Flying with small baby

[jeaux90]

Advice required from a first time and slightly paranoid mum. I want to take a short flight of about an hour with my 2 month old. She is not exactly robust as she was premature, but now all is fine and she is weighing in at 4.05 kg.

Is it ok to take them on a flight that small?

[mumblemumhome4lunch]

I'm just looking at flights to take DC3 to meet my mum - two flights 1.5hrs and 1hr. He's 11wks and I'm desprate to get it booked in and done, not just so mum can meet him soon as poss but also 'cause IMO smaller the better for airplane travel. Have done it with DC1 and 2 but they were a bit older.

If it's a short flight and baby is in a routine try and plan it to co-incide with feed/sleep times. Feeding can help equalize pressure in the ears so they don't get any dicomfort from that.

If you are breastfeeding bare in mind the limited space in most airplane seats and that you have no control who you are sitting next to If you are a first timer it would be worth practicing your hold so you can be comfortable.

One other slight prob can be nappy changes as there isn't much space in an airplane loo !

Hope that helps

[Geocentric]

We moved to the Uk for a while when DS was born - he was 6 weeks old and we had to take 2 longhaul flights. It was surprisingly easy, all he did was feed and sleep - the way home was much harder as he was 7 months by then.

Agree with the feeding at takeoff and landing. Great for small ears.

[kitbit]

Yes it would be fine - some people prefer to have their 3 month jabs done before flying as airports and planes can be a bit of a petri dish, but plenty of people don't bother. I flew with ds when he was about 2.5 months, and he just slept the whole way. I took a sling, absolute godsend.
have a lovely time wherever you're going!

[MissMitford]

My DS is a veteran of a several 1-hour flights at this stage (5mo now, was 2 months first time around) - here's my 2ps worth...

• I found it easier in the mornings as he was more alert and generally more up for new experiences... then again he is a horror from 4pm onwards.

• you will prob have to sit by the window as I think that's the law when you have a baby on your lap - this helped a bit with feeding and having a bit of room to manoevre.

• pre-empt any eye-rolling from fellow passengers by chatting to them and persuading your DS to smile or just look cute in their direction!

[OrangeFish]

It should be ok.

[jeaux90]

thanks all.....now all i need to do is get over my paranoid thoughts about entering a country that has swine flu!