There Is No Secret To A Fuss-Free Flight
But if there was, here are our top tips for flying with a baby
You didn't think we'd leave our readers without any words of encouragement for a long haul flight with a baby, did you?
I know we left off from the last piece of the story on a bit of a down note, but if you've flown with a child, you'll know every moment can be a challenge. We don't want to put anyone off flying with their baby; in fact, we want to do the complete opposite.
We started The Misadventures of Miss Adventure in hopes that by sharing our family travel stories with you, both the mishaps and the joys, it might empower others to do travel of their own.
Whilst we love telling you about our journeys, we want to hear about yours. Comment with a trying story that you've experienced travelling with your family. By sharing them together here as a community, we hope not to dissuade people from travelling, but to normalise the hard times and show support for each other as we go on our own adventures.
There is no secret to a fuss-free flight with a baby, but here are our tips that hopefully might make the journey a little easier.
Book a bassinet! We didn't even know this existed before we had Miss Adventure, and it's one of the greatest travel hacks when flying with a baby. When you booking your flight, children under 2 years old don't need to purchase a seat - although, on most airlines, there is a small fee for your infant to travel. Once you have booked your fare, you can then contact the airline and request a bassinet for your flight. This means that you will be reserved seats at the bulkhead of the plane and once you have taken off, the cabin crew will bring out a bassinet that clips onto the wall in front of you, so that your baby can rest. It's a completely free service, however, it depends on availability, so book your flights and contact the airline as far in advance as you can. We can't tell you how amazing this is; not only does it give you a safe space to lay baby down, but you get a lot of extra leg room that you would normally have to pay for.
Bring plenty of comforts and entertainment for your baby. We made sure to bring a light blanket, plus Miss Adventures' sleeping pouch (Ergopouch), as well as her favourite books. By making your baby as comfortable as possible, you're helping to give yourself and baby a worry-free flight.
It's important to understand that air travel is not going to be as you have experienced it in the past. This tip might sound obvious, but by reiterating what you are already aware of, it will hopefully have a deeper psychological effect of managing your expectations. Sometimes your brain can trick you when you enter into a familiar setting (i.e the airplane) and you go into a standard response mode whereby you recall your previous experiences and try to replicate them in order to cope. This could be especially apparent if you have an anxiety towards flying or just don't like the thought of long haul flights. This is when the automatic response kicks in that tells you, "you can make it through, just kick back and enjoy the in-flight entertainment and a rest". Well, that's not going to happen, you're going to be "on" as long as your baby is awake - so remind yourself of that and it may help you to mentally manage the flight.
If you can, work in shifts. This is for those who are travelling with their partner, friend or relative. As we just mentioned, rest isn't going to come easy on a long haul flight with a baby. If you are travelling with a companion, it's useful to try and take it in shifts throughout the flight in order to get through. This includes playing with baby but is especially important when your baby naps. If you have a bassinet, understand its not a cot, so your little one won't be totally secure and will probably need an eye kept on them should they wake up and become mobile. If you haven't reserved the bassinet for your infant, you will need to hold them on your lap for the duration of the flight. Taking it in turns to hold them will share the load and allow everyone to be fresh by the time you reach your destination. For the single parents, don't stress. We've personally heard of an overwhelming number of stories of solo parents who have had the generous support of fellow passengers to happily help care for their babies whilst in the air. In one case, this happened for a mother of triplets, flying alone. If she can do it, so can you!
Another little mental reinforcement to take with you into the flight - know that it might get tough, just try and remain positive. Remember, time passes differently on an airplane than it does in a normal day. Whilst in the air, it will feel like an eternity, but it's all going to be worthwhile once you reach your destination.
Just one last cautionary warning - beware the meal service!
The reason we bring this up is the comical juggle you will most likely find yourself in when meal service begins. Flight attendants are so helpful on flights, but seem to be tunnel-visioned on getting their job done, so you might find yourself in a similar situation as we have:
Picture this, you're sitting side-by-side with your partner, one of you has a baby on your lap, the other one has elbows tucked in, holding their breath as to not disturb the elderly woman sleeping beside you. The flight attendants whip down the aisle, wheeling the lumbering food cart between them. They stop beside your seats and before you can blink, two trays of hot foil covered food appear in front of you. The parent holding the baby immediately panics as your baby reaches for the trays, whilst the other parent pulls the fold out tables from the arm rest. The tables cover your laps, the parent holding the baby no longer has anywhere to place the baby other than the extended table. Meanwhile, the parent whose hands were once free is now juggling two trays of airline food, they place one down on the tray in front of them and don't know what to do with the other one. The floor underneath your feet is covered with bags containing nappies and toys - there's no room for your tray down there. The parent holding the baby looks at you as if to say, "what are you doing?" You look into their eyes feeling trapped, unsure where this other tray can go. At some point in this confusion, the flight attendant has asked what you want to drink and both of you have replied, without realising your mistake. So now two cups of orange juice are on the trays as well. One little mishap and those cups of orange juice are going to be all over your lap, but one tray of food is still being held in the air whilst your baby takes swipes at it. The parent holding the baby motions towards the bassinet, but with the tray tables down, it's just out of reach. You turn to hand one food tray back to the flight attendant, hoping they can help, but they're already two rows behind you. By this stage, the parent holding the baby has single-handedly struggled to put the fold up tray table away in the arm rest, stood up and placed baby on the seat and chugged one cup of orange juice before it goes everywhere. They take the tray that's suspended in the air and place it in the bassinet. Phew. You eat one at a time, whilst one of you holds the baby, then stack two empty trays into the bassinet. But now, baby needs to nap, however, the bassinet is full of empty food tra-...
...you get the point.
If anyone has a tip for us on how to manage this meal service / food tray / juggling situation, please leave us a comment; we never seem to make it work smoothly.
We hope that some of this information is useful to any parents who are planning to fly with their baby. Yes, it's going to be awkward and tough, but it's all part of the amazing adventure.
See you on the road!