Baby on Board

My daughter has been on 16 planes in her short life and she is about to go on flights 17-20 for Christmas. 

This is what happens when your family lives all over the country and children under 2 fly free. I feel like I may have picked up a few tricks to help manage flying with a small child. I hope these tips help as you embark on your own family trips on those big metal birds in the sky. 

1. Security. This can present some challenges but overall, security personnel seem more willing to work with people who are traveling with small children. They don't make you go through those bulky full-body scanners (no X-Ray machines for babies!), you are allowed to just go through the old metal detectors, and then they do a quick residue scan on your hands. Also, I have taken both breast milk and regular milk through. Sometimes they test it, sometimes they don't but you can bring it through!  This is especially important when you don't know what will be available once you get through security. Milk is very hard to come by in airport concessions for some reason.

2. Entertainment. Your child will be bored. Very very bored. Think you get bored in airports? Kids are THE WORST. I always packed a smaller bag with a variety of toys, and small books to try and entertain my daughter. It works in very small time increments. If you keep them all in one small bag that can go in your larger carry-on it helps your bag from having tons of toys floating around. Also, while waiting to board, try to find an area in the chairs where you can just put them down to play and roam a little. We like the areas with the chairs facing a wall or windows so that we aren't bothering anyone else. We just sit at opposite ends to keep her contained.

3. Snacks. Always bring snacks. Like I said before, you never know what they will have at airport concessions - and they can get pretty pricey. We have packed a peanut butter sandwich, gold fish, fruit/veggie baby food pouches, etc. I put all these in a large gallon size ziplock in my bag so it is easy to find. Also, if you have one of those snack containers that is spill-proof that your child can carry around, that is good to keep them occupied when the aforementioned toys fail.

4. The essentials. First - Baby carriers. We took Ella on her first plane when she was 6 months old and my baby wrap was perfect, I used the Moby, but any woven wrap would work. My husband and I rotated who carried her (he uses the Bjorn), but this made carrying luggage a whole lot easier. At our airport, they didn't even make me take her out, they just did a pat-down after I went through the metal detector. 

Second - car seats. We checked our car seat and put it in this large orange bag we purchased at Babies R Us for this very purpose. It has handles on it that helps with carrying it to and from the car. It is also easy to spot at baggage claim. 

Third - boppy pillows. When Ella was really little we used the boppy pillow and she would just sleep across one of our laps. As they get older, this doesn't work as well, but when they aren't yet walking, it works like a charm.

5. A sense of humor. People sometimes give you nasty looks, avoid eye contact when you are boarding in hopes that you don't sit next to them, and in general be a little rude. BUT, people will also offer to lend a hand, entertain your child for you, and tell you sympathetic stories about traveling with their own children. The key is to try and stay calm and not take things too seriously. Your child is crying because they are so tired but refuse to sleep and you are trapped on the plane and people are staring? I promise you this moment will end. Your child will eventually stop crying. Don't be too hard on yourself. You have just as much a right to your seat on that plans as the person who is giving you those nasty looks.

Traveling with a child can be difficult. But, I hope my insights can help lessen the stress just a little bit. And if I see you at the airport, I will give you the look of solidarity. We are all in this together - you've got this!