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Babies: 3 - 6 Months
jillabobilla
member
Traveling Tips?
jillabobilla
member
I will be flying up north to Michigan for Mother's Day with DH and our LO to visit my grandma that is not doing well. We'll be up there for 4 days. Thankfully it's a direct flight and we are planning on renting a car that comes with an infant car seat so we don't have to bring our stroller and everything. I was planning on just wearing him in the Moby while we are going through the airport and everything. I'm just nervous traveling with him. Plus, I'm not 100% where we are staying when we are up there, since all of my extended family lives within 5 minutes of one another, we will be at someone's house, just not sure whose yet. I just don't know what baby items we should bring...where will LO sleep...etc.
Do you have any tips for traveling to make this as easy as possible?
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Re: Traveling Tips?
We've flown with DS 4 times roundtrip. We bring the car seat and Snap and Go. We gate check them so we can use them right up until we board the plane and have them as soon as we arrive. I like that I can put the diaper bag underneath and hang any carry on luggage over the stroller instead of carrying it. Plus, I feel more comfortable with my own car seat versus one a rental car provides. If you decide to wear LO keep in mind you usually have to take them out through security.
I bring my pump and use the top as a diaper bag so I can eliminate extra bags.
As for sleeping arrangements, I just let LO sleep with us. If you're staying at a hotel you can ask for a crib.
We will be flying with LO at the end of the month to MIL's so I've had the same questions! If you own "what to expect the first year" there is a section in there on traveling with baby. Most of it was geared towards toddlers, but some was useful. Here are are some the things that I plan on packing/doing:
I had a friend who flew from NC to NY a few weeks ago, and there were empty seats on her flight, so she asked the flight attendant if they could bring the baby carrier on board and buckle it into a seat. They were able to do this (they have the city mini) and it worked out well for them. Their DD slept in the carrier for the flight. My DD does not like to be in the carrier when she is awake unless she is moving, so I don't think that will work for us!
GL! and happy tavels!
ETA: I had bullet points but they disappeared when I posted, sorry!
Wow! Thank you for the information! [This is exactly why I love the Bump]
Now I'm thinking maybe we should 86 the infant car seat through the rental car company and instead just bring our own with the stroller if that is something we can check without having to pay extra. How exactly do you haul the car base with you through the airport though? That seems like quite a hassle. [I wonder if I can fit that thing in the stroller's storage basket?]
Also, I wasn't planning on bringing my pump, just because I don't expect to really be away from our LO during the trip, so that should help ease the luggage concern...or do you think it;s good to have a pump with you, just in case?
We are flying with Delta and I checked the 'traveling with an infant' section on their website...I don't recall seeing anything about bringing a doctor's note or anything. I wonder if I should call them to make sure?
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We flew with DD in early March. We took her stroller and carseat and gate-checked both. Getting through security was easy here in Edmonton, since they now have a dedicated family line. We had to take DD out of her carseat and carry her through security, and put both the carseat and stroller through the X-ray machine. Also, they made us take our containers of pumped breastmilk and put it in one of the trays to go through the X-ray machine. On the plane, we just held DD. She was very good for both flights. I nursed her at takeoff and landing, and her ears didn't seem to bug her at all. Even changing her on the plane wasn't bad; the change table was way bigger than I expected (it folded down from the wall over the toilet).
I took our regular diaper bag and filled it with wipes, about 8 diapers, 2 extra sleepers, pacifier, diaper cream, a washcloth, her vitamin D drops, saline drops, nasal aspirator, pumped breastmilk, 2 bottles, an extra blanket and a toy.
I did find the plane temperature a bit cold, but we had the two blankets that we use with her in her carseat with us, so it was easy to keep her warm enough.
Flying with her was pretty hassle-free at that age, and most people were very nice to us.
BTW, I would definitely bring your own carseat. I would not trust the ones from the rental car company. Who knows how often or well they clean them?
When DS was 8 weeks old we flew from ME to FL with a connecting flight in Philadelphia, stayed a week in FL (visiting my parents) and then we were on a direct flight to TX (SO was already there, working and moving in to the new house). I did this by myself, just me and DS. I was so nervous but it went really well. The only thing I needed for him to fly was a copy of his birth certificate, the only time I've heard of needing a note from the pedi is if they have health issues or are less than 14 days old. The first trip from ME to FL was the more difficult one. I had...
-Car seat & base (which was super heavy, then add a 12 pound DS, my arms were falling off by the end of the day)
-Backpack with my laptop, camera, wallet, phone, snacks, extra shirt for me (DS spits up a lot) and the Moby**
-Diaper bag with plenty of diapers and wipes (I never ended up changing him on the plane but I wasn't taking the chance of not having enough
), changing pad, burp clothes, an extra outfit, plastic bag to contain any messy clothes, gas drops, his zantac, bulb syringe and nose drops (he had a cold), tissues, pacis, and an extra blanket.
**I never used the Moby on either flight or in the airports, DS wasn't a big fan of it at this point and I wish I could have used it. It would've been nice to have two hands free all that stuff was heavy haha... but then again you said your DH was going so you'll have it a lot easier than I did. Also with the Moby, the FAA has a rule stating that you can't have your LO strapped to you in any way during taxi, take off and landing. This didn't matter for us anyway because I nursed him under a blanket during take off and landing so he wouldn't have pressure issues with his ears.
My DS slept almost the entire time on every flight we've been on, I'm assuming partially because he usually nurses to sleep, and the white noise of the plane kept him sleepy.. I'm not sure if it had anything to do with his sleepiness but my LC said it was okay to take Dramamine before the flight because I have nasty motion sickness.
ITA with PP on bringing your own car seat & base and asking if your flight has open seats so you can bring it on the plane, it's much more convenient to have a place to set LO down. The only flight I couldn't do this on was from Philadelphia to Florida, and that was a packed full flight and they just gate checked them under the plane.
Whoa, sorry for the novel haha I did a lot of research and called my airline to make sure I had everything covered because I was so nervous.... HTH & have a great trip!