I didn’t travel to Utah alone- but I think I still picked up some “tricks” to flying/traveling with an infant. Here it goes…
1) Don’t travel alone if you don’t HAVE to. I know it’s possible (people do it all the time), but it was nice to have someone to pass him to when I wanted something from my bag. It’s virtually impossible to get something from under the seat in front of you with a baby on your lap. Bravo to anyone who figured that one out. I guess if I had been alone, I’d just have to get anything I needed out before I sat down, or before he fell asleep. Or just not gotten anything out of my bag…
2) Disposable bottles. I always use Avent bottles- so I just got the a few of the disposable kind for the trip. That meant that I brought 1 bottle, a bunch of liners, and 4 tops. The sucky thing is that Avent doesn’t allow you to JUST buy the tops…leaving you with more bottle bottoms than you need. Other brands might do it differently so that you don’t have to buy a whole bottle to get more tops to go with your one bottom. Hopefully that made sense…
3) Buy food when you get there. Airports are charging more and more for checked bags, don’t fill yours up unnecessarily. I only took enough Bubbs food to get us to Utah. The morning after we arrived, I went to the store and picked up enough formula/food to get us through the trip. No trying new things, just stick to the same old foods you’ve always given baby. You don’t want to find out that this food causes gas or that food gives him a rash…while on VACATION. And look at it this way, it’s not any more money than usual. He’ll eat the same (if not less) any place you are…so just get what you need for each day, and you’ll be just fine.
4) You can bring water/juice/milk/formula/breast milk/any kind of baby medicine or cream through security. It doesn’t have to fit in a small zippy bag, but you do have to declare it before you go through. With all that said: Buy water on the other side of security. I did it both ways. On my way out I brought water and liquid formula through security to have with me on the plane. That was nice because I didn’t have to mix the formula. Just pop and pour. It WASN’T nice in that I spent an extra 20 minutes in security watching them swab my baby’s diaper (and my hands, and my clothes) for explosives. They patted us BOTH down (scary, I know) and had to test everything we brought through before allowing us to move on. The second time through I brought a can of powdered formula and bought water on the other side. It’s a choice, I guess. 20/30 minutes of time vs. $4 water. You can fill up a bottle at the fountain, but EW. have you SEEN those things? Darn OCD.
5) Get there early. You don’t want to be rushing around and panicking and getting all sweaty and gross, not to mention freaking your baby out. Give yourself plenty of time. Our flights out were actually canceled, so we went super early to get it straightened out. I’m glad we did, because we were going through security while the rest of the people from our original flight were hitting the line to get new tickets.
6) Get a bottle ready before you get on the plane. On the way back we finally figured out that if we had a bottle ready for take-off, and held him off until then, Bubbs would eat and then pass out. It made for a tricky 20 minutes while taxiing to our take-off lane (or whatever you call them) as he was hungry and hot and tired, but then he slept for most of the time.
7 ) The smaller the stroller, the happier the flight crew. Bringing your whole travel system will make that guy in the orange vest unhappy with you. Umbrella is the way to go. If you get a bag to go over it, you can leave some important items in it (like a diaper, a small blanket, a pacifier) and not worry about them falling out or getting contaminated.
8 ) If someone offers help, take it. Let me be clear: I DON’T mean that you should let strangers hold your baby while you pee, or leave your bags in someone else’s care while you run and get a snack. Don’t be stupid. But there are people who offer help that is not scary or threatening in any way. For instance, the man in front of me in the security line offered to collapse my stroller and put it on the conveyor belt. Thanks, that guy. That was a big help.
9) If you need for something, ask. You’d be surprised what they can do. Airport people can switch your seats, check extra weird things, provide liquids and places to stick stinky diapers. All you gotta do is ask.
10) Rent a car seat on the other side. Not fun, I’ll tell you. It definitely wasn’t the seat I would have chosen, but it worked just fine…once I figured out how to install it correctly. And it was more fun than bringing one more thing with me to the airport.
11) You might be tempted to bring a lot of toys with you. We were, and we did. But we quickly found out that Bubbs had plenty of toys. Seat belts, seat backs, travel pillows, airplane windows, tray tables, feet, noses (ours, his, and the guy’s sitting next to us). You can ask for a plastic cup from the attendent, give him a package of cookies, let him chew on the boarding passes. The possibilites are endless. What you DON’T need is 100 lbs. of stuffed animals and squishy books for the flight. Maybe one squishy book. That’s it.
