Air travel w/ almost 5 month old

[N&M]

Hello all,

This is my first post, so bear with me. (However, I've been lurking and learning from you all for many months )

My DD is 4 1/2 months and we've been ECing since birth. She's doing great--almost all poops in the potty at this point (can't remember the last time she made a "squishy"in her diaper), plus lots of pees. I use cloth diapers as a back up most of the time unless she is having nakey time. Recently, we've been using trainers and occasionally underpants! She hates being wet, and sometimes won't go (in diaper or potty) if she is distracted or not relaxed (sometimes happens when we are out), and will fuss and get herself worked up.

Here's my question (finally!): What experience has anyone had flying across country with an infant this age who has been ECed? She and I (hubby is staying home ) are flying to CA to visit my brother in 2 weeks. I was intending to bring her potty bowl and potty her in the seat, but my husband is skeptical about the people around us being ok with that. I'm worried that I may not be able to get her to the bathroom when she needs to go. I was intending to use our regular cloth diapers, but my brother informed me that most infants (well, his anyway) have an explosive poo upon take off and landing and I might want to consider using disposables for the plane ride.

Any advice? TIA!

-Nicole and baby Maxine

[doulawoman]

subbing

my dd is also 4.5 months and we also ec and are also traveling cross country by plane in a few weeks. I would love to hear responses as well

[miami mommy]

I have flown with my DS twice since we started EC (at 6 mo and 7 mo). We just EC'ed as usual. I didn't want to bring his little potty, so I used a decent sized piece of disposable/recyclable Ziploc tupperware. The second trip I just held him over the toilet.

I don't care that much what ppl think of my crunchy parenting and I used it as an opportunity to open up my family's minds about what infants are capable of. My sister thought it was the coolest thing, but she's crunchy, too.

I used sposies cause I didn't want to deal with washing cloth on vacay (and I would have had to pay checked bag fees). DS has never had an explosive poo on the plane, but he did have one in the security line once. That was when I wished he was in cloth b/c the poo leaked out the sposie, thru his clothes, and onto my pants.

I think you should just stick to as much of your routine as possible. And when you're at the airport hunt down the family restrooms, they make it SO much easier to EC on the go with luggage in tow.

[N&M]

Thanks for responding, Miami! Nobody (flight attendants) told you not to potty him in the seat? I guess that is what I'm most concerned about--that the flight personnel will tell me it's not permitted to potty the baby in my lap!

I have a tupperware too, but she prefers the potty bowl, I think because it offers her a place to plop and relax her tiny hiney. I just want to make her as comfortable as possible during the flight. If the bathroom is free, and we can get out of our seats, sure, I'll try to do everything in the bathroom. But if I can't...it's seat time!

I have no experience with disposables--are they more likely to blow out than cloth?

Anyone else out there have any plane-pottying adventures to share?

[walking in Bel Air]

we travelled by air with 10 month old, took the BBLP along and took her to the little bathroom on the plane and she used it as usual.

can you try taking her before you get her signal that she needs to go - when in doubt or when we could not risk a miss, i would take dd every hour. Most of the time she went. it did ensure no accidents, even if it required extra attention during those times.

i never tried offering the potty in the airplane seat. if you can do it discreetly i guess it should be ok.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Hi - can't answer the EC question (we're only 2 days into that journey) but I can tell you neither DD nor DS has ever had an explosive poop on ascent or descent. And cloth is FAR better than disposables for dealing with poop. Been there. Sposies allow runny poo all up a little one's back.

[N&M]

Bel Air, thank you! That's a good idea, just to offer more based on timing than her signals. If the coast is clear to the bathroom, and it's been a little while, then we'll try. Hopefully she won't be too distracted by this big adventure to do her business!

Perdita, just realized our LOs are the same age! Thanks for the sposie and explosive poo info. I'm sticking with our cloth routine. Poop running up her back and getting everywhere is definitely something I would prefer to avoid during the trip!

Less than a week until we leave. I'll let you all know how it went!

[N&M]

So we're home--here's what we learned on our trans-continental adventure!

Would you all believe that I met another EC'ing family at the gate waiting for the flight to San Francisco? The mama saw the potty bowl tied to my bag and told me she EC'ed both her little ones (they looked about 4yrs and 2 yrs old). I asked her if she had any tips for air travel and she shared that when her son was 8 months old, she put a dipe in a heavy duty wetbag and peed him in that during the flight and nobody was any the wiser. (For the record, I have NEVER met another EC'er--the only people I know who EC are my fellow mdc mamas, so you can imagine my surprise when she spoke to me!)

So, I though this was a great idea, but a little harder to implement with a girl. I decided I would use a wet bag inside my potty bowl (lining it like a garbage bag) with some flannel wipes thrown in to absorb the moisture. Worked great! I would put Maxy on the bowl in between my legs, let her dress drape around it, and nobody knew there was a potty under there! She went many times in the bag in the bowl (we had some misses too). I would just pull the drawstring tight and scrunch it down into the bowl when she was done and place it back in the bag under the seat in front of us. When she needed to go, I'd take it out, undo the drawstring, put it back over the rim and it was ready to go! No need to run to the bathroom a million times, which was good because it was a bumpy ride and we weren't allowed out of our seats for some long stretches. She did make a poo early on in there, and it did stink a bit every time I opened it up for use, but nobody complained and I can't imagine it smelled more than a poopy dipe would have. When I got to my brother's house, I just rinsed everything out and threw the wetbag and wipes in the washer. The wetbag hardly leaked, but I left it in the bowl the entire way so no big deal.

I think if I were traveling on vacation and did not have a washing machine at my destination, I might modify this system to be disposable--using some sort of plastic bag in the bowl and paper towels for absorption.

One last thing I want to share. By the end of the first flight, Maxy had figured out where the potty was. When she needed to go, she started staring at the floor in front of the seat, looking for her bowl. Aren't EC'ed babies (well, all babies!) incredible?

[theboysmama]

Looks like i'm a little late to post but I did want to give my experience as we have done a lot of traveling.
When dd was 5 months old i took the potty bowl and used it during take off and landing and any other time she was interested. It worked well except for the fact that I had no place to put it until I could get out of my seat to dump it and was worried it would spill. There was a women sitting right next to me (i was in the middle seat) and she didn't even realize that dd had used the potty until I came back from dumping it.
After that trip we used the pottette w/ disposable liners. It fits inbetween my legs and dd can sit on it (kind of sunk into it when she was little but I would hold her up a bit) and go then I can tie off the bag and toss it when I get a chance. We have been using that system for over a yr and it works great.
Also when she was using diaper backup we went w/ disposable pull ups. It helped to offer the potty and after several children I have realized that sposies while traveling is more feasable for us. I just fold the top of the pull up down to fit a little one but if you are worried about blow ups up the back then you could just leave it up and that should cover her to her armpits
All 3 of my non-ec'd kiddos have had huge poops during take off and/or landing on numerous occasions. Dd has only pooped one time during take off and she was over the potty bowl so I just dumped it when we got in the air and it was no problem.
Glad your trip went well. Traveling with an ec'd baby or any baby actually just isn't as difficult as it first appears.