It's better to think of Air Port Security as the Gateway to the World than dread every inch closer the security line brings you to the inevitable security scramble.
Older kids should be briefed on the security process before you leave home as well as while standing in line waiting your turn. Things to include in their security briefing:
1. Before leaving the house, make sure there are no fluids including drinks (empty water bottles are ok), lip gloss, sunscreen, etc in your carryon. Also make sure there are no sharp objects that could be viewed as weapons. (I actually had a scrapbooking eyelet kit in my carryon one time - hammer and all. Luckily my husband is a brilliant frequent traveller and always travels with a self addressed stamped large envelope in his computer bag to mail any contraband back to ourselves. We just go back out of security and drop it in the mailbox and then try again. He loses much fewer pocket knives now.)
2. We're going to have to move quickly once we get to the conveyor belt because everyone wants to get through quickly.
3. Make sure you don't have an i-pod, game boy, psp, chargers, or any other electronics or metal in your pants pocket. Put them in your carryon or jacket pocket.
4. Take off your coat or jacket while standing in line. Take off your shoes quickly when you get to the conveyor and put them with your coat in a gray bin. (I think children under 12 don't have to take off their shoes, but things are constantly changing) Lay your backpack on the rollers next to the bin and push them along until they are on the conveyor belt.
5. Hold your boarding pass in your hand and walk over and stand in front of the metal detector. Look at the person on the other side and wait for them to wave for you to come through. Walk through and go where the person points for you to go.
6. Walk to the conveyor where your stuff is coming out. Grab your shoes first and slip them on (if you need to tie them, you can do that at benches after you get your stuff). Grab your backpack and jacket and wait for the rest of the family.
Most older kids can manage through security without much assistance if they are prepared.
Taking a baby though security, on the other hand, doesn't go quite as smoothly. I am going to assume you have a car seat, stroller, or both, to get through with you. I have managed to get infant twins through security all by myself without incident, so you can manage one baby with your spouse to help (hopefully).
1. Before leaving the house, make sure there are no fluids including diaper rash ointment, sunblock, vitamins, children's medicine, juice boxes, filled bottles, etc in your diaper bag carryon. I usually empty the diaper bag completely before the trip and fill with only the necessities. I don't want my diaper bag searched because I have a liquid stain remover pen somewhere in there. Place your approved 3 oz or smaller diaper rash ointment, sunblock, vitamins, and medicine in a quart ziploc bag if you must take them on the plane. Otherwise pack all the fluids in a checked bag. Your baby will need to eat and drink on the plane. They understand this. You may take a reasonable amount of mixed formula, baby food, expressed breast milk, and whole milk through security with you. They only expect you to take what is needed for the flights. All other has to go in checked bags. I usually packed mine in a gallon ziploc bag for consistency because I know that all ziplocs need to come out and be put in the gray bins. Once these items have been sent through the x-ray machine, they will pull them off and swipe one or two, ask you to open the bottles or sippie cups and hold a swipe over the top and run a scan on them.
2. Strollers and smaller car seats should be run through the x-ray scanner. Be sure to place your carseat upside down on the conveyor and make sure none of the belts are hanging off. And no, you are not the first one to have a school of gold fish crackers dumped out of your car seat onto the x-ray conveyor, that would be me. I swear I cleaned the car seats before travelling. Most airports have one scanner that has a larger opening. I always ask for that line so they don't have to pat down the car seat or stroller.
3. Put all baby items in a bin. Blankies, pacifiers, bottles, cups, toys, and anything else you have to pry out of their hands.
4. Hold your boarding passes and baby in your arms and walk through the metal detector. As of this post, they do not make you go into the new body scanners with young children or infants.
I have done it by myself with infant twins and you can do it, too. Just give yourself plenty of time and think through the process before getting there. Understanding what the rules are makes it flow much more smoothly.
Everything you need to know about bringing a car seat on the plane
There are two ways that I know of to be able to take your child on the plane in their car seat. One is to purchase a seat for them. Some airlines have reduced fares for infants, most do not, but it doesn't hurt to ask. The other way is to take the car seat with you to the plane, hope that there are empty seats on the plane and that you can get one by you. This approach has only worked for me once since the airlines are completely filling planes these days. Your best bet is Southwest on a flight that isn't usually full, but there are no guarantees. You may end up gate checking the car seat and holding your baby.
I can't express how much easier it is to care for and entertain children in car seats as opposed to lap infants. For one thing, they are used to riding in a car seat and mostly without constant entertainment. When I put my twins in their car seats in the plane, I don't pull out any entertainment or snacks until they start getting bored which is usually well after take-off. Then there is the sleep issue. Most babies have no problem falling asleep in their car seats. They've done it before and are comfortable with it. Making sure your children get their naps at approximately the normal times is the most important rule for having a peaceful flight. Tired babies do not tolerate much and overtired babies have the potential of crying the entire flight. On my first solo flight with my infant twins I was obsessed with making sure I had everything ready, everything prepared to keep them busy the entire time just in case. Would you believe this is what the entire flight was like:
And I didn't bring anything to read or do for me. It was the most boring flight I've ever been on.
Now that I have raved about the benefits of taking your car seat on board, I know that's not always practical. If the cost-constraints of purchasing a ticket mean lap infant or no trip, go with the lap infant, just read my other posts on preparing for this.
All infant and child car seats that you plan to take on the plane should have a sticker on the side that indicates it is approved for aircraft use. On one of my car seats it was an official looking sticker, on another it was a generic sticker with a couple of paragraphs of writing with the phrase "approved for aircraft use" buried in the text. It's good to be able to quickly point out that it is aircraft approved if a flight attendant asks. That being said I would not recommend trying to take all aircraft approved car seats on a plane. Baby car seats can be much wider and longer (for infant seats) than will work with most airline seats.
Since my twins were born preemies, we had purchased infant carrier car seats that would fit preemies and were on the smaller size for infant carrier car seats. These fit perfectly and allowed the seats in front of us to recline. The infant carriers were by far the easiest to get onto the plane and strap into the plane and I used them up until the babies legs were too scrunched in the seat to be comfortable. By then I had purchased convertible car seats to use in the car and, though approved for aircraft use, there is no way they would fit side to side in an aircraft seat. I found very little information on the Internet, so I did a lot of research on car seats that are the best to use on air planes. I did some measurements of all the car seats at our local baby stores and found a couple of measurements to be the keys to a comfortable flight for those around the baby.
First measure the seat across the widest spot. I then checked www.seatguru.com to see how wide average coach seats were. Most are only 17 inches wide with the arm rest down. The average convertible car seat is 18 1/2 inches wide and some are over 20 inches wide. If your car seat is 18 inches wide or under, the seat will not be encroaching into your space and you'll have a comfortable ride.
For infant car seats I will have to make some measurements on the airplane this weekend and update this post.
For front facing car seats, the second measurement I found helpful was the distance from the airline seat to the baby's butt area. The closer you can get your baby's rear end to the airline seat back the longer their legs can grow before they are kicking the seat in front of you and kicking the tray table down the entire flight. This is a hard measurement to make and may require some guessing, but the smaller this measurement, the better. My car seat measures about 4 1/2 inches and at 2 years old they don't cause any trouble for those in front of us (yet).
While I consider those two measurements the key to not encroaching on other people's space, I have also found that it's good to have a car seat that has a smaller distance from the baby's rear end to where their legs fall over the edge at the front. Shortening this distance means your child's legs can hang down as they get longer instead of being propped out the front and aimed at the seat back in front of you. Some car seats are awesome recliners in this way, but not suited for the airplane.
Funny enough, I have found that the car seats that tend to meet all these requirements best are the cheap high back boosters with a 5 point harness. The car seats that tout being slim also measured up well, but were so heavy that I didn't want to try to carry them onto a plane (realize that carrying car seats onto a plane usually means lifting them up over every one's head on the way in).
One other thing I noticed with all the car seats I have owned, the padding is not sufficient for a long, comfortable ride. I noticed red marks on both my babies' backs in the same places after a long flight and realized the padding was just too thin. While I cannot recommend going against manufacturers rules about modifying your car seat in any way, I bought some foam padding and cut it to custom fit my car seat under the manufacturer's cover. Since they will let me hold my baby with no restraint on the plane, I didn't think a little extra padding was going to hurt anything. When you are in the convertible car seats this is even more important because the airline seat buckle usually connects right in the center of the baby's back. And those buckles are really bulky and uncomfortable. I used 1 inch thick foam for extra padding on my convertible car seats.
If you can tell from my pictures, when I fly with my babies, I tether everything they need right to their car seat. Pacifiers, sippie cups, and blankies are all attached to the car seat. There are lots of products on the market that make this easy or just use some ribbon.
The last tips I will pass on is about transporting your car seats through the airport.
Most infant car seats are purchased these days with matching strollers or you can buy a frame stroller for an infant carrier. This is the best way to get through the airport and up to the plane doors. Tell the gate agent that you will be gate checking the stroller and they will give you a tag to do so. Just wheel up to the end of the Jetway, remove your car seat, fold up the stroller and leave it by the door, and head into the plane. I have had stroller fabric damaged even when it was just gate checked, so I put mine in a stroller bag as well and have the gate agent tag the bag instead of the stroller. If you don't have a stroller made for holding the carrier, I can't recommend it, but I have put the infant seats into my reclined stroller seats on a regular stroller and it was secure enough not to fall. Do what you think is safe for your baby.
Once you get to the toddler or convertible car seat stage, it gets a little trickier to transport the car seat through the airport. You can strap it onto a rolling carry on and carry the child or have them walk. Since we travel frequently and I travel with two babies, and sometimes by myself, I have opted for a Go-Go Babyz travelmate which attaches to the back of the car seat and allows you to roll the car seats, kid and all, like luggage through the airport. They have been a lifesaver for travelling on my own. You can see them in action in the picture below. The travelmate collapses and can fit laying down in the overhead bin. On small aircraft or really full flights I have had to gate check them. Check the manufacturer's website to verify that it will work with your car seat before making this investment.
Best of luck to you and happy travels!
I can't express how much easier it is to care for and entertain children in car seats as opposed to lap infants. For one thing, they are used to riding in a car seat and mostly without constant entertainment. When I put my twins in their car seats in the plane, I don't pull out any entertainment or snacks until they start getting bored which is usually well after take-off. Then there is the sleep issue. Most babies have no problem falling asleep in their car seats. They've done it before and are comfortable with it. Making sure your children get their naps at approximately the normal times is the most important rule for having a peaceful flight. Tired babies do not tolerate much and overtired babies have the potential of crying the entire flight. On my first solo flight with my infant twins I was obsessed with making sure I had everything ready, everything prepared to keep them busy the entire time just in case. Would you believe this is what the entire flight was like:
And I didn't bring anything to read or do for me. It was the most boring flight I've ever been on.
Now that I have raved about the benefits of taking your car seat on board, I know that's not always practical. If the cost-constraints of purchasing a ticket mean lap infant or no trip, go with the lap infant, just read my other posts on preparing for this.
All infant and child car seats that you plan to take on the plane should have a sticker on the side that indicates it is approved for aircraft use. On one of my car seats it was an official looking sticker, on another it was a generic sticker with a couple of paragraphs of writing with the phrase "approved for aircraft use" buried in the text. It's good to be able to quickly point out that it is aircraft approved if a flight attendant asks. That being said I would not recommend trying to take all aircraft approved car seats on a plane. Baby car seats can be much wider and longer (for infant seats) than will work with most airline seats.
Since my twins were born preemies, we had purchased infant carrier car seats that would fit preemies and were on the smaller size for infant carrier car seats. These fit perfectly and allowed the seats in front of us to recline. The infant carriers were by far the easiest to get onto the plane and strap into the plane and I used them up until the babies legs were too scrunched in the seat to be comfortable. By then I had purchased convertible car seats to use in the car and, though approved for aircraft use, there is no way they would fit side to side in an aircraft seat. I found very little information on the Internet, so I did a lot of research on car seats that are the best to use on air planes. I did some measurements of all the car seats at our local baby stores and found a couple of measurements to be the keys to a comfortable flight for those around the baby.
First measure the seat across the widest spot. I then checked www.seatguru.com to see how wide average coach seats were. Most are only 17 inches wide with the arm rest down. The average convertible car seat is 18 1/2 inches wide and some are over 20 inches wide. If your car seat is 18 inches wide or under, the seat will not be encroaching into your space and you'll have a comfortable ride.
For infant car seats I will have to make some measurements on the airplane this weekend and update this post.
For front facing car seats, the second measurement I found helpful was the distance from the airline seat to the baby's butt area. The closer you can get your baby's rear end to the airline seat back the longer their legs can grow before they are kicking the seat in front of you and kicking the tray table down the entire flight. This is a hard measurement to make and may require some guessing, but the smaller this measurement, the better. My car seat measures about 4 1/2 inches and at 2 years old they don't cause any trouble for those in front of us (yet).
While I consider those two measurements the key to not encroaching on other people's space, I have also found that it's good to have a car seat that has a smaller distance from the baby's rear end to where their legs fall over the edge at the front. Shortening this distance means your child's legs can hang down as they get longer instead of being propped out the front and aimed at the seat back in front of you. Some car seats are awesome recliners in this way, but not suited for the airplane.
Funny enough, I have found that the car seats that tend to meet all these requirements best are the cheap high back boosters with a 5 point harness. The car seats that tout being slim also measured up well, but were so heavy that I didn't want to try to carry them onto a plane (realize that carrying car seats onto a plane usually means lifting them up over every one's head on the way in).
One other thing I noticed with all the car seats I have owned, the padding is not sufficient for a long, comfortable ride. I noticed red marks on both my babies' backs in the same places after a long flight and realized the padding was just too thin. While I cannot recommend going against manufacturers rules about modifying your car seat in any way, I bought some foam padding and cut it to custom fit my car seat under the manufacturer's cover. Since they will let me hold my baby with no restraint on the plane, I didn't think a little extra padding was going to hurt anything. When you are in the convertible car seats this is even more important because the airline seat buckle usually connects right in the center of the baby's back. And those buckles are really bulky and uncomfortable. I used 1 inch thick foam for extra padding on my convertible car seats.
If you can tell from my pictures, when I fly with my babies, I tether everything they need right to their car seat. Pacifiers, sippie cups, and blankies are all attached to the car seat. There are lots of products on the market that make this easy or just use some ribbon.
The last tips I will pass on is about transporting your car seats through the airport.
Most infant car seats are purchased these days with matching strollers or you can buy a frame stroller for an infant carrier. This is the best way to get through the airport and up to the plane doors. Tell the gate agent that you will be gate checking the stroller and they will give you a tag to do so. Just wheel up to the end of the Jetway, remove your car seat, fold up the stroller and leave it by the door, and head into the plane. I have had stroller fabric damaged even when it was just gate checked, so I put mine in a stroller bag as well and have the gate agent tag the bag instead of the stroller. If you don't have a stroller made for holding the carrier, I can't recommend it, but I have put the infant seats into my reclined stroller seats on a regular stroller and it was secure enough not to fall. Do what you think is safe for your baby.
Once you get to the toddler or convertible car seat stage, it gets a little trickier to transport the car seat through the airport. You can strap it onto a rolling carry on and carry the child or have them walk. Since we travel frequently and I travel with two babies, and sometimes by myself, I have opted for a Go-Go Babyz travelmate which attaches to the back of the car seat and allows you to roll the car seats, kid and all, like luggage through the airport. They have been a lifesaver for travelling on my own. You can see them in action in the picture below. The travelmate collapses and can fit laying down in the overhead bin. On small aircraft or really full flights I have had to gate check them. Check the manufacturer's website to verify that it will work with your car seat before making this investment.
Lap infants
I have traveled successfully with a lap infant, and you can too. It's obviously a cheaper alternative than buying a seat and you don't have to lug the car seat through security and through the airport.
My number one piece of advice for anyone travelling with a child under the age of 2 years is that you have to plan the travel around the child's naps. A tired baby is a cranky baby. Period. I was on a flight with a set of parents and their one year old twins who looked very tired before they boarded the plane (both the babies and the parents). You would think this is good, but tired turned into too tired and there was no hope of peace for anyone on the plane, especially the poor parents. Being the mother of twins myself, I learned early that there is something to that sleep training idea. Go through your sleep routine as much as possible on the plane when it's time for a nap, provide any lovies that they would normally nap with that are small enough for the flight, then cover their head with a thin blanket so they can breath, but not see around them (after about 4-5 months).
The second tip is book an aisle seat. Getting into the diaper bag frequently is hard to pull off if you are in a window or middle seat. Leaning out into the aisle gives you some extra room, just look before you lean. On one flight, I sware the flight attendant was waiting behind me to jump into the aisle with a service cart every time I had to reach for the diaper bag.
Third tip, don't forget the birth certificate. We were almost declined our lap infants because I forgot the birth certificates. Luckily the pediatricians office was open and they faxed over immunization records and we were cleared. Since I usually tried to buy them seats were rarely asked, so I got lax. But some airlines want to make sure they aren't losing a fare to an over-age lap infant. For all airlines that I know of, the cut off is age two. If your child turns two before the return flight, you'll have to book a seat for them on the way back. On overseas flights to Europe we have had to pay about 1/4th the cost of my ticket to carry an infant onboard, so be sure you have purchased the lap infant ticket if it's required.
During take-off and landing, you are only allowed to hold the baby on your lap with no restraining devices. No carriers or slings. (Although on an overseas flight, a European airline gave me a little infant seat belt that hooked onto mine for takeoff and landing - it was brilliant, why don't the US carriers use those?) Once in the air, you can put your baby in a carrier to hold them. I found that under age one, kids do fairly well as lap infants because they aren't too mobile anyway. Once past that year point they want down and to run up and down the aisles. It just requires more entertainment and distractions. My kids were fascinated with my lip stick tubes for almost an hour on a flight. For the next flight I bought some cheap lipstick in different shaped tubes and cleaned out the lipstick with a q-tip. Think small, portable, entertainment.
Don't plan on using the tray table for your drinks. Bring a drink bottle for yourself and your little one and pour your drinks in there after they're served to avoid spills. If travelling with a companion you can use their tray table, but you may want to ask for lids on your cups in case a stray arm or leg flips the other tray table. Been there.
For transporting you child through the airport you can opt for carrying or taking them in their stroller and gate checking the stroller when you get to the plane. Be sure to get your gate-check tag for the stroller from the gate agent for each flight and pick it up by your plane at the end of your flight. I have been on one flight where the airport (Iceland) policy took gate-checked bags to the luggage carousel and I ended up without a stoller, but they did provide mostly clean looking community strollers in the airport for getting to baggage claim. I have to admit I was a little panicked when they made the announcement as I sat there after a 5 hour flight with my twin 1 year olds on the plane, but it turned out fine.
You will have checked your car seat with your luggage but make sure you don't accidentally pay for the car seat on airlines that charge for baggage. Car seats and strollers fly free on all airlines, but you may only get to check one with your luggage if you have only purchased one ticket on the plane for yourself, but you can still gate check the stroller. I was arguing with an agent while helping a friend at the airport that had a lap infant and a child in a seat next to her. She had two car seats to check. The gate agent kept insisting she could only check one assisted device and had to pay for the other. Once we put it in simple terms, two purchased seats, two assisted devices, the agent realized she did not have to pay for the second one if she put one device on each seat, duh.
Best of luck to you and your little bundle of joy on your travels.
My number one piece of advice for anyone travelling with a child under the age of 2 years is that you have to plan the travel around the child's naps. A tired baby is a cranky baby. Period. I was on a flight with a set of parents and their one year old twins who looked very tired before they boarded the plane (both the babies and the parents). You would think this is good, but tired turned into too tired and there was no hope of peace for anyone on the plane, especially the poor parents. Being the mother of twins myself, I learned early that there is something to that sleep training idea. Go through your sleep routine as much as possible on the plane when it's time for a nap, provide any lovies that they would normally nap with that are small enough for the flight, then cover their head with a thin blanket so they can breath, but not see around them (after about 4-5 months).
The second tip is book an aisle seat. Getting into the diaper bag frequently is hard to pull off if you are in a window or middle seat. Leaning out into the aisle gives you some extra room, just look before you lean. On one flight, I sware the flight attendant was waiting behind me to jump into the aisle with a service cart every time I had to reach for the diaper bag.
Third tip, don't forget the birth certificate. We were almost declined our lap infants because I forgot the birth certificates. Luckily the pediatricians office was open and they faxed over immunization records and we were cleared. Since I usually tried to buy them seats were rarely asked, so I got lax. But some airlines want to make sure they aren't losing a fare to an over-age lap infant. For all airlines that I know of, the cut off is age two. If your child turns two before the return flight, you'll have to book a seat for them on the way back. On overseas flights to Europe we have had to pay about 1/4th the cost of my ticket to carry an infant onboard, so be sure you have purchased the lap infant ticket if it's required.
During take-off and landing, you are only allowed to hold the baby on your lap with no restraining devices. No carriers or slings. (Although on an overseas flight, a European airline gave me a little infant seat belt that hooked onto mine for takeoff and landing - it was brilliant, why don't the US carriers use those?) Once in the air, you can put your baby in a carrier to hold them. I found that under age one, kids do fairly well as lap infants because they aren't too mobile anyway. Once past that year point they want down and to run up and down the aisles. It just requires more entertainment and distractions. My kids were fascinated with my lip stick tubes for almost an hour on a flight. For the next flight I bought some cheap lipstick in different shaped tubes and cleaned out the lipstick with a q-tip. Think small, portable, entertainment.
Don't plan on using the tray table for your drinks. Bring a drink bottle for yourself and your little one and pour your drinks in there after they're served to avoid spills. If travelling with a companion you can use their tray table, but you may want to ask for lids on your cups in case a stray arm or leg flips the other tray table. Been there.
For transporting you child through the airport you can opt for carrying or taking them in their stroller and gate checking the stroller when you get to the plane. Be sure to get your gate-check tag for the stroller from the gate agent for each flight and pick it up by your plane at the end of your flight. I have been on one flight where the airport (Iceland) policy took gate-checked bags to the luggage carousel and I ended up without a stoller, but they did provide mostly clean looking community strollers in the airport for getting to baggage claim. I have to admit I was a little panicked when they made the announcement as I sat there after a 5 hour flight with my twin 1 year olds on the plane, but it turned out fine.
You will have checked your car seat with your luggage but make sure you don't accidentally pay for the car seat on airlines that charge for baggage. Car seats and strollers fly free on all airlines, but you may only get to check one with your luggage if you have only purchased one ticket on the plane for yourself, but you can still gate check the stroller. I was arguing with an agent while helping a friend at the airport that had a lap infant and a child in a seat next to her. She had two car seats to check. The gate agent kept insisting she could only check one assisted device and had to pay for the other. Once we put it in simple terms, two purchased seats, two assisted devices, the agent realized she did not have to pay for the second one if she put one device on each seat, duh.
Best of luck to you and your little bundle of joy on your travels.
Screaming babies on the descent
If you have noticed, the most likely time for babies to start hysterical screaming fits is at the end of the flight. Sometimes it's do to missing naps and being overtired, but more likely it's due to the changing pressure building up in the babies ears on the descent into your destination. Here's a few tips I have used to almost entirely avoid any pain or discomfort.
1. For very young babies, try to plan feedings so that in the last 30 minutes of the flight they will be happily sucking away at a bottle or breast so they keep that jaw moving and allow the pressure to release. Usually that means no feeding for at least an hour before.
2. For babies that are old enough for chewing some real solids, plan snack time for the descent. Again, no feeding or drinking for at least an hour or more before. They need to keep that jaw moving. Our favorite is fruit snacks for the older babies and kids, but crackers, cheese, granola bars, sucking on sippy cups, and anything chewy works. As soon as you start feeling any pressure in your ears, get them chewing immediately. The pressure really only lasts for about 15 min, then you can enjoy the rest of the descent. Use your ears as your guide.
3. If your baby is sleeping at this time, it's your choice to wake them or not to try to feed them. Most of the time my twins would sleep through the descent with no problem, but I had them both wake screaming one flight (must have been an unusually quick descent) and once they feel the pressure as pain, it is very hard to get them to release the pressure. All I could do was try to massage around their ears to try to help relieve the pain.
4. If your baby has been congested, I would recommend talking to your pediatrician about a decongestant that should be in full force during the last 30 min of the flight. Congestion just makes the pressure build up worse. If your baby is too young, you could at least try a nasal aspirator to clear our as much as you can before the descent. The people sitting in your row are going to love watching that.
Being proactive about the pressure has worked for me every time. It can for you, too.
1. For very young babies, try to plan feedings so that in the last 30 minutes of the flight they will be happily sucking away at a bottle or breast so they keep that jaw moving and allow the pressure to release. Usually that means no feeding for at least an hour before.
2. For babies that are old enough for chewing some real solids, plan snack time for the descent. Again, no feeding or drinking for at least an hour or more before. They need to keep that jaw moving. Our favorite is fruit snacks for the older babies and kids, but crackers, cheese, granola bars, sucking on sippy cups, and anything chewy works. As soon as you start feeling any pressure in your ears, get them chewing immediately. The pressure really only lasts for about 15 min, then you can enjoy the rest of the descent. Use your ears as your guide.
3. If your baby is sleeping at this time, it's your choice to wake them or not to try to feed them. Most of the time my twins would sleep through the descent with no problem, but I had them both wake screaming one flight (must have been an unusually quick descent) and once they feel the pressure as pain, it is very hard to get them to release the pressure. All I could do was try to massage around their ears to try to help relieve the pain.
4. If your baby has been congested, I would recommend talking to your pediatrician about a decongestant that should be in full force during the last 30 min of the flight. Congestion just makes the pressure build up worse. If your baby is too young, you could at least try a nasal aspirator to clear our as much as you can before the descent. The people sitting in your row are going to love watching that.
Being proactive about the pressure has worked for me every time. It can for you, too.
Travelling with Multiples
A special note for parents travelling with multiples: There are only 4 oxygen masks on a row of 3 seats. If you plan on having lap infants, you will not be able to sit in the same row as your partner unless the other seat in the row is empty (3 people in 3 seats plus 2 babies=someone doesn't get an oxygen mask). Book seats that are aisle seats across from each other so you can still share the diaper bag and support each other. If you are travelling with car seats on the plane, the best is to put both car seats in one row next to each other by the window and the adults on the two aisles. You can trade off baby duty and they can share a DVD player. The car seats are not allowed to block anyone's path to get out of the plane, so a parent cannot sit between them. It actually works out fine.
When I take my car seats on the plane with me, especially when I'm alone, I attach all necessary baby paraphernalia to the car seat. I have a strap for each for the sippie cup, pacifier, and blanket. Imagine if I lost one of those for one baby...yikes! Security, of course, will have you remove the sippie cup for scanning, but they are fine if you leave the rest attached. You may want to remove the pacifier just to keep it sanitary or put a cover on it. There are lots of products on the market for tethering items to your car seat, but a simple ribbon works as well. But remember to remove any choking hazards before putting them in a car. In the plane you will be attentively sitting next to them, so I don't worry about attaching strings to the car seat. In a car where you just get an occasional glance back at them may be dangerous. Use your head.
When travelling with my boy/girl twins, we have small tents with sleeping bags that we started using at about 6 months old (about the time they couldn't sleep next to each other in a portacrib any more). I wasn't going to try to haul two portacribs around. We received Peapod tents as a gift. I can fit both in a large suitcase with enough room for most of the baby clothes and diapers. They have been fantastic! Now that the twins are 2 and have figured out how to undo the zippers, I sometimes have to safety pin the zippers closed until they fall asleep so they don't try to wander. They work wonderfully everywhere we have traveled as well as if you will be at Grandma's over nap time. I highly recommend them.
When I take my car seats on the plane with me, especially when I'm alone, I attach all necessary baby paraphernalia to the car seat. I have a strap for each for the sippie cup, pacifier, and blanket. Imagine if I lost one of those for one baby...yikes! Security, of course, will have you remove the sippie cup for scanning, but they are fine if you leave the rest attached. You may want to remove the pacifier just to keep it sanitary or put a cover on it. There are lots of products on the market for tethering items to your car seat, but a simple ribbon works as well. But remember to remove any choking hazards before putting them in a car. In the plane you will be attentively sitting next to them, so I don't worry about attaching strings to the car seat. In a car where you just get an occasional glance back at them may be dangerous. Use your head.
When travelling with my boy/girl twins, we have small tents with sleeping bags that we started using at about 6 months old (about the time they couldn't sleep next to each other in a portacrib any more). I wasn't going to try to haul two portacribs around. We received Peapod tents as a gift. I can fit both in a large suitcase with enough room for most of the baby clothes and diapers. They have been fantastic! Now that the twins are 2 and have figured out how to undo the zippers, I sometimes have to safety pin the zippers closed until they fall asleep so they don't try to wander. They work wonderfully everywhere we have traveled as well as if you will be at Grandma's over nap time. I highly recommend them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)