With summer travel season almost upon us I wanted to share some of my tips for how to travel by plane with a baby. As a mom to a 3 and 5 year old I will say that I miss the days of air travel with a baby, so if you are planning a trip with your baby this summer enjoy!
My son flew for the first time at 5 weeks and was on several flights during his first year of life, here are some of the tips and tricks for air travel with a baby that worked for me.
Travel Crib as a Carry On
We all hope that air travel goes as smoothly as possible when flying with an infant, but flight delays still occur. If you bring along your Lotus Everywhere Crib your baby can nap in a familiar place while you wait, this can make an already stressful situation much easier. The Lotus is perfect for air travel with a baby, the 15 second set up and take down and back pack carrying case make it convenient for the airport and the fact that it fits in an overhead bin makes it perfect for the plane.
Nap Times
Try your best to plan air travel with a baby around nap times, this is easier the younger they are. At 5 weeks my son slept most of the day so it wasn't too hard to plan a flight around his nap. By the time he was 10 months this got much harder and I wasn't always able to plan accordingly.
Toy Bag
As my son got older and slept less the toy bag was key, I tried to pack toys he hadn't seen recently (would even stash some toys away before a trip so he would get excited about them on the plane) and ones that could easily be cleaned and disinfected. Some of my favorite toys to pack were plastic bath toys, easy to clean, lightweight, and quiet. Books were always a big hit, and my kids LOVED the Winkel Toy.
Feeding and Snacks
With little babies try to nurse or bottle feed during take off and landing to help ease any ear discomfort. If you are nursing be prepared with some pumped milk in a bottle - while my older son was okay nursing on the flight my youngest refused to nurse so I had to bottle feed him expressed milk. If you are giving formula make sure you ask the flight attendant for any water you may need to mix in with the formula. If your baby is eating baby food consider bringing along pouches of food and small finger foods like Cheerios.
Diapers and Clothes
Bring along more clothes and diapers than you think you will need during air travel with babies. There's nothing worse than going to change your baby in the airplane bathroom and not having a change of clothes or diaper to put on them. Be sure you also bring along diaper cream when flying with infant along with a changing pad that you can easily put down on the toilet in the airplane bathroom.
