it's vacation season, and because we took madeline to the usa three times in her first year, people often ask me for tips on travelling with a baby. we've flown with slightly mixed results, but it has mostly been a positive, albeit tiring experience. here are my tips for anyone flying with a child of under 18 months. stay tuned for advice for older children!
1) fly at night
if possible, book a red eye for long-haul travel and try to do as much of your evening routine as possible on the plane. we found maddie slept quite well for these night flights. daytime naps were much harder for us en-route.
2) maintain your regular schedule
stay with regular times for activities during the first half of the flight. feed at your normal times, when at all possible, and remember to change nappies regularly. the more you can maintain your baby's schedule, the easier it is for him or her to understand what is happening and the less scary and upsetting the trip is.
3) get a bulkhead seat
most airlines will let you put baby on the floor on a blanket for sleep, although british airways decided to not let us one flight which was really annoying! if they won’t let you do the floor thing, ask for an extra seat and try to lie baby down between you. bulkhead seats are also good for extra legroom and play space if your baby is sitting and toddling.
4) try the airline bassinet
even when maddie was a bit too big for the little airline travel cot, we got it and kind of "squeezed her in." this stopped working when she started sleeping on her tummy. if your baby is already sleeping on his tummy your best bet is to try to get away with the floor bed. maddie uses a sleeping bag for her sleep and we put her in this regardless whether we use the floor, our laps or the bassinet.
5) entertain, entertain, entertain
if you have day time hours on the plane, take a new toy for every 30 minutes of flight time and get them out gradually. rich and i got a lot of use out of a magnetic book that maddie could stick things to with our help. we also brought some stickle bricks and containers she could transfer things to and from. we also break long flights into thirty minute "units" like hugh grant does on about a boy, it helps the time pass!
6) give liquids at take off and landing
babies struggle with pressure changes and making sure they are swallowing is supposed to help. if you are breastfeeding, it's easy. if you're not, give the baby a drink during take off and landing and helps them stay comfortable. i give maddie sips of water from a cup now that she is older and that seems to work.
7) allow some mobility
if your baby is cruising, crawling or otherwise quite mobile, try blocking off the area in front of your feet in bulkhead and let her crawl back and forth between you. this works if you get an extra seat or two, not so useful if you don’t.
8) adjust to the new timezone asap
when you arrive at your new location, my advice is to go through your evening dinner/bath/bed routine either as soon as you arrive (if it’s late) or at appropriate evening routine time. try to give dinner before bed no matter what time the baby ate most recently to make sure you can feel confident if he cries in the night it’s not hunger and so you won’t have to feed at night. we tried to stick with routine as much as possible in the us (switching to us hours pretty much immediately) and found that maddie dealt quite well with jetlag. first night or two she woke and cried a bit, but since i knew she wasn’t hungry, i just changed her nappy, gave water, calmed and put her back in bed. after the first night, she cried a short while and went back to sleep herself. it’s not that hard to deal with because you are jetlagged too and can understand why the baby is crying and awake. just try to not get into any wierd new routines you don’t want to continue.
9) avoid going solo (if possible...)
think twice before you travel alone long haul with baby! i took one flight to the midwest on my own from london and that was very hard work!! even going to the bathroom on the plane was a trial!
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