Travel tips

[northwoods]

Some of these seem like dumb questions, but I'm a new mom, so bear with me!

I've got a couple of trips coming up this winter (Florida and Mexico)--LO will be 4 - 5 months old. We'll be flying and taking taxis. How do you take a taxi with a baby? Do I need to bring a car seat? Do I check the car seat like luggage? What about cloth diapering? I usually travel light, so the thought of dragging around all kinds of baby gear isn't appealing.

We've also got a three hour car trip for Thanksgiving, when LO will be 3 months.

Any travel tips?

[alegna]

The *easiest* (and safest) is to get a plane ticket for baby and let them fly in their carseat.

Sometimes that's cost prohibitive though. Bring the carseat and ask if there are any empty seats on the flight, if there are, they will re-arrange and let you bring it on. Otherwise gate-check the carseat.

YES- you need a carseat in a taxi. Sadly not required by law often, but required by physics. Buses are safe without a carseat. Not taxis.

I usually cloth diaper on trips- most hotels have laundry facilities now.

-Angela

[Peace+Hope]

i wonder whether it would be worth doing some research, calling cab companies where you're going to see if they have any drivers with carseats, if they are new models, etc.

we flew with ours, and they tag it at the gate (you don't check it with your other luggage, and you aren't charged $ for it). we did not buy our LO a seat on the plane.

i have taken my cloth with me on shorter trips, 1-4 days. but this coming week we will be in a hotel for 5 days, and i won't have time to hang around doing diaper laundry. so, i'm using sposies. i never thought i would, and haven't before, and don't plan to again. good enough for me i'm still taking my cloth wipes though, because even the "natural" wipes i've felt irritate my skin. i think i'll make a few ziplocks with the wipes, and just rinse them in the sink and dry them out, and then pack them with dirty clothes.

[Knitting Mama]

We also gate-checked the carseat, because we couldn't afford to buy another ticket for Cecilia. And while I am all cloth diapering at home, we did use sposies for our trip because hassling with washing diapers wasn't something I wanted to do on my vacation.

[bizzylizzy]

We are in the same boat....Portland to Florida on Sunday first flight with baby.

I decided to use 7th Gen disposables. The baggage allowance is part of the reason. We are trying to just use carry ons but I think that's going to be impossible.

Originally I thought I would just rent a carseat from a rental agency but after some horror stories (ancient outdated carseats with no instructions for $60/wk) I am going to bring our carseat and then the idea. Then we were going to just bring the ERGO but I'm imagining carrying the carseat and two carry ons, back pack, baby in ERGO and diaper bag!! So I bought one of those stroller frames off CL for cheap and I'll just resell when we get back. We'll see.

I've also heard that bringing a boppy so the baby has a comfortablish place to sleep if there isn't a spare seat on the plane can help. I'm on the fence on bring yet ANOTHER thing. Luckily we are traveling during the day so it will only be nap times that might be a problem.

Oh, and did you know some airlines won't let you have the baby in the ERGO during take off and landing. How ridiculous.

[Knitting Mama]

Here's what our baggage looked like: Carseat (bucket seat, while not her favorite, certainly easiest to travel with), Boppy, Pikkolo (our baby carrier), bag with toys and diapers, and then all of our clothes and toiletries in another bag. My husband wore the Boppy around his neck like a giant neck pillow for moving around the airport and boardin the plane.

[P.J.]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama

My husband wore the Boppy around his neck like a giant neck pillow for moving around the airport and boardin the plane.

LOL!

[Knitting Mama]

The guy at security looked at him in awe and said, totally seriously (he'd clearly never seen a Boppy before), "that's the biggest neck pillow I've ever seen!"

[Peace+Hope]

loved having the carrier for airports for sure! i wore him onto and off of the plane, and we stowed it overhead during the flight.

[P.J.]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama

The guy at security looked at him in awe and said, totally seriously (he'd clearly never seen a Boppy before), "that's the biggest neck pillow I've ever seen!"

Okay, now that is hilarious!

As for travel tips:

We called the airline in advance and booked the very front row; there's way more room and it's easier to get on and off the plane (plus it's close to the toilet for dipe changes). You can also book a bassinet for baby sleep. There was so much room on the floor in front of the seats, that we could put down our little quilt and let the baby "crawl" and play on the floor. Really helped kill some time. It was also nice to have our floor quilt at our hotel apartment and we even brought it to dinner (at the hotel, not in a public restaurant) and sat in a corner and were able to spread it out so DS could play on the floor while we ate.

We checked our car seat with the luggage, free of charge. It was used in the taxi from our house to and from the airport, as well as in our rental car. We used the baby carrier in the airport ~one of the women working security actually asked me which one it was as she wasn't satisfied with the one she was using with her baby and was looking for a new one! Also, DS got his own suitcase and I definitely needed it ~I still ended up doing laundry in the hotel sink, but I wanted to make sure to have enough of everything, plus all his sleep and diapering gear (baby monitor, changing pad, etc) We were flying within Europe, but even though DS didn't get his own seat, we were allowed to bring an extra suitcase for him.

Which reminds me, the only disadvantage of booking a separate seat for your baby and then using the car seat is that by law the baby then has to be in the seat at take-off and landing and that will probably hurt his/her ears. It helps a lot to be nursing at take-off and landing to avoid that (the sucking helps). DS did have a very brief crying spell (maybe 15 seconds) on the way down on the flight home, I think due to the pressure in his ears, but I just kept encouraging him to suck and it helped. Can't do that if your baby's in the seat next to you! They did give me a little seat belt to strap him to my seat belt, but the car seat in its own seat is definitely safer!

[Knitting Mama]

You're right, I forgot to mention the nursing or suckling trick! Really seemed to work well with Cecilia. She nursed 3 of the 4 times we took off or landed, and the one time she didn't she was a bit fussier for sure.

[EmTheWife]

We traveled 6hrs by plane when the lo was 3.5 months...

We cloth diaper, and I don't like all the chemicals in disposables, so our solution was to use GroVia disposable inserts in Thirsties covers. The GroVias have minimal SAP, and we found them absorbent for our super-soaker. The combo never leaked, and it took up less room than a standard sposie (the disposable inserts are about the same size as a maxi pad) Then, we used flats at night, so that there would not be continuous chemical-ness next to baby's bottom. The flats we washed in the tub and ironed dry, to reuse. All his diapering stuff took up one large wetbag.
As for the flight, people are usually pretty accommodating when they see a baby, b/c they want that baby happy too. We were able to re-arrange seating to have an empty 3rd seat in our row for baby to play and nap on.
For carriers, we brought the ring sling on board as it's smaller and is multi-use (carrier, blanket, seat belt).
Since you plan to need a car seat, bringing it on board is best, b/c it will be flung around if you check it, so who knows if it would be safe in a crash after that...

For the car trip, bring lots of toys that you can hang from the ceiling to entertain baby. Remember to feed frequently, and as such, plan extra time into the trip so you don't run late and get harried.

Most of all, enjoy the adventure!

[northwoods]

Thanks, folks! This is all very helpful. I'm really looking forward to these trips--including the adventure of bringing along a baby--but I'd like to be prepared with as many travel tips as possible so that "adventure" doesn't turn into nightmare.

[lrgs]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama

The guy at security looked at him in awe and said, totally seriously (he'd clearly never seen a Boppy before), "that's the biggest neck pillow I've ever seen!"

This is hilarious!!!

[lrgs]

OP.........glad you started this thread.....we are heading down to Jamaica in early Dec. and our LO will be 4.5 months so I"m taking notes. We travelled lots dometically with our older DD (now 3) but have never gone internationally with kids......hoping for the best.

I'm going to call and ask about the basinet option.......I had planned on DD nursing/sleeping in my arms for a lot of the trip (and may still do this) but she does tend to sleep better when she can lay down on her own. We are also travelling with our 3 year old DD and I don't even want to imagine how much luggage we are bringing. Also travelling with my Dad and cousin so we have lots of arms to help. We don't plan to go anywhere other the resort but will probably bring DD2's infant seat for transfers to the resort (in case it's not via bus). Planning to gate check this or put it in oversize luggage (so it's loaded last and taken off first). DD1 has her own seat so we'll be bringing her carseat. I'll be bringing one of my carriers and also a stroller because as much as I'd planned for DD2 to sleep in her carriers.......she doesn't like it and wants to lay down by herself. Our stroller reclines so we're hoping she will nap in the shade by the pool.

Our IL's are meeting us there and will be bringing us sposies (to save our luggage space). I don't like the chemicals in sposies but I'm not doing laundry on my tropical vacation......it's also one thing we don't have to worry about fitting in our luggage since IL's have offered to supply whatever I request. They are light packers so they are brining lots and then just leaving behind whatever is left over for whoever wants/needs it.

[P.J.]

BTW I just wanted to add that it wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared it would be. DS was so preoccupied checking out all the new places and faces that he wasn't as fussy as he can be at home!