Air travel with a baby is not easy at all, and unless you have a placid baby who will sleep through anything, flying with a baby can be a potential nightmare. If you are planning on a flight and baby must come too, here are 7 Tips for Air Travel with a New-born.
Sky Cots or bassinets will be very handy when traveling with a baby on a plane. You will need to book them beforehand, or purchase one from the airline itself. This way, during long haul flights, your baby will have somewhere else to sleep other than on your lap all the time.
This can be one of the most uncomfortable parts of the flight for your baby, as the change in air pressure can really hurt their ears. Try and make this the times that you feed your baby. The swallowing motion when they eat their food or drink milk, will help to combat the painful symptoms they experience when the plane takes off or lands.
When flying with a baby, it is important to remember to make sure that the seats for all the family are booked next to each other, or you could find that if you don’t check, you could be faced with you and your baby sitting next to a stranger. It would be better to sit with your partner, or if you are traveling alone, book up the seat next to you for the baby.
This is one of the most fantastic pieces of apparatus to travel with. You can hook your baby in, close to the comfort of your warm body, and you will be able to have your hands free for carrying luggage or baby bags. Most baby slings or kangaroo slings are made from soft material so they can fold away without taking up too much space.
One of the biggest causes of discomfort when flying with a baby, is dehydration. It is important to make sure that you have plenty of fluids, like water or juice for your baby to drink, so that your baby doesn’t become dehydrated, especially during a long flight. Babies can’t tell you if they are thirsty but the chances of thirst are higher; keep extra bottled water in your nappy bag just in case.
Use the baby changing table provided for you on the airplane. There will be plenty of bins provided for the nappies, so don’t ask the air stewards to deal with them as they are busy preparing food and drink and taking care of you and all the other passengers.
When you are flying with a baby, make sure that you take an extra pair of clothes for you to wear. If your baby messes food or even worse gets sick on you during the flight, you will need to change your clothing, otherwise you will have to wear soiled clothes for the rest of the long flight, and still make your way through the airport wearing dried milk or apple sauce.
When you are flying with your baby it can become a drama free experience that won’t leave you reaching for the wine when you land. If you are traveling with your new-born by airplane you will just need to do a few simple things to make it and easy process for you and your baby – and all the other passengers!
Top Image Source: Baby and New Mother