Bub's First Flight, 10 Weeks Old...
The thought of flying with baby can be overwhelming. With my first child the thought of leaving the house sent me into a tizzy, never mind the country! I wanted to believe I could still travel with baby, but was definitely not one of those new moms who took to things effortlessly. But I am not a road trip person, so in order for us to get away, I needed to get over my fear of flying with baby. My daughter’s first trip was when she was 11 months. My son came with us on our first family trip when he was just 10 weeks. Bub’s traveled quite a bit for a two-year-old, and he’s been on planes at pretty much every developmental stage of his life. Some trips were easy. Some trips were tough. But they were all worth it!
Flying With A Newborn…
I consider a baby 3 months and younger to be a newborn. Bub was a big baby who nursed well, so by 10 weeks we had a robust infant on our hands who was slowly developing a sleeping and eating routine but had enough growth spurts and early teething that kept us on our toes. We flew to Quebec City via Porter Airlines, and both are highly recommended for family travel!
Biggest concerns:
He had not yet had his routine vaccinations, and I was worried about the germy environment of an airplane’s interior, as well as various strangers touching his hands. I was also afraid he’s scream the entire time.
The reality:
A baby this small is easy to keep fairly segregated from the germ-laden population as they are not yet mobile. When Bub was not in his car seat, one of us was holding him, and various baby admirers seemed to know enough to keep their distance. We had anti-bacterial wipes for his hands if he did manage to touch something (and then regular wipes to wipe off the anti-bacterial residue – told you I’m a freak!). Our flight out was not full, so we were able to keep him in his car seat for the duration of the flight, which was awesome. Our flight home we had to gate-check his seat but we had no issues with that nor keeping him on our laps as he slept the majority of the flight in my husband’s arms after a good nursing session during take-off.
Extra consideration:
Our biggest issue was, as an exclusively breastfed infant, Bub’s poops were quite explosive, and if the diaper did manage to contain them, would end up seeping out anyway. (I’d normally worry about TMI here, but if you’re reading this you’re likely a parent, who won’t care, or an expecting parent, who needs to learn this stuff 
) I brought a change of clothes for our flight out, but he went through that rather quickly, and the new outfit barely held until we reached our hotel. Since baby clothes are so tiny at this age, more than one change of clothes (for you too, if you’ve got the room) is a good idea to keep everyone clean and comfortable. If your infant is formula-fed, bring extra feeds and bottles – you never know when or for how long delays will happen, and I can’t imagine the stress of having a hungry baby and not having access to formula and water.
The usual flying with baby advice holds here with a newborn – try to keep them sucking during takeoff and landing, whether that’s by nursing, a bottle, or a pacifier – and don’t be afraid to administer a bit of acetaminophen if you think their ears are in pain. Bub’s naps were not yet consistent by this point, but we were flying at typical naptimes and he slept for most of both journeys. Toys won’t really do much at this age either, so enjoy the relative lightness of your carry-on bag!
Of all the ages and stages Bub’s been at when we’ve flown with him, this was definitely the easiest. Although if you’re a first-time mom as overwhelmed as I was, you probably don’t believe me. You will once you have another!
We didn’t take our twins anywhere until they were older, and didn’t fly until they were almost 4. When our youngest came along, we packed up and took off when he was only 3 months old. That was, by far, the easiest flight with him. He fed, he slept, he didn’t need much room to wiggle. It is hard to convince new parents, but they really should fly while the baby is tiny.
Oh boy. You are flashing me back 2 years to our first flight with our guy at 3 months. We went across the country. I thought everyone was right and we must be insane. He slept almost the whole time. When he wasn’t sleeping he was chewing on a toy. As usual, I was more crazy than he was. And you are absolutely right about packing more formula than you think you will need. This saved our butts. We got stuck in San Fran over night on our way home from Maui when he was 5 months old. I was panicked because we only had 2 bottles left. I was asking for our luggage, where a 24 hour grocery store was. Anything! Somehow we managed without more formula, but it was definitely more stress than we needed to deal with if we had planned a little better. We packed some extra in case of delays, but didn’t even think about getting stuck overnight! As always thanks for all the amazing baby advice.
I’d give anything to travel with a tiny one these days!
Totally not what I expected coming in to this entry, haha. For some reason I was expecting tips about how to keep your baby quiet on a long flight.
But all of these made sense. I’ve got no kids myself, but I had wondered in the past how my sister would deal with poopy nappies on a long flight. That confined environment makes them all the more lethal :-p