Travelling with 3mo, sunscreen and other tips

[AnnaNova]

This coming week we will travel for a family function. our son is 3 mo, we'll be on the plane for about 4 hrs. i am trying to take in consideration everything we might need, but i have never travelled with a baby before, so i would appreciate any tips from your past experiences.
also, we'll be by the ocean and will probaby get exposed to sun, so i was wondering if anyone knows of a good sun screen for the baby. we bought one today with over 60 % of organic ingridients, but the active component is still zinc oxide - 20 %... i am really clueless about what would work for the baby with the least chemicals, so help is greatly appreciated.
thank you

[farviadix]

No help with the traveling bit, but I highly recommend the California Baby sunscreen. A bit pricey, but to me, totally worth it!

[heidirk]

Zinc Oxide is more like a mineral than a chemical, and it is a VERY effective sunscreen. However, with a little one like that, it's better to keep them covered/in the shade.


as far as your plane ride goes, any chance your DS will sleep?

[liliaceae]

I wouldn't put sunscreen on a baby under 6 months, but if you do I'd suggest California Baby. It's better to just keep them in the shade....could you get an umbrella for the beach?

My DS always slept on the plane so we didn't really need anything to entertain him.

[NiteNicole]

A hat with a strap! They can be so hard to find. And I have put sunglasses (real, actual protective sunglasses) on my daughter forever. We also use California Baby sunscreen (love the stick, lasts forever, great for faces). If you're going to be in the water at all, find a swim diaper.

Just remembered one more thing - baby powder is great for getting all the sand out of all those little creases and crevases. Don't use it around the face, but for the diaper area it's great.

[lanamommyphd07]

i've had good traveling experiences with my dd (she's gone on about 10 trips so far in planes) as long as I took a carrier/sling/ergo, checked the car seat (there's a loop with clips on my rolling suitcase and I can strap in on and roll along). I made sure to carry on a lot of dipes, wipes, snacks for mommy (and dd as we went along), empty plastic water bottle (fill after security). Before flying and during layovers, we played. hard. (probably won't help for 3 mo old). when the plane is taxiing and about to take off, put the kid on the boob--then nurse through the next 15-20 minutes or so if you can--keeps babe's ears equalized. Same thing when heading back down. I missed it once and lemme tell ya. I was "that mom" with "that screaming brat". embarrassing. because once I thought, omg, her ears!, she was having nothing to do with the nursies. painful. I force-boobed my kid on a plane and the passenger next to me had to be like, "uh, she doesn't seem to want that, are you choking her, are you suffocating her?". Yeah. Lesson learned. nurse up, nurse down.

[purewellspring]

Our daughter's first flight was at 2 months, and one of the best things we had with us was our Moby...if you have a carrier your LO is used to being in, I'd HIGHLY suggest keeping it handy! I nursed at take off, but she doesn't fall asleep nursing, so then she got fussy. DH was able to stand up in the aisle for a few minutes, and put her to sleep. On our next leg I had her in the Moby, and she stayed asleep our whole next flight in that...

When she was that little, I found it took very little to "entertain" her. The bold colors/pictures on the safety flyer she found intriguing, the window, the lights, that sort of thing. And while she did fuss some, all of our seat mates on all those early flights were so understanding. A couple of people even said, "don't worry. To be honest, her fussing probably bothers you more than us!" That was really reassuring!

Good luck! I really enjoyed traveling with DD when she was that small!

[AnnaNova]

thank you

thank you for all the advice,
especially about sunscreen, we will stay mostly in shade as i am very sensitive to sun, but i assume i cant guarantee it 100%, so at least for the most exposed parts i think we'd better have it.
i am not sure if he'll sleep on the plane, its hard to predict, but im hoping he will, we have ergo and a cuddly wrap (kinda like moby) and i think we'll take ergo as it is easier to put on and take off.
did anyone take a stroller with them? i remember seeing people with strollers just giving it to the flight attendants at the gate, but i never paid attention to the details. we have a bob revolution, and i wonder if it is just light strollers they allow, or if ours would work as well.
any problems with documentation ever? it seemed from what i read on the airline website, he doesnt really need anything, but i was plannig to take his birth certificate just in case.
i look forward to this trip, it will be fun, thank you again for your input!

[lanamommyphd07]

never took a stroller but I did once buy a $10 umbrella jobby for a parade when she was around 18 mo. (sometimes gets heavy in the ergo in the summer for a long walk). I gave the thing away before we returned. I asked about my jogger the last trip-on the airline website there should be a guideline about checking strollers--but I found that mine wouldn't have fit in the rental car anyway! It seemed too cumbersome when the ergo works fine for now. We also have a monkey-backpack-leash thing for airports now. (more to keep mommy attached to the wanderer so mommy can look up now and again or during toddler running so she doesn't cut off fast moving travellers). When dd was itty-bitty, I never used suncreen, but had long cotton clothing (not the knit kind) that did the trick in the sun, and a snap-on hat, of course. Didn't need any documentation for her, but we do have a passport just in case.

[Marylizah]

IIRC, sunscreen is not advised for babies under six months old. Keep your DS in the shade. If you have a stroller, buy an umbrella attachment for shade. Dress him in light, long-sleeved shirts and long pants. Put a hat on him.

As for the flight, nursing works great! DS was much easier to travel with as an infant than a toddler. Just bring LOTS of diapers and wipes, and changes of clothes for you and for her, in case of poop blow-outs.

[isaoma]

From my understanding zinc oxide is a much safer sunblock than titanium oxide. I'm not exactly sure of the percentages, but it something like zinc oxide reflects 70% of the sun and absorbs 30% while titanium oxide reflects only 30% of the sun and absorbs 70%...absorbing the suns rays causes free radicals and cellular damage. Baby Badger has a very safe sunscreen made with only zinc oxide that isn't made into nano-particles.

http://organicpassion.info/zinc-oxid...ide-sunscreen/

As for a 3 month old, I would be wary of using any suncreen/sunblock at all. Instead can you get clothes that are UV rated? I've seen them at stores like Target, but I'm sure you can pick up UV rated clothing everywhere. Also, if you can manage to pack it, those pop up tent umbrellas would be great to keep a little one out of the sun too. I think I've seen smaller ones that fit over a playmat (maybe from OneStepAhead.com?). But, here's a bigger umbrella shade from Coolibar:
http://www.coolibar.com/children-s-infant.html

oh, here's the link to OneStepAhead.com - check out the infant cabana, sun smarties canopy tent and sun parasol...
http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/...egoryId=100183

[AnnaNova]

thanks for the links, isaoma, i would never think of that

[BellaClaudia]

there is tons of easy up foldable cabanas for babies for the beach
that will do wonders for you.. provide shade, shelter from wind
and keep cleen from the sun when needed as in during changes and stuff.

just to give you few ideas a site that I found at random
googling: cabanas tents canopy beach kids

http://www.shadeusa.com/beach_cabanas.htm

but there are tons websites and tons of items.

nothing beats the total shade.

any sunscreen is temporart measure and you need to reapply
ans pp said it is not really cosher to do it on babies very young

also keep in mind that worse ingredient then zinc is the any laurathe
you find in it.. they acutally are cancer causing things
funny.. they should protect you right? I mean sunscreens yet they put cancerogenic chemicals in it.

[liliaceae]

Originally Posted by AnnaNova

thank you for all the advice,
especially about sunscreen, we will stay mostly in shade as i am very sensitive to sun, but i assume i cant guarantee it 100%, so at least for the most exposed parts i think we'd better have it.
i am not sure if he'll sleep on the plane, its hard to predict, but im hoping he will, we have ergo and a cuddly wrap (kinda like moby) and i think we'll take ergo as it is easier to put on and take off.
did anyone take a stroller with them? i remember seeing people with strollers just giving it to the flight attendants at the gate, but i never paid attention to the details. we have a bob revolution, and i wonder if it is just light strollers they allow, or if ours would work as well.
any problems with documentation ever? it seemed from what i read on the airline website, he doesnt really need anything, but i was plannig to take his birth certificate just in case.
i look forward to this trip, it will be fun, thank you again for your input!

We fly Delta and they let you check your stroller at the gate, and we had a full size stroller. You might want to call the airline just to make sure you can do that though. Just let them know you have a stroller before they start boarding, and they'll give you a tag to put on it; the stroller will be there for you as soon as you get off the plane.

We didn't need any documentation for our son.

[aprilv]

we put ds in the coolibar suits until...well, he's 2 and i still do! he's covered from wrist to ankles. i find i feel so much more relaxed. a few times we tried shorts and a swim top and i was reapplying the sunblock so often!

also, i have had some flight attendents say you can't keep the baby in the soft carrier on the plane.

flying with an infant is pretty easy (especially compared to a toddler). i worried about it way more than i needed to before our first few flights.

but do make sure you have a spare outfit for yourself in the carry on in case the baby gets motion sickness.

[MamaStarbird]

We went to Hawaii when DD was 3 months old... in retrospect the world's worst idea but it was a family vacation and we didn't really have a choice.

We followed the recommendations and didn't put sunscreen on our super super pale baby, just kept her in the shade as much as possible, and in long sleeves, a wide-brimmed hat that tied under the chin and sunglasses. She didn't get so much as a tan (not that anyone in my family tans, we just burn.)

We didn't bring a stroller but we did gate check our carseat. It was pretty easy-- separate it from the base to fit it through the x-ray machine at security and when you get to the gate ask at the desk and they'll give you a tag for it and tell you where to leave it and pick it up when you get off the plane. Strollers work the same way.

I nursed her for takeoff and then if she was fussy/bored DH would wear her in the wrap and bop her around the plane once the seatbelt sign was off. With all the ambient noise she was pretty mellow-- white noise really knocked her out at that age.

For a four hour flight you may be able to get away with not changing her on the plane, just do it right before you board and right after you debark. A baby that young doesn't need much in the way of toys and obviously as long as you pack your boobs you'll have all the food she needs.

It's really very manageable at that age. Much easier than you'd think, and much easier than with an older kid! Have fun and good luck!