Tell be about travelling with a baby

newinhouston

Hi,

We're going to a conference in Montreal in a couple of weeks. We've never traveled by plane with DD and were thinking yesterday about what stuff do we need to take.

We're staying for a week. 

What kind of stroller did you take? we have a big, travel system. Should we buy a foldable stroller (I guess I can find one on craigslist)?

What about formula, diapers, wipes? Should we buy those when we arrive or carry them with us from Houston?

What about baths? I cannot possible take DD's bathtub with us. What do you do when traveling?

Do you use any medication  to keep your baby drowsy in the plane?

What's on your must-take-with-us travel list?

Tell me all you can about your experience traveling with a baby.

 Gracias!

Susana

BritanyV

We took our big stroller when we flew with ds, he was 10 months old.     We only brought enough diapers and food for the flight and to get us to the first grocery store, there's no since in packing all that extra stuff.

We just bathed him with us and we did use benadryl on the flight but that's not recommended by most medical professionals.  

melrrr

Benadryl can also have the opposite effect on kids, so I wouldn't chance it. 

We flew with Tracey to Chicago at 5 months and it was the easiest flight we ever took. I nursed on take off and landing (landing is the most important) and she slept for the over half of the 2 1/2 hour flight. Since then she has had about 7 or 8 round trips.  

When we went to Santa Fe for vacation and knew we'd want to have a stroller, we picked up a cheap umbrella one at Target when we got there. It is now our travel stroller and we don't care if it gets beat up. We also bring enough for the flight (although bring a lot more than we think we'll need in case we get stuck) and pick up the rest when we get there.  

cali_girl92504

I can't answer most of your questions since our first trip was to come here to CA to visit my family and they have a nursery and baby gear for her here.

However, I did decide to go ahead and take my car seat with a SNG I borrowed from a fabulous nestie. It was a piece of cake to fold up at the gate and hop on the plane...my travel system, not so much. So if you can borrow a SNG, I would or just get an umbrella stroller. My parents have one here for her already so I didn't want to do that and next time I won't even bother bringing the car seat and SNG (I was traveling alone).

If you can, it's much easier to walk through the airport with a baby carrier - that was my first plan but since I was traveling alone, I could lug our heavy carry on  diaper bag and her on my chest so I changed my mind last minute.

I bought diapers, etc. once I got here - no sense in lugging those with you. Take the extras home in your suitcase if you have them left over.

I did not medicate DD and she did great. I gave her a paci for take off and landing and she slept the first 2 hours. She only started to fuss a little the last 45 minutes but that's just because she was restless after 4 hours. I was able to tune the DirectTV to a baby channel and she was fine so just bring more than one toy to entertain her (I brought the one and she got bored). I'm not a fan of unnecessary medication (not for my dog, DD, me or DH) so it wasn't an option for me.

I agree with just taking baby in the shower with you while traveling. That's what we would do if we were staying in a hotel.

aprilprincess

ditto others on picking up diapers and such there (but like pp said make sure you pack a few more then you need just in case).

we would bring new toys, usually from the dollar store, wrapped up for entertainment (if it's a long flight).

as far as the bathtub goes if the baby is sitting up you can put a folded towel in the bottom of the bathtub. it gives them a tiny bit of support and they aren't slipping around in the tub. I wouldn't take one hand off them, but it's not too difficult.