Flying with a baby
Here are the things that helped this first flight to be a success. These are some baby travel tips of mine. Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links which means if you buy something through my link, I may get a small share of the sale. I appreciate it! For more information please see our disclosure page. 
Wear your baby when traveling.
Going through airport security went exceptionally well. We were moved to the express lane and didn’t even have to remove our shoes. We made our way through the medal detector, got my hands swabbed to make sure there were no signs of explosives and then we were free to be on our way. Having baby G in her Tula was so helpful because it enabled me to have my hands free to deal with our bags. This was my experience at the Portland airport. LAX on the other hand was a different story. But that travel story will have to be for another time.
Diaper change
Make sure baby has a fresh diaper before you go on your flight. Airplane bathrooms are ridiculously small so if you can avoid changing a diaper in one of them the happier you and baby will travel.
Use your stroller as a cart for your bags
It was very handy to use the
stroller as a luggage cart. I kept baby G in the
Tula or on one of her other fun modes of transportation (
see photos). The stroller helped us to keep all of our stuff together and organized rather than lugging around our multiple bags by hand.
Check your car seat and stroller at the gate.
Airlines do not charge extra to check on your
car seat and
stroller. (Always double check with your airline since policies are always changing.) When you arrive to your gate, ask to get a gate check tag for both your car seat and stroller. It is nice have the tags before hand so that you don’t have to mess with installing them as you get on the plane. We dropped the car seat and stroller off as we boarded and picked them up when we arrived at our destination. There are
special travel bags you can buy to hold your car seat and stroller to give them added protection if you like. I did not use a bag and thankfully both items were unharmed but I know some mamas who have not been so lucky.
Bring Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer
It gave me an extra peace of mind to wipe down the seats, seat belts, tray and arm rests with
sanitizing wipes.
Hand sanitizer is also a great thing to have when doing things in the airport and a bathroom is not near by. Flying can be dirty.
Arrange your diaper bag
Put the items you want to have easy access to on top. This will save you time and make getting things much easier when traveling!
Have snacks and water bottle or sippy cup ready
I use
this snack container and it is a life saver! Cheerios and fruit snacks were our main snacks on this trip.
Landing
Babies will feel the most pressure on their ears during landing. My favorite is this
water bottle with a straw. Swallowing will help to pop their ears. Nursing, drinking or snacking are all good ways to keep baby busy and help to pop their little ears.
Ask for help
When traveling, do not be afraid to ask for help. A lot of people were more than willing to give us a hand. Especially those that worked for the airline. It is in their best interest to keep you and baby happy so everyone else stays happy.
Flying with a little one was much more doable than I thought it would be. Even though it did pose some challenges. This was only a two and a half hour flight. We call it our test run. We will be going on a 5 hour flight in September and Genevieve is now a walker that does not like to sit still for long. I will be saying some extra prayers before that one! (
Find out how the flight went.)
What are your favorite tips on flying or traveling with a baby?
This article is part of The Dwelling Tree
Lets be Friends Blog Hop.
