Flying with a baby

We are off on a 3 hour plane trip on Thursday afternoon. I am a bit worried about the plane trip but will be armed with food, milk and toys and will hope for the best. With regards to the actual take off and descent - is that when it is likely to hurt her ears? Is there anything I can be doing to help this? She is on a BFing strike at the moment so I can try and give her the bottle but she may not take it. She has never had a dummy before but I'll throw that in, just in case. Any other ideas?? If she does get sore ears, is there anything I can do to help her with this during the flight?

Thanks so much in advance. :D

Hey There,

The sucking action is the best thing for the take-off & landing. BF'ing is a good thing, or drinking from a bottle. Can she drink from a straw? Maybe something that's new & exciting might do the trick if she's being fussy lately? A lot of the time they equalise their ears without even trying to, I find mine get more wriggly because the descent takes so long - rather than their ears hurting. Now they are older & have done quite a bit of travel, they are fine though. I would take some books or something to entertain her for when she HAS to sit strapped onto your seatbelt or some kind of exciting toy that keeps her attention.

You might find she even sleeps the whole journey!!!

Good luck & have a safe flight!!
xxx

PS _ Jess sucked a lollypop the first time she flew, but she was over 12 months old, your little one is probably too young for that.

Thanks Jayne. My DD can suck from a straw but she also knows how to suck and spit - so it can get quite messy - LOL. Ooohh, I think she would suck on some sort of lollipop style food, I could try dried mango or something similar. Might have to get my thinking cap on. Thanks for the tip :)

Just in case, have a change of clothes for both of you handy.

Yeh I second what was said instead, just a simple dress in your bag that you can fold up small.

Between birth and two years I've done half dozen plane trips, usually on my own, and as a general rule the flight attendants try their best to help you (to keep baby happy to keep other passengers happy).

Best of luck with your trip

Thanks guys, such great tips. Writing them all down :)

An air hostess told me to let ds cry/scream if that's what he needed cause it would help his ears sort themselves out. Dont know if I could do that with other people looking at me but that's what she suggested. Apart from that a bottle of water might do the trick too :)

I would try things she can suck or chew/swallow, it is the swallow motion that relieves the pressure in the ears on, even if it is a finger. With DD1 we used a boob or dummy, for taking off and if she was awake landing, she was around the 12 month mark, and then at 18 months we used the dummy or a bottle of water.

We are flying with both girls soon and will probably give DD2 something to chew/suck, we have just ditched the dummy, and DD2 will get the boob, she isn't a dummy girl, only occassionally.

Goodluck and I hope it all goes smoothly for you all xxoo

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Thanks Jayne. My DD can suck from a straw but she also knows how to suck and spit - so it can get quite messy - LOL. Ooohh, I think she would suck on some sort of lollipop style food, I could try dried mango or something similar. Might have to get my thinking cap on. Thanks for the tip :)

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We took one of those mesh feeders with us when we flew with DD at 7months and she had fresh fruit in it to suck on. I also took a llittle bag with her favourite toys, some ribbon and new stuff that she hadn't seen before. On the way home she played with pegs the whole way that DF's parents had given her :)

Just bumping this thread - we are flying Perth - Sydney in 2 weeks with an 8.5 month old. Wanting ideas for good toys/food to take! We do BLS so I'm trying to think of things that aren't too messy. DD is BF so I'm hoping to feed her on takeoff and landing.
Things I've thought of:
- change of clothes for me and DH
- 3 changes clothes for DD
- nappies, wipes, nappy sacks
- bunny rug or two
- sippy cup
- snacks
- raffertys pouches & spoon ( just in case )
- pillow to lie her on/ BF on (plane pillows are tiny)
- toys... Not sure what as yet! Something that's not noisy!!

Hi Mrs P :)

I recommend a sling or carrier so you can wear your DD and go for walks so she can look at all the other passengers. I found this invaluable with DD and it also helped me to rock her off to sleep as well. Toy wise we did a few teething things, sleep toy, some Lamaze toys - these were good because they are sort of activities as well. I took some ribbon for her to play with too. If you have space, you can sit DD on your lap with the tray down and she can play with her toys on that as a table. Foodwise I took cheese, rice crackers, apple, dried fruit........food was actually the hardest thing, when the flight attendents came to offer food, DD thought it was all for her - LOL

Good Luck!!

Thanks starangelk - glad to see you survived the flights ha ha! Yep forgot to mention the carrier - we have a friend's baby bjorn but I really don't like it much now DD is bigger (7.5 kg) so we're borrowing another friend's ergo. Am actually quite looking forward to using the ergo while we're away as I am contemplating purchasing one (if I can find on on sale) to still use with DD and bub #2 (if we are blessed with another bub of course!).
DD has just started on dried fruit, yesterday she had sultanas which she loved, today I'm taking her to the library and just packed up some dried apricot chunks, dried cranberries and sultanas with some blueberries (another new discovery and another new favourite!) so I guess things like that would be good. She loves the lamaze toys, she has the owl attached to her carseat. I think I will splurge on a new one, just got to pick which one!
DH is getting nervous about the trip as DD is not really keen on sleeping anywhere that isn't her cot :( But hopefully the excitement and doing stuff all day will tire her out and she will sleep! I have a snooze shade so that should help...

We have an ergo and it was fabulous!! I bought a new lamaze too, just for the flight - it is the butterfly one and I got it for $10 at Big W - woohoo. The sleep thing is tough, DD didn't sleep just snoozed but I think the thing is to remember to try and wear them out prior to boarding the plane. OUr flights were at really odd times so DD was totally out of routine so pretty dazed/tired on the way back. Just keep a backup toy/trick up your sleeve in case the tears come out and you'll do great!!

We just got back from Perth the other day, DS went great guns on the plane. All up, there and back, we had to catch four planes and every time we had 3 seats for me, df and DS even though DS sat on our laps, so that helped heaps as DS now fusses and wants to be put down when he's tired so we just laid him on the seat between us and he slept the whole time pretty much. We did give him a bottle for take off and landing, take off he was fine, landing he squealed so we were alternating between the dummy and the bottle. For when he was awake I tied his toys to a piece of ribbon and hung them from the seat in front of us so he just sat on my lap and played. They always tend to put all the passengers with babies towards the back and together so you don't feel so bad when other babies are crying to lol and there are always loads of mums and dads walking up and down the aisles trying to keep bubbies happy lol. I no it's easier said than done but dont get stressed or overwhelmed if they cry, the other passengers can just get over it coz crying actually helps equalize their ears so chances are if they cry a bit they will also settle quicker.

All the best Hun