Flying and aeroplanes when pregnant. Some facts.

[Backinthebox]

Just diving back into the pregnancy pages again in order to write a little essay about flying for the concerned pregnant lady. I keep getting messages from my friends saying 'there's another flying thread on MN again, go and sort it out.' So with any luck, someone will sticky this, or at least remember it is here!

Fwiw, I am a mother of 2 small children and have held a pilot's licence for 16 years, flying large commercial airliners for the last 13 years.

So, some facts.

Firstly, the rules about flying vary from airline to airline, but most of them let you fly as a passenger without restriction until 28 weeks. After that you will need a doctor's certificate saying you are expected to have a healthy and normal remainder of your pregnancy. The reason for the 28 week limit is because there are no facilities on an aircraft to deliver a baby, nor are there any trained staff. Diverting an airliner because someone pops one out at 34 weeks is a costly venture. There is no risk to mother or baby that is not is not also a risk to other passengers - ie you should drink plenty of fluids to keep hydrated and keep yourself moving on a flight to avoid DVT regardless of whether you are pregnant or not. The only things that may impact on you more is if you suffer from morning sickness - you may want to be closer to a toilet in that case. If you are one of the unfortunates who has a miscarriage, flying is not going to trigger this, or make the risk higher, but being on a flight when it happens will increase your distress.

The subject of unpressurised flight occasionally crops up. This requires some common sense. If you are going on a 20 minute seaplane hop in the Maldives, you will not suffer oxygen starvation, nor will your baby. You will not bounce the baby out of your uterus with a water landing. (I was throwing emergency landings in the simulator at 747 pilots up till my 39th week, and failed to bounce the baby out. In fact she had to be prised out by CS 11 days overdue.) If you are planning to fly at 14000ft for a couple of hours, this is a different matter altogether (and would be an issue for the pilot too.)

For anyone who is still skeptical, bear in mind that it is perfectly legal (although unlikely in the UK) for pilots to be flying you around until their 26th week of pregnancy. In the States, many cabin crew fly throughout their entire pregnancies.

Aircraft cabins are pressurised to 8000 feet, meaning that the air pressure in the cabin is the same as it would be outside if you were standing up an 8000ft high mountain. The air is drier than at sea level. Turbulence will not affect an unborn baby.

There are very few noises an aircraft can make that will affect a baby, and generally those noises are crashing kind of noises, in which case you have a bigger problem whether you are pregnant or not!

If anyone has any flying+pregnancy or flying with babies questions, I can generally answer them. Please no 'I'm 12 weeks, is it safe to fly for an hour' types though!

[CherryBlossom27]

No pregnancy questions, but any tips on being scared of flying?!

I don't know how/when but I seem to have developed a fear of flying, and anything goes e.g...

The wings will snap off the plane and we will plummet spiralling to our deaths
Someone will open the cabin door and we will explode with the air pressure
Engine failure
Fire

[Backinthebox]

Bloody hell, if any of that was likely, I wouldn't go to work!

Taking your worries in order:

The wings are unlikely to snap off - they are generally built as a continuation of the fuselage, not screwed or glued on (so you don't have to worry about any dodgy DIY going on there!)

The door of an airliner is actually larger than the door hole, and they open inwards. So when the pressure inside the aircraft increases, the door is pushed into the doorhole, and held firmly in place by air pressure. You would have to be the Incredible Hulk to be able to pull the door inward to open it in flight, especially at the kind of altitude that would cause an explosive decompression.

Engine failures, erm, these do occasionally happen. But this is also the thing we practice, and practice, and practice in the simulator. We are examined every 6 months on our ability to handle engine failures in all kinds of situations. Sometimes an engine failing is such a non-event that the flight can continue without problem - a BA 747 famously few across the Atlantic on 'only' 3 engines a few years ago. On a 2 engined aircraft (which is what I fly) enough power can be produced to safely get back onto the ground by just one engine. There is also a little engine in the tail of most large aircraft called the APU which can provide enough power for airconditioning and electrics. I wouldn't worry about engine failures!

Fires do also sometimes happen, generally they happen in the galleys when someone tries to cook something they shouldn't, or in loos when someone drops their un-allowed fag in the waste paper bin. Again, we have massive training for fire fighting in the air, as do the cabin crew.

You are generally more likely to crash your car on the way to the airport than have a problem on your flight. I can't deny that accidents do happen, but they make such big news when they do because they are major news-worthy events, such is their rarity. Think about it - the number of flights all round the world each day, and if one goes wrong it makes the 10 o'clock news! At work, we like a bit of boredom.

If you are genuinely very scared, and it is holding you back, there are some excellent Fear of Flying courses out there.

[HappySurfWidow]

Hi there back,
Thanks for all the useful info re: pregnant and non-pregnant flying.
I've flown loads all my life and have found that the more I fly, the more fearful I am of turbulence. These days I'm a complete wreck at the slightest hint of any!!!!
I really admire anyone whose work involves flying on planes.... I just couldn't do it!!!
Thanks again

[littlemissbroody26]

Thank you for the advice! I am a very nervouse flyer and the reason im not flying again in pregancy (we flew sweden to london when i was 13 weeks) is because i cant have my usual valium and glass of wine that gets me through the flight!

I have a question about flying once the baby is born.. i have read you can fly with a baby from 10 days old or something like that, is it fair to a baby to fly when they are so little? im not thinking of 10 days old but maybe 1/2 months old. is it very painful for their ears?

thank you :)

[Backinthebox]

littlemissbroody,

you should be OK to fly with a very young baby - most airlines will accept babies from the age of 2 days, although you'd have to be quick off the mark to get a passport drawn up in that time! Wrt their ears, they generally can't do all the things adults would do to clear their ears, like yawning or pinching their nose and blowing. But if you give the baby their milk (either BFing or bottle) the suckling process causes the small tube between the ears and the back of the throat to open and reduce pressure. So try and get your baby to feed during take off and especially descent, as these are the crucial times for air pressure changes during the flight.

Generally small babies sleep for most of the flight, they like the hum of the engines and find it soothing - it's like a huge vibrating cradle for them! It's once they get to the age that they can move that babies become more of a bother. Most people only find this out after the fact, when they have missed the opportunity for a quick post-baby holiday!

[CakeBump]

thanks for the advice Back

So is it possible to fly anytime before the birth as long as you've got a doctor's note? I'm hoping to go on holiday somewhere at around 33 or 34 weeks but presumed I couldn't fly. Do you think I could bribe find a doctor to say it would be ok, and would the airlines accept this?

I need some sun!!

Thanks :)

[SucksToBeMe]

Backinthebox Has anybody ever given birth while you were flying?

[Backinthebox]

You could fly at 33 weeks, if you have a doctor's note saying you are fit to fly and are expected to go full term (please remember 'full term' from a doctor's point of view is any time after 37 weeks.) Babies are born prematurely on flights, but to give you an idea of how rare it is, only 3 have been born on BA flights in the last 20 years. Couldn't tell you whether that is because most women wouldn't travel at 34 weeks though. (I went to the Isle of Wight when I was that heavily pregnant - I spend far too much time on aeroplanes for a holiday flight to be exciting, especially when I couldn't find any comfortable way to sit for 10 minutes, let alone 10 hours!) You are much more likely to give birth while you are on your holiday - search MN and you will not find anyone who had a baby on a flight, but you WILL find people who got stuck somewhere foreign with an unexpectedly early baby. Your choice though.

As with all things, check with your airline and doctor before you book anything.

[lacroixsweetie]

Cakebump - quite a few will allow up to 36 weeks with a docs note after 28 weeks including BA. I think you can forget it with the budget airlines though. IF there was another ash cloud situation or you had any medical issues and some airlines have a written policy that you need to update your letter during your holiday 24 hrs before you fly. What a faff while on holidays.
You probably don't want to be travelling too close to your cut off point if you have chosen somewhere you can't travel back from easily via road. I got stuck in the UK and had to cancel my babymoon the last time around :( I was pretty concerned about a road trip back from the States so we didn't go when it lifted as there was such a high reoccurance risk at the time. Bl##dy volcano.
Having said all that, I think most of the airlines have debunked the whole "you must ground a plane during ash cloud" thing but Backinthebox could better answer that I suspect.

[SucksToBeMe]

backinthebox One more question, (feel free to tell me to shush) but you must see some amazing things on the horizon in all the hours you spend flying. Any thing worth telling us about? Do you take photos of the beautiful sunsets?

[PollyIndia]

Does the pressure in the cabin affect the baby? Mine went mental on the flights I was on last week - loads of kicks and flips! I wondered it if was the pressure.
Vaguely thinking of taking baby to India when he/she is 3 months old. So based on your post above, this shouldn't be too much of a nightmare? Well, except for feeding I suppose.. I will have to look into it.
Interesting job!

[Zara1984]

BRILLIANT BRILLIANT thread, thank you backinthebox!!

I flew longhaul and back from Ireland to NZ and Australia at 8 & 10 weeks pregnant earlier this year. It was TOTALLY fine except my ankles did swell up a lot more than usual and I was quite farty . Also the woman who brought her own stinky rice cakes on the plane and ate the whole packet made me want to . The worst part of the whole trip was the 8 hour stopover in Dubai, followed by the 3 hour drive on my own after 36 hours of travel My doc said the same as you about early flying and miscarriage - flying won't cause a miscarriage, but it would be quite traumatic to be mid-way through a long-haul flight and start bleeding.

For longhaul flights I would advise pregnant ladies to badger the fuck out of flight attendants for water. I was seriously parched and I couldn't get enough of those little sealed pottles of water. Tell them you're pregnant with horrific morning sickness and you need LOADS. Offer to come with them to the galley to collect some. I even pestered them for a half-empty big bottle of water from the drinks cart. Also try book a seat as far forward in economy as possible, you'll get fed first.

My baby will be going on his first longhaul flight to NZ when 3-5 weeks old later this year! I'm looking forward to it, I've heard that most new babies sleep the whole way! Only thing I'm worried about is that I always tend to have quite bumpy flights down across the Pacific (going thru LAX to NZ) and I hope I don't end up having the seat-belt-sign-on-bassinets-away-seatbelt-sign-off-bassinets-back-up palava for 13 hours.... always looks quite frustrating for cabin crew and parent.

backinthebox do you know, is it easy/possible to turn/adjust position of the baby in the extender seatbelts for breastfeeding during takeoff & landing? I have never seen anyone breastfeed baby in an extender belt before. I suppose you can but I was worried it would pull up my belt/be too restrictive etc.

Can you tell I love flying (especially longhaul!).... I have always wanted to be a commercial pilot but my unaided vision and maths were never good enough :(

[Backinthebox]

lacroixsweetie depends on the ash cloud, really. This ash cloud - bit of an over-reaction. A friend of mine has photos of the volcano erupting that she took while flying over it before the whole world panicked. This ash cloud - whole different kettle of fish! Would it surprise you to learn we train what to do if we inadvertently fly into a F-ing great big volcanic cloud too? We train for a lot of things we never hope to do for real!

Suckstobeme I do take photos. I especially like to see the Aurora Borealis, Greenland on a clear day, really red sunsets, meteor showers and famous landmarks from the air. London in particular is very special, you can pick out all manner of things if you know where to look. I've also seen crop circles from the air, a really big fish (I mean, a really bloody big one! From very low over the Caribbean Sea,) and a strange thing much higher up than us that was moving much faster than us across the sky - I have no idea what that was!

[Zara1984]

Also like suckstobeme I'd love to hear about the lovely view you see out the front window!!!

[Zara1984]

[Backinthebox]

Zara1984 you don't have to truss the baby up like and oven-ready chicken in the extender - so long as it is unlikely the baby will fly out of your arms in an emergency stop, you should be OK. Using a little common sense and some slack on the belt you should be able to BF - I did with both of mine. One of the advantages of having a parent for a pilot is that we are sensitive to the seat belt on/off issues!

PollyIndia No idea why your baby was flipping! You should be fine flying to India with a 3 mo. Do your travel vaccines and malaria research before you go though.

[Zara1984]

Thanks backinthebox

Also if you ever see some blonde eejit (and, from now on, with a small child in tow) waving at you and the other pilot in the cockpit from the gate during boarding while you do your paperwork.... it might be me. Wave back! DH is always mortified when I do this if I think the pilots look friendly and ALWAYS if it's a female pilot....

[Backinthebox]

I always wave. And I have a stash of 'Captain's Little Helper' stickers too, for anyone brave enough to visit me! For the kids, obviously.

[happywheezer]

Hi, BITB,
Sorry if this is a personal question but what does your other half do?

I'm asking because my husband is a commercial pilot and often the partners are in the airline industry too.

BTW, I hate flying, I liked flying before I met my husband and now 14 years later, it's a bit too much especially with two small boys too.

I've been hoping to see some airline bods who only know how to cope with small children, early rostas and not having a set timetable so nothing can ever be planned properly.

Your not on pprune too are you?!

[RunningOutOfIdeas]

Zara1984 I bf DD during take-off and landing to Australia. I did have to loosen the seat belt, get her in position and then tighten it a bit.

DD was 12 weeks. She slept better than ever virtually the whole way there. As Backinthebox says, the aircraft noise and motion worked better than anything I had ever manage to achieve with her. On leaving Singapore, the aircraft wheels went over a series of lights. The bumping motion sent her to sleep before we had even taken off.

Turbulence did not bother DD at all. The only bad incident I had was during one seemingly very long stretch of turbulence, I had DD strapped to me when she did a nappy explosion. I was sat helpless watching it leak out of her babygrow. So make sure you have some muslins within reach at all times.

Oh yes, DD did manage one other unfortunate moment. On the landing in Australia, she had just finished a feed when she threw up. I did not have a single mark on the outside of my t-shirt, but I did have a bra full of vomit!

DD had severe reflux and we later found out she was dairy intolerant so she was more prone to sickness and dodgy nappies than most babies. So please don't let my horror stories put you off.

We have done the trip to Oz 3 times with DD now. The first trip was definitely the easiest. Entertaining a toddler is much harder.

[urbanturban]

As a bit of a nervous flyer, I can honestly say that it's so lovely to hear from a real-life pilot-you sound so sensible and down to earth (no pun intended ) that I think the next time I am freaking out at take-off or turbulence I will just think 'what would backinthebox do?' !!

[CherryBlossom27]

Thank you Backinthebox

Glad to hear every eventuality is practiced and practiced for! I know alot of my fears are quite ungrounded (excuse the pun)!

I read somewhere even with no engines at all the plane would be able to glide down to earth as it is designed to fly (obviously!). I suppose a bit like a paper aeroplane really!

I also read somewhere that the plane staying in the air is a bit like a boat floating on water because of the air pressure above and beneath the wings?

I'm not religious but I do say a prayer on every flight, and then spend the rest of the flight too scared to sleep and willing the plane to magically stay in the air! Also annoying DH with my sweaty hands clutching onto his! I do try not to make a big fuss and I don't think other passengers realise! I may also shed a few silent tears when there's turbulence too

DH and I are taking DS to Hong Kong in October (DS will be 10 months old) to visit family, so I think I need to sort myself out so I don't pass on my fears to DS! DH is also going on about visiting Tokyo within the two weeks so that will be lots of flights..thanks DH!

I don't let it stop me flying as I want to get to the destination so badly! I love being at the airport and travelling and seeing new places. I've been on 38 separate flights in the last 11 years so why the hell I'm scared I don't know!?

Anyway, thank you for explaining some of my questions, it must be a brilliant job and your children must think you're cool :o

[lacroixsweetie]

It's quite easy to bf in an extender unless you have it pulled so tight the child is superglued to you. Weirdly there is such little space (in economy anyway) that it's quite easy to be discreet too. Much harder to figure out exactly when to start the bfing as you can hang about on the runways for ages waiting to taxi off. Easy when they are tiny as they take ages but once they turn into efficient little 10 min feeders you can be all done and dusted and still on the tarmac. Groan. I think the air pressure is more of an issue with descending from higher altitude flights though - mine were mostly short 1 hr hops and we never had a screaming child.
The exploding poo is definitely an issue - a friend swears by doubling up on nappies with a larger size over the top. Def bring a change of clothes (plus a clean top for yourself if you can manage it) and make sure you pee before takeoff if you are travelling by yourself. It's pretty tricky to hold a child in an airline loo while you have a quick pee - the changing table flips down over the loo so you can't leave them on it! The world and it's mother wants to hold your baby though so there'll be no shortage of volunteers should you need a quick inflight babysitter.
Final top tip - shoes you can kick off for security especially if you are travelling with a baby in a carrier.

[devondeva]

Hi - this is very interesting. Can I ask about the extenders. Mine are too old to need them now, but when I flew with a baby I used to thin that if i was every in a crash or emergency stop the top half of my body that isn't held by the belt would be thrown forward and crush the baby sitting on my knee (they would obviously be thrown forward too, but I would have thought I would still compress them quite a bit). Luckily I never put this to the test but is it an issue?

[Backinthebox]

Oh, yes. Now we are off the subject of flying while pregnant and onto flying with babies, please let me beg of you all - give a little bit of consideration to what you are actually taking with you into the cabin! I know you need 'stuff' (remember I have 2 young children myself) but do you really need so much stuff you can't actually carry it all yourself? Last week I did a flight and one woman had a baby, a BIG wheelie bag, a changing bag, her handbag and a laptop. And a coat, and umbrella. She was horrified she wouldn't get her giganto-pram back until she got to the baggage carousel. Another woman on the same flight had her baby in a soft carrier, and her handbag, and that was it. She had a very young child with her too, and they strode off easily all with big smiles. I must have had 'that look' on my face, because the first woman protested that most people don't know how hard it is to travel with babies until they've had one. Small babies are easy - trust me! 18-30 months seems to be the trickiest age. You can't keep them occupied for long, but they can run around the cabin screaming quite easily.

Cherryblossom, at a pessimistic guess we could glide about 85 miles from a normal cruise altitude with no engines at all. Across most of Europe you could find somewhere to land, a bit stuck in the middle of the ocean though! We practice 'no-engine' landings too.