Flying with LO

JessicaKS

My husband and I are taking our ten week old on a cross country flight tomorrow morning. This is our first time flying with a baby. Give me all the advice you can if you are BTDT! We are kinda nervous.

I already know to nurse her on takeoff and landing.

Anything else you'd advise?

JessicaKS

measton8809 said:

Took Lilly on a flight when she was 6-7 weeks old.  The flight down I was by myself, the flight back my husband was with me. 

I didn't need to nurse her on takeoff and landing.  She had no issues with her ears; slept through it one way and was awake the other.

What airline are you flying? We were on Southwest so I made sure to ask if there were extra seats to bring our carseat on the flight with us.  Otherwise I would have gate-checked it and held her the whole time. 

My tip would actually be to feed her before boarding and encourage sleep.  That way she'll sleep for part of the time. 

Eat before you leave!! I didn't and between driving to the airport, checking in, security, and getting to the gate I was STARVING by the time I boarded.  Luckily Lilly was asleep so I snarfed the food and coffee I bought after security. 

Have everything you might want or need in the bag that would go under your seat.  When I was alone I didn't want to put anything in the overhead compartment.

Thanks so much for the help!

We are flying Virgin America. My
biggest fear is not having a changing
table on the plane!!

dmlk413

BonnieK10 said:

JessicaKS said:

Thanks so much for the help!

We are flying Virgin America. My
biggest fear is not having a changing
table on the plane!!

Wait...they don't have changing tables on the plane!?  What do we do, put the toilet seat down and the changing pad on top of that?

Some planes have them but a lot of smaller planes don't. I changed DD on my lap.

I recommend bringing more diapers than you think you'll need, a couple change of clothes and some plastic garbage sacks. We were stuck in the airport for 8 hours due to delays and I was so glad to have plenty of diapers. DD also had a major blowout so I rinsed out her dirty clothes and put them in the sack. The sacks can also be used for diapers if you have to change on your lap.

Oh also, the planes we flew on were freezing. I dressed DD in pants and socks and wrapped her in a blanket and then changed her when we arrived at our destination.

JessicaKS

BonnieK10 said:

JessicaKS said:

Thanks so much for the help!

We are flying Virgin America. My
biggest fear is not having a changing
table on the plane!!

Wait...they don't have changing tables on the plane!?  What do we do, put the toilet seat down and the changing pad on top of that?


Not all planes have changing tables. I hear Virgin America planes all do but I have no confirmation of that. My SIL changed my nieces diaper on her lap at her seat out of desperation once!

dmlk413

I would just gate check the carseat. It's kind of a hassle but I've heard horror stories of carseats getting damaged when they are checked.

JessicaKS

Wanted to thank everyone for your advice!! Both flights went awesome. Virgin America is super helpful and they rearranged our seats on both legs to give us an extra seat for LO to sit in her carseat (free of charge too!). She slept most of both flights, had no problems with her ears and didn't even seem to notice anything was out of the ordinary! It was kinda too good to be true (especially because it was cross country)!

Also FWIW, Virgin America has awesome, gigantic, and clean changing tables on all their planes! It's also a great airline to take with lap infants in general because each seat has a TV screen so you can watch TV or a movie to have some hands free entertainment while you hold your baby.