Traveling with an infant is often times a new parent’s nightmare! A small confined space, up in the air, with nowhere to go if baby starts screaming. For this reason, many parents avoid traveling all together as a family for the first few years of that child’s life. No need to forgo the vacays though, my friends! Here are 5 tips to keep you sane and make traveling with an infant quite do-able! Gabriel and I have taken Alessandra on 10 flights in this first year of her life, here’s how!
1. Bottle on the way up, bottle on the way down
One of the reasons why most babies cry and scream on the plane is from the change in air pressure and the inability to release that pressure. We discovered that as long as Alessandra was drinking her bottle for take off and landing when the change in air pressure is worst, she was completely fine. The action of swallowing helps release the pressure and also serves as a distraction. Something great and super convenient that we discovered and love traveling with are the Enfamil NeuroPro Ready To Use bottles that are pre-made so you don’t have to fuss with making formula on the plane while you’re holding your baby. Keeping your baby hydrated throughout the flight is also so incredibly important (airplanes can be so drying as I’m sure you’ve noticed on your skin)!
2. Comfort items
There are a few comfort items that we’d never dare travel without: most importantly, Alessandra’s pacifier and Lovie (this is a small stuffed animal with a mini blanket attached) that she uses and needs every night to fall asleep. Having those comfort items from home with us makes her feel so much more at ease and makes falling asleep in our arms on the plane that much easier. Having things that feel and smell like home are key.
3. Aisle seat:
When traveling with an infant, you have to expect to be up and down quite a bit. Between bathroom runs to change dirty diapers, and just needing to walk the baby, the last thing you want is to be stuck in a window or middle seat and need to ask the person next to you to get up every time you need to.
4. A calm disposition
Between crying, squirming, diaper changes, confined spaces, possible spitting up and spills, it’s easy for mom or dad to lose their cool and have a melt down. Best thing to do though, as hard as it may be, is to keep a calm and even disposition because believe it or not, your baby feeds off of your energy and will mirror it. If you’re calm, cool, and collected, so is baby. If you’re having a mama meltdown, so is baby.
5. What to do with your car seat and stroller
Sometimes what can be even harder than traveling with your baby, is traveling with all of your baby’s things! What we’ve learned works best for us is to put our car seat in a travel bag and check it with our luggage. Then we use the stroller through the airport (just be sure it’s an umbrella stroller) and check it right as we’re entering the plane. They’ll return it right where you dropped it off so it’s easy to put baby back in before heading down to baggage claim. I’d also recommend getting a travel bag for your stroller just to keep it protected.
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