This mom took a thirteen hour flight with her nine month old baby - here’s how she did it
I’m just a mom who traveled on an airplane…for thirteen hours…with a nine month old baby.
The amazing part is, I survived. And so will you, no matter how long the flight is or how old your baby is. If you are about to embark on a long journey with your little one(s) and you’re wondering how you’re going to do it, I got you Mama!
I have compiled some tips and tricks (as well as some things to avoid), based on my recent trip from California to New Zealand, that are sure to help make your flight a little smoother and more enjoyable for everyone.
Booking your flight:
Babies under two years old are free (or often 10% of the fare for international trips) if they sit on your lap and don’t get their own seat. Check with your airline to see what their policy is. Even if you don’t book them a seat, you will still have to tell the airline (at the time of booking) that you have a “lap infant,” and some airlines will issue a ticket for the infant. Note: That many safety experts recommend you do book a seat for your infant and have them ride in a car seat, so this is something to consider but is ultimately your choice!
If you have a short flight, you can easily plan it around naps. Depending on the age of the baby/child and the length of the flight, you may want to plan the flight during your child’s normal sleep time, or you may want to purposely plan it during their normal awake time. Avoid red-eye/all-nighter flights, as the money you save is just not worth completely wrecking a sleep schedule over. However, in my case of a 13-hour flight, there’s no ideal time. For a long flight, well, you just gotta do it.
Try to get a bassinet row. The first row in each section of an airplane is called a “bassinet row.” Flight attendants can attach a bassinet to the wall in front of the row of seats so that a baby can lie there during the flight (not during takeoff and landing, though). However, at least with Air New Zealand, you can only book that row if the baby is eight months or younger. Unfortunately for us, my baby turned nine months on the very day of the flight. The exception to the rule is that if no one else has booked those seats, an older baby (but still under their weight and height limits) can be reassigned to that row during check-in.
Book an aisle seat so you can get up and down easily. For older babies/toddlers, get one near a window seat, rather than one in the center of the plane. Sitting near a window definitely helps with distractions, especially during take-off and landing when you can’t stand up and walk around.
Packing:
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You can check in a stroller and car seat for free, in addition to your regular check-in bag. If you want to use your stroller while at the airport, you can even take it (or even your car seat) all the way through security with you and then “gate-check” them at the last minute as you board the plane. If you have a seat actually booked for your baby, you need to take your car seat on board and buckle it into the airplane seat belt.
Some airlines allow babies a free carry-on bag (but not a check-in bag). This is wonderful, considering the fact that the diapers, baby wipes, Lysol wipes, changes of clothes, breastfeeding cover, toys, snacks, water bottle, etc would leave you no room for your own things in your carry-on. Check with your airline, though, as some don’t allow the baby to have any bags - even a diaper bag! (Most likely, domestic flights will not allow you these luxuries, while international flights will) Along the same lines, some airlines also accept travel cribs/playards as a free check-in, while others don’t. All airlines should allow you to bring a breast pump (& its bag) on the plane for free because it counts as a “medical device” - but again, it’s safest to check with your airline.
Families with kids are allowed to take certain liquids in their carry-on, such as breastmilk, boiled water, or apple sauce (which I should have taken out of my bag before going through security, because they had to do an extra search of my bag when something mushy and mysterious came up on the x-ray!). Just tell the security person it’s a “baby bag” and they treat it different.
Have several sleeping options available for your baby. Personally, what stressed me out most before our flight was just the unknown. Would we get to sit in one of the bassinet rows? Or would we have a seat open next to us? If so, should I bring the car seat on board so she could sleep in it on the empty seat? If neither of those were options, I had also brought a travel footrest pillow. This is something that someone had recommended to me for long flights. The idea is that you take two minutes to blow it up, it goes in front of your seat, your legs straddle it, and the baby can lie down on it. If you don’t have a bassinet row and your baby doesn’t have her own seat, I recommend bringing one of those travel footrest pillows, as well as your trusty baby carrier.
Pack a baby spoon and food-catching silicone/plastic bib in your carry-on. The airline may provide free baby purees, which means you need a baby spoon, or if you are doing baby-led weaning, you can give some of your food to the baby by putting it in the bib’s pouch as if it were a tray.
Don’t fill up your carry-on with too many toys. Plastic cups, safety information cards, and magazines all make fun novelty toys. For toddlers, removable stickers or window stickers make good lightweight toys.
Some great travel-size products to bring for your destination: the Phil & Teds travel crib and the SlumberPod blackout crib cover (use discount code MYSWEETSLEEPER$20 off the SlumberPod). Both fold up small enough to fit in carry-ons!
At the airport:
Wear your baby in a carrier. You need both your hands on deck at airports with carrying luggage, handing over passports, etc. You probably don’t have enough hands to push a stroller and roll a suitcase. However, I have heard of strategic parents bringing their stroller to carry their actual stuff in, while they had the baby on them in the carrier!
During the flight:
Even if your baby is asleep, the flight attendants will make you take her out of the bassinet or carrier for take-off and landing. Just be prepared for that. Right before take-off or landing, try to avoid having your baby fall asleep anywhere other than freely in your lap/arms.
Airlines recommend you nurse/bottle-feed during take-off and landing to help the baby’s ears during the air pressure changes. I found that my baby didn’t seem to mind, though.
Expect flight attendants to be accommodating of you. From my experience, flight attendants were generally very kind and accommodating because we had a baby. On every flight I’ve been on where I’ve been seated next to a stranger, flight attendants either moved me and the baby to a new seat, or moved the stranger to another seat. It’s always worth asking for something like this (even at the gate before boarding)! Also ask for things like baby meals, if there are adults meals being served on the flight, or extra water bottles if you’re breastfeeding.
Feel free to walk up and down the aisles with your baby in the carrier. People will understand that you’re putting the baby to sleep. Don’t be afraid of the glares you might get. And along the same lines...
Don’t constantly apologize to everyone for your baby crying. Babies cry. It’s what they do. People know that and understand. They cried when they were babies, too.
Don’t nurse/coax your baby to sleep in any position that you can’t maintain! At 11pm, desperate to get my baby to sleep again, I lay her down on the middle seat and awkwardly lay next to her and nursed her in that position...which was extremely uncomfortable for me. She nursed until she fell asleep, and when I thought it was safe, I unlatched her, hoping I could sit up and get out of that painful position, but she woke up and cried the second that I unlatched. At home, I would probably just let her cry for a minute or two and she would go back to sleep...but on an airplane full of other people? Not so much. At that moment, the baby carrier would have been a much more comfortable place to coax her to sleep in.
Know that your flight experience will be very different than it was pre-baby. I used to watch at least four movies on my international flights. This time I watched part of one movie.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Maybe you’ve night-weaned your baby and have purposely not nursed her to sleep in weeks. Well, be prepared to give that up on your long flight. My baby had slept through the night for three weeks straight before our trip, but I nursed her that night more times than I can remember!
Each time I’ve flown with my baby, I’ve had difference experiences. The first time I did this thirteen hour flight, it was definitely rough. Most nights at home my baby gets ten to twelve continuous hours of sleep. That night she got six and a half hours of sleep, in six different sessions, in several different positions (in the carrier, on the inflatable cushion, between my husband and I, under the nursing cover, etc). On the flight back home, though, we were able to get a bassinet row and the flight was amazing in comparison! After nursing her during take-off and having a little bit of playtime, I then nursed her to sleep around her normal bedtime. My husband and I made a detailed plan of how exactly I would sneakily transfer her - while asleep - into the bassinet, and how he would put a blanket on top right away to block the light. One...two...three… it worked! We literally high-fived each other in front of watching passengers. However, less than ten minutes later, she started crying...but after less than a minute, it stopped. This random on-and-off crying continued for the entire night. In total, she got eight and a half hours of sleep, but let out a short cry fifteen different times! Unfortunately, that kept me awake...but she slept way better than I ever have on an airplane!
Since this flight, I’ve been on several shorter domestic flights. Each experience brings its own challenges, but also its own fun memories. Don’t let the fear of the unknown prevent you and your family from having a wonderful vacation! Even if you and your baby get zero sleep on the flight, you will recover, and the memories you make will be worth it. You can do this!
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