You are planning your first big trip since becoming a parent, but are unsure if flying with a baby is a good idea? Don’t be! With the right preparation and expectations, flying with a baby can be a breeze (or at least a lot easier than you might think).
1. Ensure your baby has its own ticket ahead of time
While booking your flight, you might wonder if your baby needs a ticket, too. In short, yes – you will need a ticket for each person. When booking a flight, some airlines let you add an infant to the booking yourself. For other airlines, you’ll have to call and ask them to add an infant to your ticket.
For children under the age of two, you can choose whether they will sit on your lap or have their own seat. The advantage of having your infant sit in your lap is you save on cost. Often airlines charge no fee for domestic flights or 10% of the regular ticket price for international flights. If you want your child to have its own seat, you’ll have to pay the full price for that seat.
Sometimes, adding your child during the flight booking is not an option. Some airlines do require you to call them in order to issue a ticket to your infant. I highly recommend taking care of it as soon as you have booked the flight. This way, you don’t forget about it and don’t have to stress out at the airport should there be any issues. Because waiting at the check-in counter for longer with a restless little one is no fun.
2. Baby luggage restrictions
When it comes to traveling and flying with a baby, there are a lot of extra things you might want to bring. Such as a baby’s car seat, stroller, or travel crib.
Different airlines have different allowances when it comes to an infant’s luggage. Most commonly, you are allowed to bring a stroller. You can check it with the rest of the luggage or even at the gate right before boarding. Often, airlines also allow you to bring a car seat and check it for free. Some airlines even allow for additional checked luggage for the infant. It all depends on the airline and the luggage allowance that comes with your ticket.
3. Pack light
So you have booked the flight, checked on which big baby items you can bring, but now you’re wondering about all the clothes you need to bring? I get it – in between diaper blowouts and spit-ups, you might be going through a lot of clothes. And of course you want to be prepared for any weather scenario. Short sleeves for the warm days, extra layers in case it gets cold. And the cute outfits that you just bought? They would look so great in vacation pictures!
But one thing I have learned from traveling for six months with a baby is don’t overpack. Especially if you have access to a laundry machine, laundromat, or laundry service where you are staying. Specifically without extra luggage allowance for the little one, you might want to pack light and do some laundry in between.
This was a learning lesson for me and my husband. On our first trip, our airline allowed us to bring an additional suitcase for our baby. Great, we thought, we could bring all of her cute clothes that she would’ve outgrown in the meantime. What we didn’t consider is who would carry that suitcase. Especially considering we were bringing a travel crib, stroller, and car seat as well. And someone had to carry the baby.
Ever since this one trip, we have downsized tremendously for all of us. We now try to cut back on what we bring and instead share one or two suitcases.
4. Put baby’s essential things in carry on
One really helpful advice I have received prior to flying with my baby for the first time is to put all of her essentials in a carry-on. With checked luggage, there is always the risk that it might not make it on the flight and arrives delayed.
Packing all of your baby’s essentials for one or two days has been key to make our travel day as easy as possible. You should pack all she needs for bedtime and sleeping, e.g. pajamas, sleep sack, sound machine, as well as all the things you need to change his or her diaper, for feedings, and one or two extra outfits.
Having all essential necessities in our carry-on was also a game changer upon arrival at our destination. Especially if you are arriving late and are in a rush to get your baby to bed. You only have one bag to go through with everything handy for bedtime and the next morning.
And it comes in handy on the flight as well. If you have any blowouts, spills and need to change your child, you have an additional set of clothes ready to grab. This way, you don’t have to cram another outfit in your diaper bag.
5. Bring baby’s medicine and toiletries
An important item to keep handy in your carry on or diaper bag is all the medicine your child needs. Besides a diaper rash cream, we usually bring our baby’s vitamin D supplement, fever medication, and saline drops.
The saline drops are nice to have given the very dry air on the plane. In addition, we also brought a baby nasal spray that our pharmacist recommended. It can be given to the child in case it has issues with the pressure upon takeoff or landing.
6. Don’t bring all the toys
When I thought about flying with a baby for the first time, I panicked about how I would entertain her for all those hours. We brought new toys, her favorite toys, and everything that would keep her happy and entertained. The truth was, she was more entertained with everything else. And we were left with a bulky bag stuffed with toys that was left almost untouched.
Being on a plane is a new event for a child, and probably extremely exciting. Lots of people, new noises, lights – it is all far more interesting than baby toys. One of our daughter’s favorite pastimes was to play with the plane manuals that were located in the seat pocket. Also, smiling at the people behind us and playing with the seat belt kept her quite entertained.
While some toys can come in handy, don’t overdo it. There is so much to explore on the plane and lots of toys take up valuable luggage space. And while it might be exhausting to walk up and down the aisle for hours, try to see it as good exercise for you, too. After all, the flight won’t last forever.
7. Pack food and snacks
If your baby is already eating solids and enjoys them, too – I highly recommend bringing all the snacks.
There are often lots of options for eating to choose from at the airport. But you might not always have the time to stock up on food before boarding starts. Maybe you’re running late and need to head to the gate right away. Sometimes the lines can be extremely long and waiting with a hungry child is not that much fun. Whatever might be the case, it is always a good idea to bring all the food and snacks your child might enjoy.
You can even use special snack boxes or food containers to make it even more entertaining for your little one. We love these snack cups* – our daughter enjoys getting her snacks out of these (and sticking other toys inside, too). There are also snack spinners that allow kids to push buttons until they can reach their favorite snack – fun!
One thing to also keep in mind is that you might want to pack enough food and snacks to get you trough the day and potentially next morning. Especially if you have a flight that lands late, and you don’t have time to get groceries upon arrival. Then it might come in handy to have something to give to your child for dinner or breakfast without stressing too much about grocery shopping right away.
8. Travel stroller and carrier
One thing we were happily surprised with is how much we would love our travel stroller and baby carrier.
The thought of carrying a heavy bulky stroller around where the seat does not collapse was dreadful to us. This is why we are so happy we bit the bullet and splurged on a lightweight, collapsible travel stroller, in our case the Babyzen YoYo*.
Now there are many options to choose from when purchasing a travel stroller. When we went to the store to check on travel stroller options, we learned that this specific stroller is definitely approved to be taken on board as carry-on. This is something you might want to check on when considering which travel stroller to buy. Whereas they might all be collapsible, they might not always be small enough to fit in the overhead compartment as a carry-on.
Another great item to bring is a baby carrier. If your baby is like ours, you can’t go anywhere without it.
Our baby only lasts in the stroller for so long. She much rather prefers to be held or carried. A carrier is also a great option while moving around through the airport. There are often escalators in an airport, which you can’t use with a stroller. And looking for the elevator and waiting in line with other parents might take up significant time.
That’s why we often opted to put her in the carrier because it allowed us to maneuver through the airport much quicker. Baby carriers are also usually easy to pack into your carry-on luggage. And you can use them on board – if your baby is restless but your arms are tired, you can put her in the carrier and walk up and down the aisles for some change of scenery.
We use the ergoBaby 360 carrier*. It allows us to have her facing inwards or outwards, and it is easy enough to put it on by yourself.
9. Check on empty seats and rows
Once you are on board of the plane and boarding doors have closed, you might see some empty seats or rows. That’s of course not always the case, but if it is, it’s always an option to check with the flight attendant if you can move to another row with more space.
We had this happen to us on a 12 hour flight from LAX to Germany. An entire middle row was empty, and the flight attendant asked us if we want to switch from our two seats on the side to the middle row which had three seats. We took her up on the offer and it was the best decision. While we still had to hold our daughter as she was too small to sit on her own, it just gave us more flexibility and space to maneuver around.
10. Changing the baby on the plane
If you have the time before boarding, I highly recommend changing your baby at the airport. There is just more space in the restrooms at the airport compared to on the plane. Plus, you don’t know if there are any delays with takeoff, and when you will be able to use the restrooms on the plane.
Nevertheless, changing a baby on the plane in its tight restrooms is not as difficult as it may seem. One thing I recommend when you are heading to the bathroom to change the diaper is to check which bathrooms actually have a changing table. On one of our flights, only one out of four restrooms had a changing table. Sometimes there are signs on the door that indicate which ones have a changing table. Otherwise, you can always ask a flight attendant.
Also, I try to minimize the items I’m bringing to the restroom to change the baby given the tight space. There is no need to bring the entire diaper bag – wipes, diapers, and a changing pad should be enough. And a diaper rash cream of course if needed. If you need to change the clothes, you could always do that at your seat.
For more advice and tips to change your baby on a plane, read my blog post on the best diaper changing hacks while traveling.
11. Be kind to yourself and understanding with your partner
The last piece of advice that helped us when traveling for six months is to be kind to yourself and understanding with your partner.
Traveling with a baby can be extremely stressful. All the new surroundings and the break from normal routines can be a lot for your baby. Or maybe your child is teething or in a bad mood for some other reason. Needless to say, he or she might cry, might be unhappy, and people might look at you wondering what you are doing.
Don’t let that discourage you! You have just as much a right to travel with your baby and be on that flight as everybody else. And babies do cry and that’s okay. It is important to remember that this is an exceptional day, and treat it like that.As a mom, I often felt like I carried the heavier load when it came to flying with the baby. When I was still breastfeeding, I was the one who held our baby most of the time, and she often fell asleep on me. That meant less free hands and less opportunity to do things for me.I often got jealous of my partner and envious of the fact that he was able to just watch his movie on the plane while my arms and back were starting to hurt from holding my daughter in the position she fell asleep in. Or we would get into arguments about what would be the best way to entertain our daughter or calm her down from crying.All in all, we realized travel days even when perfectly planned and prepared for can cause a lot of stress for us as a couple. And what we took from this is that it is okay to argue and get into fights. It’s okay to feel jealous if the other one gets more breaks.But it is really important to talk it out and communicate your feelings. And at the end of the day cut the other person some slack. Maybe you are holding the baby more often because you just have the better touch. But maybe that’s a temporarily thing and on the next trip she’ll be a daddy’s girl.
Be kind to yourself and your partner. A flight only lasts for so long, and a new adventure awaits upon arrival that makes all the stress from flying so worth it!Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. These links are marked with a *