Airtravel with a three month old? - Page 2

[sosurreal09]

want to warn you- we had a 12 hr flight with DD when she was 1 and it would have been great b/c we did overnight except the flight attendants wouldnt let me keep her in the sling or the mei tai! they said it was  a "harness" and its against the rules to have a baby strapped to you in a harness...so i had to wake her up by taking her out and she screamed bloody murder for 2 hrs even with the boob...b/c she was tired and wanted to go in the sling...

so make sure you take him out once you board and get him comfy right away!

[tzs]

Originally Posted by dharmabum 

What exactly is the rule about takeoff while holding an infant?  Why would you have to remove your babe from a front carrie/sling?  I can't find anything on the TSA site regarding takeoff rules.

i think i've heard that it's because in case of an emergency (g-d forbid) an infant has a better chance not to be injured (even if they fly out of arms) because when they are strapped to you they are not only flying but also are going to incur the full force of an adult human at whatever speed x mass it occurs at. 

gosh that sounds awful and even so i'm sure somebody else could explain it better.

[dharmabum]

That makes sense.  I guess I will just ask the flight attendant what the allow before settling in.

[matey]

Both of my kids were so easy to travel with at three months. Nursed at take off and they would fall asleep. Our flight at thanksgiving was 3 hours, but it was separated by a layover. My 3 yr old was the only one who had any difficulty. The three month old was happy to sleep and nurse.

[sairy_gamp]

Best advice?  Climb on board being happy that your flight is so gloriously short! 

[mamadebug]

3 months is an easy age for travel - you will have tons of stuff, but the baby doesn't want to be down walking or crawling around.  My advice would to be sure you bring an ergo or bjorn or whatever you use so that you have your hands free in the airport.  And like a PP said, bring extra clothes for he baby and yourself - I somehow always ended up needing at least a new shirt.  Actually, bring extra of everything - diapers, bottles/formula if you use them, etc.  I know a mama friend who was stuck for hours in the plane on the runway with her slightly older baby and ran out of supplies.  You never know what will happen.  Enjoy your trip! 

[healthyfamilies]

When I flew with my babe who was 3 months they said that I needed to take her out of the sling because she could be crushed during take off and landing.  I'm not really sure how...does anyone else have any ideas?

[sairy_gamp]

Flight attendants can be inconsistent with this.  There is a commercial "air travel harness" that was prohibited at one point, but we never had trouble with our slings at all.

Of course logic says... be crushed, or become a projectile?  My understanding that during an actual emergency, it would be difficult/impossible to hold on to a child. 

When we've used infant seats, it's been really, really nice.  Does cost you another ticket though.  We have had some luck with flight attendants moving us around to find an empty seat and avoided lapsit that way.

[xoxoxo]

I don't know the exact rules, but have traveled with small baby 20+ times and was told to hold lap baby with her facing me. Guess at time of turbulence slings and carriers are either not tested or proved to be less safe than your arms.

I really recommend traveling light. Can easily buy stuff like pacifier or even breast pump. Traveling with children make you prone to lose important items such as credit cards or passports. Hard to stay organized when taking too many items.

[Veslemor]

With older kids, I start them on Rescue Remedy two days before travel, and that seems to work.  Perhaps you can put a couple of drops in your drinking water, then it will transfer to the baby form you.  Of course make sure to nurse on the ascent and descent to help the ears.  I had no problems traveling with the young ones.  There's even a diaper changing table in the restroom.  You can check both your stoller and car seat at the gate, and they bring it up to the door of the plane for you when you get off.  You can also bring a sippy with water for yourself so you don't have to buy a bottle on the plane.  I just go to the airport with the attitude that it doesn't matter if i am the slowest one in the security line, or if I'm the last one off the plane.  I just take my time and don't let anyone stress me out.  If someone has a problem with it taking me over 5 minutes to get the stroller emptied and folded, get everyone's shoes off, get the baby our of the sling, set aside all liquids, call for a hand check when the stroller doesn't fit in the exam tube- well, then they can help.

[amanthus]

Hi! My DS is five months old and we have not vaccinated. Planning on traveling when he is a bit over 6 months. I'm curious about reasons not to fly? Always open to more info.

Thanks,
Amanthus

[thaidyed]

Just to preach to the choir, but don't worry too much--it's not soo bad.

I recently did an 18hr direct flight (yes, they have those!) with my 6 mo old by myself and it wasn't anywhere as hard as I feared. Main problems were:

Prob: Going through security with her in Ergo. Have to take her out and take ergo off and I can't hold her and put the Ergo back on.

Solution: kind man with kids at home held baby for 30 sec while I put on Ergo.

Prob: Plane lights strong and in babies eyes once she was asleep

Solution: None really. I don't use a nursing cover so i didn't have that option and all I could was try to position her better. Sitting in the bulkhead row with a baby bassinet was great except people kept walking across to get to the other aisle and many of them would bump the baby--one guy even used it as a handrail, twice! Grr....

Prob: Me needing to pee when she was asleep in the bassinet

Solution: Buddied up with the other single mom on the plane (with an 18mo old) and we tag teamed for potty breaks.

I had no hassles about having her in sling on the plane, but it was an international carrier. And like everyone said, nurse as much as you can!

Enjoy-I think a toddler will be much harder!

[OkiMom]

Carriers and security are 50/50. Ive been told I had to take her out at some places (Taiwan I think, Tokyo once, Chicago once, Rochester, Orlando and LAX) but was told I was ok other times (Orlando, LAX, San Diego, San Fransisco, Tokyo, Naha (also in Japan)). Ive found its better to just ask when you get up there then to take them out. Usually they want to feel between you and the baby to make sure you aren't "sneaking" anything in but it never bugged me since it was always a female doing it and if the baby was asleep they said never mind.

In the air Ive only flown once without a second seat. It was really hard but my daughter was 18 months old and the plane was overbooked. She was tired, I was tired, we were both crabby and running late SO it was just overall a bad flight. Luckily it was only 1 1/2 hours, if it had been one of the 11-12 hour flights Ive been on it would have been a pure disaster.