might help any other families looking to travel with an infant, but feeling overwhelmed.
I want to start by acknowledging that it definitely can be overwhelming, especially with your first baby. You’ve never been responsible for anyone but yourself when traveling before, and now you have a tiny human and ALL of their stuff to pack and manage (and yes, they have a lot of stuff). We fortunately were traveling to visit family, so we were able to send some items to their house, and we also were able to leave some items - like diapers - at their house between visits, which was very helpful. This would differ if you are not traveling to family/friends though, so just keep that in mind!
We have yet to do a road trip longer than 4 hours with her yet, so these are tips for air travel, but comparing flying to the few road trips we’ve been on with her so far, I actually prefer flying, and it was way easier than I thought it would be - I’m sure I wouldn’t think the same if she was a little more curious and active, but at her age, it worked out really well! I also want to emphasize that my husband was traveling with me, so that helped tremendously in managing all the things we were traveling with - I don’t know how I would’ve done it without him! Hats off to you if you solo travel with little ones! It’s no easy feat without a helper!
Here are our biggest tips for flying with an infant lap child:
Babywear. Babywear. Babywear. Seriously, being hands-free is a game changer for ease of getting through the airport, and it helps keep baby calm. I picked my favorite carrier and wore our daughter through security, while waiting to board, boarding, and then after deplaning until we got to the car. The flight attendant might tell you that you can’t keep baby in the carrier during take-off and landing, but once you’re in your seat, it’s not a big deal.
If you have a Boppy-style pillow, it might be helpful to bring with you on the plane. I brought it for our first flight, but not our second, and I actually preferred not having it (it’s just another thing to carry and keep track of), but it could be helpful to rest baby on it while you’re on the plane because then you’re not holding them the entire time.
Bring your car seat! I know there are rental services (like BabyQuip) in many destinations now, but I just think having the peace of mind knowing we had our own car seat with us was huge. Obviously you run the risk of it being damaged, but there are other risks with using an unfamiliar seat, so we took our chances and brought our own. Some people, if they can afford it, buy an extra seat for their car seat on the plane so it never leaves their sight and so they can put baby in the seat during the flight. You can also ask the gate agent if there are open seats on the plane and put the seat there for free ;) We had open seats on our first flight, but putting the seat there was honestly such a pain that we preferred to just gate check it.
Invest in some type of travel stroller if your regular everyday stroller is bulky or heavy. We gate checked our travel stroller and it was so much easier than bringing our Mockingbird. Just make sure the travel stroller is rated for the age of your baby at the time of traveling. There are many options out there, but I want to emphasize that you don’t need to go and spend a lot of money on a stroller that you aren’t going to be using as frequently as your main stroller.
Diaper bag essentials: a few toys that will keep your infant interested if they wake up during flight, plenty of wipes & diapers, a change of clothes for baby in case of a blowout, burp cloths, sanitizing wipes (I used these to wipe down the seatbelts, arm rests, tray tables, and the empty seat we luckily had in our row that I put our daughter on to stretch out during the flight), multiple pacifiers if your baby takes them, and snacks/water for the parents. Your diaper bag doesn’t count as one of your two carry-on items, btw!
Use packing cubes in your suitcase to keep all of your clothes organized! You can find a variety of sizes and quantities on Amazon.
If you’re traveling with breastmilk, just inform TSA where it is and roughly how much you have. They’ll have to test the container it’s in, but just ask them to change their gloves and they all should be very kind about it :)
Feed baby on ascent and descent - bottle or breast (or use of a pacifier if baby won’t eat). This helps equalize the pressure in baby’s ears and helps them cope with the pressure changes during take-off and landing. On one of our flights, my daughter was so deeply asleep that she didn’t even wake up to nurse or take a pacifier, so I just massaged the outside of her ears while we were landing to help the fluid drain, and she wasn’t even phased.
Regulate your own emotions and stay as calm as possible because baby feeds off of you!
We are very lucky that we have an “easy” baby who is a wonderful traveler, so these tips might not work for everyone, but I hope they help! Let me know if you have any questions :)
