First Plane Ride with Almost Five Month Old

Hi D.,
My son is 11 months and we are flying to MD in a couple of weeks. I would be interested to know the suggestions you receive. I am a little nervous about flying with him and am open to any suggestions.
Hope you have a great day!!
Thx,
A.

Hi D.,
We have been flying regularly with our daughter, now 15 months old, since she was 2 and half months old. It is much harder now than when she was smaller, to say the least:) My advice is to try to keep him awake while in the airport and feed and change him just before boarding. There is a lot of stimulation with all the people and noises so he is sure to be tired after the normal 2 hours of waiting around. We would take a bottle on the plane for take off and landing to help with her ears but most times didn't need it. Just like riding in the car, as soon as we would taxi out of the gate she was out like a light and didn't wake up until we stopped.

Other suggestions from experience...use your diaper bag as your purse and pack light. I found I never needed all the STUFF I would pack, just the essentials. If you are renting a car, rent a carseat too. I flew a lot by myself to see family and we have a carseat, pack n play or crib and stroller at each house to cut down on things to check. I carry her in my Baby Bjorn, with her diaper bag and wear flip flops to make security a breeze.

As for adapting to the time change, my daughter never seems to be affected. I travel regularly to Atlanta from AZ, 3 hour difference, and she does fine. Good luck! I'm sure he'll do great!

You are thinking too much. I have been traveling with both of my daughters since they were about 5 months old and they were longer trips (NJ) and then even to Europe. It's pretty easy with babies. Just make sure when you take off and land you give him a bottle, breastfeed or give him a pacifier to help with the pressure change in his ears. With the time difference, it might take him a day or two to adjust when you get home, but you guys should be fine. Good luck.
T..

I just got back yesterday after being in MI for 9 days with my 6 year old and 16 month old. The time change was 3 hours ahead (in MI). I kept all of us on AZ time and it was fine. I have family in MI so we travel there a lot. I have always kept my kids on AZ time when we travel there. Although kids bounch back quickly. I also like the idea of cutting the time difference in half. Enjoy!

I just rode on a plane with my 6 mth old for the first time. It was way easier than I expected. I was totally stressed for nothing. He nursed and napped most of the way there and back. The schedule will be messed up for a little while but they get back into it fairly easy.

I second a lot of what has been said - don't overthink it, the baby will do fine. Bring along something to suck on (I disagree with using Tylenol - seems like needless medication) during takeoff and landing and know that the cries sound worse and are more bothersome to you than others. We went to PA for our first flight with our son at 5 mos. and kept him on AZ time as well. He had a 10:30 pm bedtime and an 8 am wakeup, which translated right back to his 7:30 pm and 5 am routine here at home. With only a 2 hour time difference, this should be easy to achieve. One thing I will suggest, if you haven't bought him a seat and therefore don't have a carseat for him to nap in, is to take a boppy or other pillow with you. Our son's nap fell in the middle of our flight home from PA and after nursing him I laid him across my lap on the boppy - he slept for two hours! It was fabulous. Not to mention that the boppy was great when my husband needed to rest. :)

Happy traveling!

Anytime we've travled with our son, he had adaptes AMAZINGLY :) I have always seemed to have more of a difficult time than he has. We have just tried to keep his routine similar to what we do at home, even if the times aren't the same. Good luck!

Hi D.,

First of all, please don't listen to the other passengers when they complain that there is a baby on board. I flew up to Denver from Phoenix when my son was just over a year old and I just made sure that he had his favorite toy, pacifier, some toys and books. With the pacifier it helped my son "pop" his ears when he needed too. He fell asleep about halfway there, so he had no problems with his first flying experience. Since then, I've taken him again to Denver from Phoenix and he did a goo job then as well. Have a safe and fun trip!

I. K.

I flew at Xmas when my daughter was exactly that age, and the trip over she did great, the trip back she cried most of the time. But we had a much longer flight. You should be fine. What seemed to calm my little one down was giving her a bottle with just water. I know you normally shouldn't do that, but it's fine for a couple of hours. Mine loves water for some reason. And people told me to take the Boppy too, but i decided that was just too much to carry on, so when she napped in my lap, I just asked the stewardess for extra blankets and pillows for cushioning.

As far as the time change, I just split it in half. our time chg was 4 hours, so I made it 2 hours. But dallas isn't that far, so dont' worry about that at all.

But looking back, I definitely worried about it more than I should have. Also, I never drink on flights, but I did on that one! That can help too if you are stressed. You can offer to buy the people around you a drink if you are feeling generous.

We traveled 3 times with our daughter via plane. Once to San Diego when she was 5 months, then to Colorado at 8 months and then Pennsylvania at 13 months. Only the last one was awful. For such a short trip, you should have no issues at all. especially with timing it so well. just remember, your son's fussieness/cries are more bothersome to you than to other passengers. Bring Tylenol and give it to him right when you get on the plane. this should prevent any ear issues.
as far as the time difference ,that is a bit harder. We had a 3 hour difference with our PA trip. We kept her on Arizona time the entire trip. We just woke up later, ate later, ect, to make things easier for her. It really wasn't that hard to make the shift. we tried to switch her to PA time, but she didn't understand, so we just stayed on our time.
Good luck. 5 months is really not a bad age. just wait till he's mobile! then it gets hard. :)

One thing you need to keep in mind is the pressure in your little one's ears. They are supposed to be nursing, feeding on a bottle, or sucking on a pacifier when you take off and land in order to help their ears acclimate. Also, try and wake your child up early, so that he will be tired enough to sleep on the flight.

My experience is that my son has ALWAYS done much better than I expected! I worried and worried about everything and he was perfectly fine. I would recommend waiting until the last minute to get on the plane. If you have someone traveling with you, have them get on first and arrange your seating area for you. The less time the child feels confined, the better:)

I flew with my son at 4 months... bring a pacifire or if you dont use those, nurse or bottle feed him durring take off and landing to help adjust the pressure for him. Also Try to sit toward the back of the plane or where there are the least passangers, just in case he does get fussy... I was prepared with toys, baby books, and all... He slept the entire flight... A two hour time change is not a big one... Im sure he will adjust fine... If you can, just stick to your regular routine times... Hope you have a great flight/trip to Dallas!