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Alabama Babies
Flying (alone) with an infant
Has anyone done it? Any tips?
I'll be flying to Texas in April with Payton -- she'll be about 5 months old. I don't have to take a PnP (b/c my parents and sister both have one), but not sure about a carseat. My parents have a hand-me-down carseat from my sister, so on the second leg of the trip when I fly to see her family, I would have to take the borrowed one anyway, so I'm just wondering if I should take the one from home.
If you did travel with an infant carseat, what did you do about the base? Bring it? Leave it at home and just buckle the carseat in with the seatbelt?
I'm mostly worried about dragging our suitcase (have considered doing a bigger one and checking it, and I HATE checking baggage), and diaper bags (with enough bottles/formula/supplies in case we get stranded, UGH), stroller, carseat, and baby -- and wondering how I'll juggle it all by myself. So I would appreciate any tips! I know the flight itself will be fine.
The hard part of this is making sure I bring enough bottle supplies since she isn't BF.
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Re: Flying (alone) with an infant
we have flown 3 times with Avery - once was alone when she was 10 months old (but not walking or crawling) and I BF - but here's my experiences...
Check the carseat and get a car seat bag for it. We checked the base too and installed the base then the carseat.
Check your suitcase, bring a bag. I found a backpack to be more helpful than a bag because you have your hands free.
check your stroller plane side - or... when we flew with Avery at 3 months, I just wore her w/ the baby k'tan and we didn't bring a stroller at all. Wearing her was more convenient for her age.
Make sure you bring extra clothes for you and Payton.
For bottles, could you bring a few, and then extra formula - maybe those travel pack things - you can always wash and make up more, right? I'm not familiar enough w/ bottle feeding to really answer on this one.
And less is more... don't bring too many toys - at 5 months old she won't need a whole lot to keep her entertained.
Good luck!!!
We use Playtex drop-ins, so we don't need tons of bottles (although they and the nipples still either need sterilized or a wash in a dishwasher in order to be sanitary) -- but the drop-ins come in boxes that is additional space. I'll probably pre-fill her bottles with formula, pack an extra can in our bag and then buy some when we get to our destination. We can't use the little travel bags of formula b/c she uses a gentle formula and they only make the regular version in the mini packets.
These are great suggestions though -- I am going to check out the carseat bags. I didn't know such a thing existed!
ah ok. got it!
I've probably flown 4 or 5 times myself with J. Obviously, everyone has different preferences. The first time I flew, I checked the carseat and stroller and carried J in the Bjorn. That was a NIGHTMARE. I was a sweaty mess, had a baby permanantly attached to me (think about the logistics of trying to use the bathroom, etc.) and was wishing that I had a stroller!
From there on out I did the following - checked one big bag (I hate to check bags too, but with all the stuff you need for a baby, it's worth it). Carried a backpack diaper bag to have hands free. Took J in the carseat w/the snap n go stroller thru the airport. Most of the time there are empty seats (depending on when you're flying) and you can carry on the carseat with the baby - again, a little easier than holding a baby the whole flight. If there aren't empty seats, it's still nice to have your hands free until right before you get on the plane - I just would gate check the carseat and stroller.
As for the diaper bag - your plan sounds good - I recommend an extra shirt for you and outfit for her in case of any accidents!
Again, just my $0.02, but I did do a lot of solo traveling with J and this is what worked best for us!
Ohmygosh -- I didn't even think of trying to go to the bathroom in some of those tiny airport stalls with Payton in the Bjorn! Not pretty!!
Did you get a carseat bag for your carseat in case you had to gate check it?
Oh yeah, it was terrible, I still remember that first flight so vividly. It didn't help that J was probably only about 2 months, so not sitting up, and I'm checking in, trying to bag up my stroller, and carseat, and everything else, and J is about to fall out of the Bjorn then I set her on the floor and she kept toppling over. All these people were staring at me, yet no one offered to help - it sucked - did I mention that I'm still scarred by that??? = )
Anyway, I did get both a stroller bag and a carseat bag (which I only ended up using that very first time and spent way too much on). I wouldn't bother with the carseat bag, but again, that's just me. I've found that the baggage people deal with this all the time and have never had damage to my carseat or stroller. Not saying it can't happen, but it hasn't happened to me yet *knock on wood*
Okay, super helpful -- thank you!
J was laughing at me last night, b/c I'm already practice packing. I have a bunch of bags out and was using the clean laundry to practice fitting the clothes we would take in with bottles and everything else.
He is amused by my OCD-ness.
DId I mention we're not leaving for a month??
This. I've flown with K twice now. Both times I checked our big suitcase and just carried a diaper bag on board. I gate checked her stroller and her infant carrier, which snapped into the stroller. It make getting from gate to gate super easy. At one point I was running from one get to another, with the gate down the terminal. I couldn't imagine having to do that with the bjorn. (Plus, we flew across country so it was nice for K to take her naps in her carseat at our stopovers.)
Also, I had a bag for our stroller but never our carseat. It never got dirty or damaged.
natural m/c and d&c at 10 weeks - 1/24/2014
DX w/ hetero C677t and A1298C MTHFR - 3/4/2014
We always fly alone
Mason's taken 4 trips; 8 flights total before 1 yr...he's my official baby jetsetter! His first one was at 4 months so pretty close to where Payton will be.
If you travel alone with an infant/toddler, the best advice I can give is to streamline and minimize. But here's some things I can think of from our travels.
Stroller / Carrier: You mentioned Payton's not interested in a carrier, but for me personally this was a lifesaver for walking through long terminals and especially going to the bathroom in those tiny stalls with all your gear {can you imagine Aunt Flo showed up for my first time to fly with M...go figure}. But I will say when I was flying this week, I noticed a lot of those cheap umbrella strollers being used and I think that's what I'm going to do now that M's walking. I thought about investing in something like a Quinny stroller {it's most light & compact & has it's own carrying case} but then I remembered how they handle luggage at planeside checked bags and I'd be nervous about them ruining a nice stroller {you have to check the stroller at the gate}.
Car Seat: Fortunately, at our destinations I arranged for a car seat to be in the car already {family members would borrow one from a friend} so I didn't deal with this, but I would urge you to check anything bulky because walking through a long terminal to get your gate is tough enough if you're alone with an infant...and like Lisa said it's awful when you have to use the restroom / change diaper / clean up mommy and baby AND have to deal with lugging extra junk around. In this case, it's well-worth it to check bags & baby gear. UNLESS you're paying for an extra seat and in that case, you'd use the infant carrier in her seat.
Diaper Bag: They will inspect the formula {or water} and baby food at security, so it will help if you can have all of it grouped together conveniently {like I put all the foodstuffs in a large gallon sized bag so I just plopped it out for inspection}. I did the same thing with diaper cream and meds {he had antibiotics on this last flight}. Oh & get those travel alcohol wipes for cleaning {just make sure the alcohol dissipates!}...I can't remember who makes them but I've seen them at Babies R Us and that way you can wipe clean the nipples/bottles and then just have extra drop-ins and it minimizes the number of bottles {you might only need 2 on the plane}.
Take Off & Landing: I still make sure M's downing a bottle on take off & landing because their poors ears can really hurt since they don't know how to "pop" them from the altitude change. If Payton takes a paci, that'd be great too
***VERY IMPORTANT*** I didn't experience this until we flew Southwest, but you must have Payton's birth certificate to prove she's under 2 years of age in order to qualify for "infant in arms" seating. Otherwise they make you pay for an additional ticket {Continental & Delta didn't do this}. It doesn't matter if it's obvious your child is an infant, they were nasty sticklers at Southwest about this {and then later I googled and saw other complaints}. Even if you're not flying SW, I'd have a copy on hand just in case.
HTH!
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