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Babies: 9 - 12 Months
Are you okay flying with a lap baby?
Considering the number of moms here who will RF their LOs for more than 1yr (with some who judge those who switch RF to FF right away), I'm wondering how everyone feel about lap baby. So my questions are:
1. Are you going to RF your child as long as possible?
2. If you are flying, are you going to make sure your LO has his/her own seat and will not fly with a lap baby?
If your answers to both are not the same, what's the difference?
My answer: YES to both.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Are you okay flying with a lap baby?
1) Isaiah doesnt weigh much so I know he will be older than 1 before he turns 20 lbs so the moment he is an ounce over 20 lbs we are switcing him (Unless he gets a growth spurt and turns 20 lbs before 1)
2) We are flying to Germany in a couple weeks and he will be a lap baby. I am hoping the flight isnt crowded so we have a whole row but we arenet bringing his carseat (My mom rented one for when we get there) and I didnt want to spend another 1000+ on an extra ticket knowing he will be in our laps anyway for 90% of the flight even if he had his own seat
1. DD is already 23 lbs. and it is torturous as it is getting her into the car. I don't see us doing RF much longer than a year.
2. We are not flying anywhere, but if we were she would be on my lap. I couldn't see wasting a ticket just to have her not sit in the seat anyway.
1. I will keep him rear facing as long as possible, but he is already a big boy...both height and weight, so it might not be 2 yrs. I'll have to look at the manual and see what the max is for RF.
2. I am flying with him this weekend and we did not get him his own seat. I am not worried about a plane accident the way I am about car accidents. And, I feel he wouldn't be in the seat anyway...he'd probably scream!
2. Yes leaving tonight!
2. Nope leaving tonight!
1. We will rear face until age 2.
2. We've already flown with him as a lap baby and will do so in the future if we fly.
There's actually a big difference. RF is proven to be WAY safer. Flying with a lap baby is also safe. My dad is a cop and worked a shift when there was a plane crash. A 747 went down and every person on board died except for a little girl, who was on her mom's lap. Her mom curled around her and saved her life. That is why we fly with him as a lap baby.
Will try to RF as long as possible, but DS is already 30 inches and 24 pounds, so I can imagine that by the time he is 1 he will be a bit bigger.
So long as we can, he will fly in our laps. We only fly once a year, if that, so it really isn't a big deal.
1. He will be RF as long as his weight allows in the convertible carseat
2. Next week we will be flying and he will be in my lap. The likelihood of a plane crash is minuscule compared to the likelihood of a car crash, and honestly I don't see how a car seat (or his own seat) will do much good in the event of a plane crash. It's 2 completely different situations.
1. Yes
2. I have gotten him his own seat before when we went on a very long flight. We are flying over Christmas though (pretty short flight) and he will be a lap baby. When you compare the number of car accidents vs plane crashes, the risk is VERY low.
1. Nope I am going to FF her at 1 year. She was 29 inches and 23 pounds at her 9 month appt and the pedi said she will be perfectly fine to FF at 1.
2. I have flown with DD a few times already and she has always been on my lap. I think the $$ issue has always dictated my decision and I never really thought about buying her her own seat.
1. We will forward face when we feel ready to. I'm not uptight about it like some people. He will be at least a year but after that we'll see.
2. We've already flown several times and never gotten his own seat. At first it was because of the money but there were several flights when he was able to have his own seat because the flight wasn't full and he wouldn't stay in it at all. Now we definitely won't pay for a seat that he won't use.
How does it work when you have the baby on your lap? Do you put the seatbelt around LO too?
DH and I have talked about this, and he is insistent that DS would get his own seat and be strapped in a carseat if we ever fly. He has been on some turbulent flights in the past and he couldn't imagine having to hold on to the baby in that situation. He wouldn't want to run the risk of losing control and having the baby fly out of one of our arms. It's not necessarily a plane crash situation he's worried about, but turbulence.
To answer the questions:
1. We'll have DS RF for as long as possible, but he's already almost 25 pounds and very tall. So it might be soon after he turns 1.
2. We would get DS his own seat.
Baby Boy #1 born 1/15/2010
Babies #2 & #3 arriving Spring 2014 (EDD June 18)
1. Are you going to RF your child as long as possible? yes, my boys were big, so they turned around closer to 1 (they were both 30lbs by 1), but I was able to keep DD RF until about 1 1/2 and DD #2 will be RF as long as i can keep here there.
2. If you are flying, are you going to make sure your LO has his/her own seat and will not fly with a lap baby? I have flown before, and I did have the LO on my lap for the ride.
If your answers to both are not the same, what's the difference? Honestly we are a family of 6 and the extra $$ for the seat was too much, the older ones had their own seat (with carseat) but the LO was only about 8 weeks old at the time, and it was convenient for her to nurse and fall right back asleep in my arms for the 5 hour flight. Now that she's bigger, I'd get her a seat, even though it's not required.
1. No, I will not be RF as long as possible. I will turn him over shortly after his first birthday.
2. Yes, I am flying with LO as a lap baby. We simply cannot afford to pay for LO's own seat. He will be sitting on our lap and it's fine with us!
Our family blog
1) Yes
2) Flying tomorrow AM and No.
The discrepancy is that in #1 I am greatly lowering the chance of injury in a decently probable event. #2, I don't know that I'm greatly lowering the chance of injury (plane accidents usually...don't end well, I don't know that the carseat would save us if something were to happen while flying) of a very low probability event.
1. Are you going to RF your child as long as possible? Yes, we will RF until at least 2 yrs
2. If you are flying, are you going to make sure your LO has his/her own seat and will not fly with a lap baby? We have flown three times already, when DD was 7 weeks, 3 months and 7 months and she was on either of our laps the whole time. I don't think this is equal comparison by any means. You can hardly compare an airplane to a car. My child is safe and sound in my (or H's) arms. The thought never even crossed my mind to do it any other way.
1) Yes
2) Flying tomorrow AM and No.
The discrepancy is that in #1 I am greatly lowering the chance of injury in a decently probable event (car accident). #2, I don't know that I'm greatly lowering the chance of injury (plane accidents usually...don't end well, I don't know that the carseat would save us if something were to happen while flying) of a very low probability event (plane accident).
1- We are going with our pedi's recommendations on RF. When we had our carseat installed by the fire station, they had the same recommendations as our pedi, which was 20 pounds AND 1 year old, so we are going with that.
2- We did fly with LO and he was a lap baby. My aunt has been a flight attendant for over 30 years and has said that she sees more parents with lap babies than putting their babies in car seats. On most airlines, LOs can be lap babies until 2. She said that she sees a lot of smaller 2-3 year olds as lap babies as well. Our reasoning was mainly financial, though.
1. Ill probably turn him around at 1 1/2, when this next one gets here.
2. Ive flown with C 4 times, hes been a lap baby each time. I cant afford $600 seat that he wouldnt want to be in anyway.
Our last flight (over TGing) we flew into MKE under some very windy circumstances. The turbulence was the worst I have ever experienced and I had DD on my lap the whole time. I never once felt uncomfortable or like she was going to fly out of my arms, not once. I just held her in a sitting position on my lap and she was fine. I would have thought she would have been much more likely to be scared out of her mind if she was in her own seat experiencing all of that.
1. Yes
2. I bought DS his own seat and was unable to get the carseat to install as safetly (tightly) as in the car. The seat was very loose. I even asked the flight attendants to help and they couldn't get it cinched down anymore than I could.
1. We will be RF as long as possible. Corri is a peanut and I don't see any rush to turn her around once she outgrows the infant seat, since the convertible can RF too (duh, lol).
2. Corri flew with us last month as a lap baby, and we plan to keep her as a lap baby until she is 2. It is for both monetary and practical reasons that we made this decision. It is an unnecessary expense to purchase a $300 seat for a baby before we are required to do so. Additionally, in the event of a plane crash, being in the carseat is likely not going to do much for her.
As for the PP who mentioned turbulence, I have flown tons, and have encountered some pretty horrendous turbulence, but have never seen turbulence bad enough that a child could fly out of someone's arms. So from a practical standpoint, to purchase a seat for an infant on the off chance that there could be turbulence bad enough to jar my child from my arms is just silly.