To ask for advice on flying with a baby

[Lazydaisylady]

I have never flown with a baby, and I rarely even go anywhere myself but I am thinking of taking a trip to visit a friend and bringing my baby. The baby is under 1. Is there anything I should know? Any tips? I have read that she can travel on my lap but do I still need to book her a ticket?
What happens to the buggy? I will probably take her in the wrap but I think I would need the buggy until we are getting on the plane. Or do I need to check it in on arrival?
I imagine it is best to book an Aisle seat? Flight is a couple of hours.
Any tips or advice is appreciated.
Thanks!

Hi, my partner and I have just come back off a holiday with our seven month old so I have recent experience

You can bring the pushchair to the plane, you get a label for it when you check in your case.

they can sit on your lap until 2, different airlines charge differently but they’ll need to be on the booking. If it’s a budget airline it can sometimes be cheaper to buy a seat for them and then you have more room.

You normally get to bring 2 infant items - car seat and buggy etc

I’d recommend checking in a case so you’re travelling as light around the airport as possible.

click and collect for formula after security.

try and feed on take off and landing if you can.

We travelled with a 7 month old in February.
Check with the airline but most take the buggy at the gate. So you can have it through the airport.
We booked a seat for more space and brought books/busy board that kept her occupied for a good hour. What time is your flight? If its during normal nap time its handy.
Then have dummies/ bottle for take off and landing

Sorry sent too soon! Anyway...
Recent experience of this. Firstly I would say our flight was super straightforward and ended up being way easier than I thought! Yes you will need to book her a ticket when you book your flight but it shouldn't be much, I suggest feeding her when you're taking off and landing to prevent her ears from popping. Who's your airline? We went with Ryanair and could check in two items of baby equipment (we did the car seat and pushchair), you just tell them at bag drop off that you're checking it in and you can keep it right up until you board. Also with them you could take an additional baby bag up to 5kg on the plane. You can also take milk, baby food etc on the plane. I recommend maybe just a few small toys/books to keep her busy. You should definitely do it though, I don't think it will be too stressful, especially with a two hour flight. Good luck!

Buggy usually gets checked at the gate, unless you’d rather leave it at bag drop, or it’s a YoYo or similar that can go as a carry on. Yes you book a ticket and you pay a charge for them to be a lap infant, unless you’re in domestic US and then it’s free but you should still request it in advance via the airline. I would book a window so I don’t have to move with a sleeping baby because someone needs the loo.

Take a stroller (not big pushchair) as well as a sling. If your flight is delayed you'll be grateful that baby can lie down flat to sleep.

We flew when ds was 5 months old. 4 hr flight. We used his nappy bag as my carry on and I just put essentials in there for myself. Brought pram with us to the gate and then checked it at the gate and collected it after. I used a stretchy wrap and put ds in it on the plane and he went to sleep for 90% of the journey. Just brought some toys that stuck onto the tray table/ window that he could futter with and booked a night flight in the hope he would sleep. I got him a passport and yes you still book them on. I breastfed on take off to help with popping ears and the noise and gave a dummy to help him sleep the rest of the way. Changed nappy right before we got on the plane and then hoped for the best. Since he slept through and didn't have a dirty nappy we just changed him again when we'd landed.

My only tip because it was years ago is to bring a change of clothes for yourself because it's awful to sit there in sicky clothes.

Also book the baulkhead seats if you can because even though you won't have a seat for them they can attach a portable crib there so you can lay them down in there.

Agree for long haul but it sounds like OP is going short haul so I’d say don’t book row 1 which will probably be the only bulkhead because there won’t be a bassinet and therefore the inconvenience of having to put your bag up in the overhead isn’t worth.

You buy a seat for an infant and it is automatically a lap seat. You have to do something different if you want them to have their own seat.

They usually place you at the window as that's where the extra oxygen mask is and they don't want you in the way of evacuating other passengers in an emergency.

You can take the pushchair to the gate and then you get it back with the suitcases.

Would recommend taking saline nose spray, this is my top tip as accidentally discovered how well it works for blocked ears you can't release.

Thank you all so much, feeling a lot more confident already!
I assume bringing my big huge icandy orange is a no no?
Will have a look around for something more compact!

Just by a cheap folding buggy.

The smaller the buggy, the more chance you’ve got of the crew managing to fit it in a wardrobe (although probably unlikely anyway on short haul).

Take a small familiar blanket if the baby will need to sleep.Sometimes there aren’t even spare blankets on long haul flights for the bassinet cots.

As people have said, give a feed on takeoff and landing- but beware of starting too early. I’ve watched so many mothers start feeding during the taxi to the runway, and during the queue for take off, then the baby was full and wouldn’t suck on take off and the climb, which is when you want to help their ears adjust..

You can take a big buggy. I took a Britax B-Agile. They just want it to fold in one piece - they won't usually accept it at the gate if it goes into two pieces. Small is only a benefit if you want to bring it on as hand luggage.

They can get banged around so don't take anything that you'd be gutted if it gets damaged.

The advantage of taking it as hand luggage is that often some destinations don’t manage to bring buggies up to the door for ages, or occasionally not at all. (I was cabin crew for over two decades..)

I was going to say, ask and ask again when you gate-check your buggy, ask where you retrieve it on arrival. Nowadays most should bring it to the plane door if you're arriving to a "bridge" (one of those folfing things they fasten to the outside of the plane door you step off your flight snd walk right into the terminal). But on some short-hauls you'll get off by descending a steep set if stairs to a shuttle bus, which means managing a heavy bag and a baby is scary, no hand for the handrail, plus the pushchair will probably vome out with suitcases so you have to carry your child a distance. And in some airports buggy comes with luggage but not on that conveyor belt, instead at a desk where other fragile or awkward things like skis come out. Nowadays they often announce as you're landing where your baby bits will be returned

I'd also second the advice on taking a change of clothes, at leadt as much as you can fit in a light bag. This in memory if the time my 6 month old projectile vomited all over himself AND me half an hour into a 12-hour flight, though to be fair it never happened again but still...

If your child is getting to grips with the pincer grasp and also solids, little bits they can gnaw on are helpful for distracting them. My US friends swore by Cheerios cereal-- tiny hoops, low in sugar in the US version though not the UK version oddly

But really a short-haul to Europe will be fine. I mean you're right to go just before they start crawling or walking, which complicates flights because for about six months after they start getting around in their own knees or feet that's all they want to do for the WHOLE flight.

This is fab.

I'm going abroad with my baby ( will be 3 months by this point) in 4 weeks and wondered if we could take his changing bag plus our own hand luggage :-)

Can we take a tub of formula or do the bottles have to be pre made?

@Babycatsmummy aw amazing I hope your trip goes well! Are you flying with Ryanair? If so yes that's exactly what I did with the changing bag, I took my little one's and filled it with all his stuff as you can take that up to 5kg as well as your own hand luggage. Yep you can take formula, pre made bottles, baby food, pouches... just be prepared to spend ages while security check them like I did haha. Also the cabin crew will heat up water for you for bottles. Actually something that I did was just take on the plane two of the ready made baby milk cartons, you know the cow and gate individual ready made 200ml milk cartons? Along with two empty sterilised bottles and used those and it saved me loads of faffing!

Yes Ryanair ☺️

I did think about the pre made bottles, but I can’t find any lactose free ones. It would save me holding up the queue for sure 🤭

thank you so much, you’ve been really helpful x

@Babycatsmummy ah that's a shame but hopefully it will still end up being pretty straightforward!

You're very welcome I hope you have a great trip ☺️ xx

Yabu.

It's easier to fly with a non mobile baby than a crawling toddler then when they are 2 and get their own seat it gets easier!

My mantra has been it's only for a few hours !
Yes they might cry / scream but most people will sympathise!
And it will bring out the best in some people too - on a recent flight I had great fun holding a baby so (lone) parent could go to toilet (with permission I didn't just grab the baby!)

Oh yes definitely bring a change of clothes for yourself too!