Travel with infant - x-posted

[1stTimeMama4-4-10]

I have a trip planned from Connecticut to Chicago in November for Thanksgiving to see my family, including my very elderly grandmother. DD was born this April, and will be seven months old at the time of the trip. It is important to me that my family meet my daughter, particularly my grandmother, who turns ninety next year.

However, we are currently indefinitely delaying vaccinating, and may decide to just not vax at all. I do not feel safe bringing DD on a plane at that young age since I frequently get sick following air travel, and goodness knows what kinds of awful things she would be exposed to, including but certainly not limited to some (supposedly) vaccine preventable illnesses.

So air travel seems like a bad idea at least until she is a little older, but car travel sounds pretty awful too - 15 hours in a carseat would be incredibly difficult since she hates her carseat and I don't relish the idea of riding in the backseat with her the entire trip.

So what have you mamas done in this situation? Do you feel comfortable traveling with such a young child at all, and if so how? Even though seeing family is important, it is nowhere near as important as DD's health. Would any of you consider vaxxing if you chose airtavel? The ones our ped is very gently suggesting are dtap, hib, and prevnar. DD is ebf, and does not attend daycare. Thoughts? Suggestions?

nak, tia

[Marylizah]

I traveled with DS1 at 4 months, 7 months, 12 months, 18 months-- unvaxed. It's fine, really. Wipe down the armrests and trays when you get in the seat, don't let people cough *on* her, and if you're really worried have family members wash their hands before they touch her. But air travel will be fine; the chances of her picking up polio or diphtheria on a plane are really, really small. To me the benefits of meeting family far, far outweigh the infinitesimally small risks of picking up a VPD on the plane.

[Lauren31]

Not vaxing would not be a reason to not travel in my opionion. We travel all the time with or DD and we are going on a mediterranean cruise in August when she is 6 months old, at 8 months we are flying transatlantic! We have followed Dr sears alt/delayed schedule but she will be up to date on the DTAP, HIB, prevnar at that point but she won't have completed the series yet. If anything, I might do those if you are leaning towards vaccinnating just bc of the pertussis outbreak. HIB is not AS important in my opinion and really the pertussis is only 60% effective or something... long story short, I would travel, just breastfeed and wash your hands. You can't keep her in a bubble, imo.

[Abraisme]

I've flown with both of my children when they were infants. Neither of which are vaccinated. I'm another one that doesn't stress about these things. IMO I don't understand why anyone would not vac and then worry about it. Most airborne illnesses we don't vac for anyway. I expect that our immune systems and breastfeeding will get us through. I would WAY rather fly than be in a car for 15 hours with a small baby. Good luck.

[new2texas]

I wouldn't worry about it at all. I have flown with my non-vaxed baby twice on 4 hour plus flights. Just keep her close, I wore her the entire time. Don't let anyone touch her or cough or sneeze on her. And I recently heard about putting a little breast milk in the nose as an anti-viral. Worth a try. It's a heck or lot easier traveling with them when they're infants than when they're toddlers and won't stay in their seat!

[Peony]

I travel all over the place with my unvaxed kiddos, I worry more about what I am going to DO on a plane rather then what they will be exposed to. I don't do anything differently with my kids just because they haven't had vaxs.

[ShwarmaQueen]

I would fly over driving. And I wouldn't worry about the vaccines.

Stop thinking about the what-ifs!

[1stTimeMama4-4-10]

Thanks for the responses!

Just to be clear, I'm actually less concerned about contracting a vpd than I am about just exposing dd to a filthy airplane with filthy recycled air. I'm a pretty healthy person, and literally the only times I have been sick in the last 10 years or so was within a week of airtravel. I am mostly concerned about her immature immune system (the same reason we are delaying vaxing). If we were going to vax, I would probably do so before the trip, but at this point, I just can't bring myself to inject anything into her perfect little body. I definitely would not vax solely to travel.

That being said, I am definitely feeling more comfortable with air travel.

[miami mommy]

I have flown 3 times with my unvaxed DS: when he was 2 months, 6 months, and 7 months. He's never gotten sick from any of those trips, but I got sick within a few days of returning from the first and third trips. He has an amazing little immune system...yay breastfeeding!

[tzs]

flying has been so easy with a babe. driving not as much. a 15 hour drive you'd pretty much have to break up into two days.

as far as the vaxing, we do delayed and the only communicable thing i really worry about ever is pertussis so if anything if it were me, i would just do that. it is more and more common and is so bad in young babies. but mostly on planes it's just colds and the few times i've gotten one since the baby she's never caught anything.

[alegna]

I've flown plenty with unvaxed kids- never worried about it a bit. Flying is much safer than driving and my kids have never gotten sick after flying.

-Angela

[Pookietooth]

I flew to San Diego with dd (and dh and ds) when she was 5 months old, no problem and she's totally unvaxxed. She was exclusively bf at the time and I think that helped.

[Zangua]

Swab the inside of babies nostrils with olive oil (use a mini q-tip).
This keeps her from drying out with all that airplane air and protects her mucus membranes from absorbing yucky germs.
This is a good tip for moms too. I do it everytime I fly!

[annettemarie]

Because this is a vaccination-centered discussion, I am closing this thread and asking that you please see the OP's thread in the Vaccination forum. Thanks!