4 Tips to Know When Flying with a Baby
By: Skycop
Tags: Baby, Tips, Flying, Parenting, Aviation

Nothing is ever easy with babies. So it’s only natural that travelling with them would be a little more involving than with someone a couple of decades older. Here are some handy tips for when it comes to flying with your littlest one.

4. Be Prepared Before The Flight

You need to do some really careful planning even before it comes to buying the tickets. Notify the airline that you’ll be traveling with a baby. Try to get a front row/bulkhead seat for that additional space. Consider whether to book flight during the baby’s usual sleep time or not: while some babies will become irritated with the condition of the flight (the temperature, the air pressure, all the going-up-and-down stuff), others will just sleep right through it.

To aid the ease of flying, ask your pediatrician to check the baby for any illnesses that could spell unexpected trouble. You don’t want to irritate a baby who already has an ear infection! Also, when travelling to other countries, make sure to get them vaccinated. Actually, you should do that for adults, too.

3. Pack Your Carry-On For The Baby

If you’re flying with a baby, your carry-on is going to reflect that. Make sure that it’s easy to carry — hopefully, it has wheels. Make sure that the luggage is of the size approved by the airline, too. You really don’t want to get into arguments over bags when carrying a baby.

Your bag should include the necessary stuff for taking care of the baby, like baby food, extra clothes (and a bib), diapers, extra pacifier (those can get lost), noiseless-toys, baby medication and maybe even a blanket (if it fits). Make sure you are ready to take care of the child in case you experience a flight delay or even a cancelled flight.

2. Taking Care Of The Baby At The Airport

Arriving early at the airport is never a bad idea, doubly so when travelling with a baby! If you come early, you’ll have time to deal with any issues that arise without stressing out yourself and, in turn, the baby.

You should also endeavor to check in as much luggage as possible, since you don’t want to handle both the baby and your stuff at the same time. Speaking of the baby, it’s good to change his or her diaper before going aboard, but feeding shortly before the flight is inadvisable!

1. Taking Care of The Baby During the Actual Flight

So, as we talked before, a baby could get really irritated during the flight. I mean, it’s not pleasant for us, adults, and we have flown before. The only thing you can do is apologize to the people around you. But in order to help your baby adjust to pressure changes, encourage swallowing on takeoff and landing by using a bottle or pacifier.

Also, keep the baby well-hydrated during the flight — they get dehydrated faster than we do! You can also ask the flight attendants to heat a bottle for you, but make sure to do that in advance of feeding times (both for the baby and the cabin) and check the temperature. And don’t rush to get off — the baby won’t appreciate the slow shuffle to the exit.

Hopefully, these tips will be enough for your flight with a baby. However, just like babies are prone to causing emergencies, so are the airlines. A cancelled flight or a flight delay is nasty enough without having a small child around.

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