Before I even started to pack for our week long trip away from home, I scoured websites and message boards, searching for the best advice when traveling with a baby and the best I found was on a blog. So I am here to pass on some of that advice and other things I have taken away from the experience. Overall, Logan did so well. He hardly cried and was content just rolling around in his stroller or crawling on the floor (more on this later). My worst fears of him taking the plane down with his ear-piercing cries did not come true and I will say that yes, I would do it again. Just give me a good month to recover from the complete exhaustion I am still experiencing.
- Packing. I pride myself on how good of a packer I am and I know I earned those qualities from my dad. I know how to pack quickly, efficiently, and easily so everything that I want or need to take, fits. HOWEVER, as much know how I thought I had about packing had no affect on my packing for not just two of us, but three of us and one of those being a baby. So the best advice I got from a message board was If it doesn't fit in the diaper bag, don't bring it OR check it instead. By the time I received this advice, I had already backed one bag too many. I stopped and looked over what I had packed and was able to condense everything into either our main bag or the diaper bag. So while we were in the airport, I only had Logan, the car seat, stroller and a diaper bag to worry about. I put my important documents in a clutch which fit perfectly in the diaper bag and packed a purse for later.
- Food. Babies eat and if you are not nursing, you need food. I discovered Happy Baby food which is in a pouch. You can twist the cap off and either let baby suck the food out (Logan's preference) or squeeze it out onto a spoon. He loved it and once I realized Logan could suck it out, the mess was not nearly as bad. When it came to formula, I bought the Similac premixed formula. You have to have a nipple that fits it or take a bottle with you to pour it into. I happened to have the playtex skinny nipples and they fit great.
- Security. This goes along with the food, kinda. Security is a bitch. Let's face it, they have to assume that even mommas with cute babies are packing something dangerous and you will get the third degree so BE PATIENT. Go through the family/medical side of security. The xray machine is bigger for car seats and strollers and they seem to be a lot more patient with you as well. Our first time through, there were a million people and I felt very flustered. I had to get Logan out of his car seat, break down the stroller, take my shoes off, and get everything into its own bin all while B is trying to do the same thing for himself and his carryons. I did not pull out the liquids I had for Logan and I am sure I would have saved myself a good 10 minutes if I had. Once they pulled us aside, I had to open a bottle of formula and the hand sanitizer. They checked it with a little tab thing for vapors and gave it back to me. All was fine, but then I had to use the milk up within the next two hours. Good thing Logan was hungry once we got to our gate. On the way home, I remember to be more prepared and put all the liquids in their own bin and the TSA folks were a lot more accomodating with us. I did not have to open anything and worry about it not getting used.
- Airplane safety. If you are not purchasing a seat for you wee one, then take the car seat with you to the gate, just in case there is an empty seat. I did not score any luck with this until our first flight home. Honestly, I would have just prefered to have him on my lap. It did not seem to make any difference to him whether or not he was in the seat or on my lap. He fell asleep in both places. I did have my hands free, but was without reading material due to not expecting to have that break. Don't let other people touch your baby. Everyone will ooh and aah over him, and that's fine, but there are some people who have no sense of a bubble and want to touch their faces and hands. This is the best way to go home with a cold. We kept our distance from the touchy people. HOWEVER, the one thing I was not so worried about was him crawling around on the floor. I know that might sound gross, but no blanket is big enough to keep him in one place. Logan is a crawling machine and he needed to get that energy out betwee flights. I just followed him around and made sure he didn't get stepped on.
- Traveling items. Things I could not have traveled without: an extra paci, paci wipes, diapers, new and interesting toys that did not make noise, the food, a snuggly blankie, and of course, my husband.
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