In a desperate attempt to not re-create this cartoon above, I'm here to ask for tips for traveling with an infant. We fly out to Utah (hooray!) in mid-December and I'm looking for any advice my fellow bloggers might have. Things I'm wondering now include: Elise doesn't actually have her own seat...how does that work? Do I bring her to the gate in her car seat? Does that count as luggage? What about a car seat base? Her stroller...do I have to pay to check that? It is just me and Elise on the flight, Zack will join us later. I will be bringing a busy bag full of activities to hopefully keep her occupied and entertained as well as food. I could bring a laptop with some Baby Einstein DVD's- is that a good idea? Let me know :) Thanks in advance for the help. Here's to a happy and safe holiday travel season!
12 comments:
Jilly and I are taking a flight from Sacramento to Atlanta next week. I'll let you know if I have any new advice after that adventure/nightmare...
But, in the past I always carried her in the baby bjorn at the airport, but this time I'm going the stroller route. They'll let you bring 1 extra baby item for free and you can choose to check it with your luggage or at the gate. I always took her car seat but now my mom has a car seat so I'm taking a stroller this time.
Unless you're blessed to have an empty seat next to you the two of you will be squished into 1 seat that was really made for 1/2 person. It's delightful. I always take lots and lots of snacks, let her rip apart sky mall magazine, and if all else fails turn the reading light on and off and on and off (it could keep her occupied for hours!) Jilly doesn't have the attention span for movies, but if they keep Elise occupied I think that's a great idea. Good luck!
(this is possibly the longest comment I've ever made on a blog!)
One more thing, and then I promise I'm done :)
If she does fuss a little, just tell yourself it's just a few minutes or a few hours. You're never going to see these people again, if they hate your for a little while no big deal. And, I promise, the flight will eventually be over and then who cares how bad it was because you'll be home with your family!
She will sit on your lap if you aren't paying for an extra seat. It isn't too bad... I flew to California with Olivia and brought the stroller AND the car seat. I checked her car seat and gate checked the stroller. No additional fee. I would bring whatever you think will keep her happy! We brought my husband's computer to watch movies and it ended up keeping Olivia quite entertained the whole flight! On our way back, I was without my husband or his computer and I just got her to go to sleep. Make sure she is sucking a binky or nursing or eating on takeoff and landing. It will help with her ears! Good luck!
You should talk to Brian - definitely bring a binky and snacks for her to help with the ears. So excited to see you!
we always did dum dums for take off and landing. it was a sweet treat that was special so i knew he would keep at it. of course a bottle or nursing will be the same.
maybe some new toys?
and if your mom or someone has an extra car seat, i wouldn't bother. since you didn't buy her a ticket, she won't be able to sit in it anyway. they'll check the stroller at the gate for you.
that's all i got. good luck!
You can bring milk and juice and stuff for her because there are exceptions for babies. Check the TSA website for exactly what you can take through. Also check the airline website for more details on what can be checked for free (carseat, stroller, etc) and what you'd have to pay for (pack and play). If you're bringing a movie, see if she'll use ear phones so other people on the plane don't complain. Good luck!
I love how everyone loves to share their opinions on these matters! Sounds like you have some good advice here!
Elise is so good, you will be great! I don't know how long the flight is, but we brought a dvd player when molly was 7 mos. to Hawaii and it worked great. She loved watching it and she was the best baby. I also brought a new toy. That helped too and of course the snacks.
We've flown a number of times with Breklyn as a "lap infant" & even a red-eye to NYC wasn't TOO bad.
Definitely bring an extra set of clothes for both you & her in your carry-on just in case of throwing up, diaper explosion, water/pop spill, etc. Also, don't be afraid to ask the stewardess for extra snacks from their stash; they'll happily give them up to keep a baby happy! As far as what they'll let you check, it just depends on what airline you are flying on...they're all different.
Let's see... I second all of that. Also, any baby items you check are at no extra cost. Make sure they don't make you pay. You can gate check the stroller, car seat or anything else you want. Sammy slept the whole way on both flights we took. The best advice I got was use a bottle/binky/nursing on take of and landing. The sucking helps them pop their ears so they don't get upset with the pressure change.
When we've flown with Frontier they let us check the car seat and stroller at no cost. You can do it when you check in or at the gate. I would suggest checking the car seat when you check in and the stroller at the gate. That way, you can push her around the airport in the stroller. Also, you can take her diaper bag and it doesn't count as a carry on for you. You don't need to bring the base for the car seat. You can just strap it in with the seat belt. We didn't know that until we took Corbyn to Disneyland when he was 10 1/2 months old. We asked our SIL Edda and she let us in on that little secret. Don't worry too much about the pressure change. We had trouble timing Corbyn's bottle just right. He usually wasn't sucking when we took off/landed, but he never had a problem with it.
You are a brave soul doing it alone! I've always had help and I can't say I would want to do it myself, but I'm sure you'll survive! I hope Zack is coming to the airport with you and will help you check in and ditch your luggage/car seat. With luggage, car seat, stroller, diaper bag, carry on, purse, and baby... That's a lot to carry!
I thought of one more thing. If you are going to try to play her movies on your laptop, I would highly recommend getting some of the old kind of headphones - the ones that go over your ears rather than in your ears. I forgot to do that and I think it would have made a big difference. Corbyn was pulling them out of his ears the whole time!
Carsons going on his first flight December too! its just an hr or so though and he's old enough to get into his.coloring and movies at least. we fly jet blue which is great cuz u can get unlimited snacks and drinks and each seat has a tv with directv... with all that and it being 4 a
dults to one 2 yr old, im still coming prepared! lol. hopefully shell sleep in the middle sometime...
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