Tips and Questions about Traveling with a Baby

[geetargirl05]

Kind of travel related... Anyone have tips on changing time zones? We will be changing from east coast to west coast time for 11 days in May.

[dreadgamerwife]

Mar 17, 2015 19:07:50 GMT -5 geetargirl05 said:

Kind of travel related... Anyone have tips on changing time zones? We will be changing from east coast to west coast time for 11 days in May.

I tried to avoid it. We were only gone for 5 days, so I got used to getting up between 3 and 4 am and I would get her down once I finished with work, around 5 pm.

But if you want to change time zones, take it slow. Start before you leave and start trying to get your LO down a bit later each night. But once you get your LO used to the new time zone, it will be time to go home.

[rockynfrankie]

Mar 14, 2015 19:34:21 GMT -5 geetargirl05 said:

Mar 14, 2015 18:38:09 GMT -5 beezbeez said:

We checked our car seat and the airline put it in a heavy duty plastic bag. You don't need to bring the base. We gate checked the stroller without a bag and it remained in good condition.

What airline did you fly? I don't think they all provide them but I have heard southwest does. We are flying delta in a couple months but their website says nothing about providing bags.

JetBlue does not provide bags. This is stated on their website.

[kellrr]

Has anyone flown Southwest with LO? We love them, and their fares are way lower for our treks between CO and MN, but we haven't done it with baby. Also, generally, when you check/gate check/carry-on, how are you charged for those bags/items? We'll need car seat and PNP, but will probably skip the stroller since it will only be 4 days, and it's not for pleasure. We're dealing with FiL's estate.

[TheMooseIsLoose]

Mar 12, 2015 9:43:32 GMT -5 rockynfrankie said:

Mar 11, 2015 21:41:07 GMT -5 pinkie said:

No I haven't but they do sound nice. Are they super expensive? If you go that route I woukd try them before you leave in case your LO has issues with different nipples.

I plan on doing this. I ordered some from eBay and it was $15 for 10 bottles with shipping. So basically $1.50/ bottle and he takes 6 bottles a day. Not exactly cheap for any extended use but if he tolerates them I think it will be worth it to have a a few days off from washing bottles. It might make it feel a little more like vacation for me.

A cheaper option would be to use platter bottles with the drop in liners. You'd only have to wash nipples. And then you get to choose your nipple type.

[geetargirl05]

Mar 24, 2015 20:09:43 GMT -5 kellrr said:

Has anyone flown Southwest with LO? We love them, and their fares are way lower for our treks between CO and MN, but we haven't done it with baby. Also, generally, when you check/gate check/carry-on, how are you charged for those bags/items? We'll need car seat and PNP, but will probably skip the stroller since it will only be 4 days, and it's not for pleasure. We're dealing with FiL's estate.

I have not flown with them since DS was born, but I have heard really great things about how they deal with families. Car seats and strollers do not count as luggage and can be gate checked for free, or if there is room on the flight you can ask if you can have a seat for LO and then use your car seat.

[saraml13]

[qu ote author="dreadgamerwife" source="/post/1104643/thread" timestamp="1426449441"]I flew United and they did not provide bags either. I brought my own as the various straps and belts can get caught in the baggage machinery.[/quote]
I just flew United and they had bags at both airports (OHare and Aspen). We checked the car seat at the checkin counter, not the gate.

[pinkie]

We flew southwest with DS1 as a newbirn. I remember them being great! We bought the baby a seat and checked as much as we could. We hate checked the stroller with no issues. I love SW and wish they had more flights from our area.

[kelsbels]

I flew southwest last month. They let you board between the A and B boarding group if you do not have an A boarding pass.

I bought the bags for the car seat and stroller and am very glad I did. Everything gets tossed around and dirty.

[kellrr]

My road trip lessons:
We drive what normally would have been 8.5 hours and broke it up as follows: day 1: drive 5 hours, one stop to feed/diaper and play for 30 minutes. Day 2: drive 4 hours, stop 2 times. Day 3: drive what "normally" would take 8.5 hours in 11 hours, stop 95 (ok, 6 times). The longer we were in the car, the more we often we had to stop towards the end. It sucked.
Tips: have help. My mom went with me, and I can tell you I would have turned around day 1 without her. She and I took turns sitting in the back with DS to soothe him and play with him.
Try to time travel with naps. When we left day 1 and day 3, it was time for a nap, which made those first sections better for DS. He took longer naps and more of them in the car, and slept like ass at night, so you may consider waking LO after their usual nap time is up.
Get out and play at least every 3 hours for at least 30 minutes. We would lay a blanket on the grass at a rest stop and let DS play with his toys, stretch his legs, etc.
Pack a zillion toys, including some LO hasn't played with recently/new toys. I also brought 3 small books. We sang songs, also.
Pack the big bag with every thing you need for LO for the trip and a smaller diaper bag with just what you need for that day. In the smaller bag I had the diaper clutch, enough diapers for that day's travel, one outfit change, all the toys, and snack/water for me. Everything else was in the trunk. It was less bulky to run in somewhere with and gave us more room in the car.
Last note: it was pretty awful. In the future, I'd fly if possible for anything over 4-5 hours each way. We made it, but DS hasn't slept well since we left, even though we've been home 2 nights now, and I was just really over it.

[geetargirl05]

Notes from flying with a lap infant:

-Gate check your car seat. Our last flight got cancelled (thanks Delta), I almost had to fly into another airport and drive home sans luggage which means we would have had to rent a car seat from a car rental company (if they even had any). I was so glad I had more options because we had our car seat with us at all times.
-On that note carry on everything you need for the baby for an entire day, as if your flight is being cancelled. Extra diapers, extra formula, extra clothes, etc.
-There isn't anywhere to change a diaper in the airplane bathroom, don't bother trying.
-We greatly preferred a window seat. Much easier to corral the LO, IMO.
-All in all he did really really well. He screamed before falling asleep a few times, and that sucked. But no one cared as much as I did, I'm sure of it. I can't imagine having a lap infant older than 1 year though. We are flying in December and after this experience will be buying him his own ticket.

[jellykat2]

Here's my advice after flying with baby:

- we checked our stroller and car seat. I bought covers for them and it was super easy. They didn't count towards luggage, and so were checked for free. I wore dd and I found it much easier than walking through a crowded airport with a stroller.

- wear the baby through the airport!! It made life soooooooooo easy

- somehow we timed our flights perfectly with when she would be due to eat and nap. It made things easier. We nursed during takeoff and then napped the entire flight both ways.

- bring almost anything you need for baby with you on the plane. Also, pack and extra outfit for you on plane in case baby explodes everywhere, including you. (I didn't need to change ever, but it was good to know I had a change of clothes just in case). Also, bring a bag to put any soiled clothes in.

- make sure you change baby right before you get on plane.

- I bought a couple new toys for her that were good to chew on. We gave these to her for distraction and during landings when she didn't want her paci or to nurse but I wanted her to be using her jaw to help w her ears.

- we brought some Clorox wipes with and wiped down all the surfaces in our row that she might touch.

- when boarding take advantage of getting on the plane when they ask if anyone needs extra time.

[jeniece47]

Here are some things I learned after a five day road trip with the baby, two dogs and two cars.

-during the drive, plan to stop at least every two hours.
-We fed the baby and changed her diaper at each stop even if it hadn't been two hours so that hopefully we could drive another two hours or so from that stop.
-use diaper cream at every diaper change to prevent LO from getting diaper rash since they are sitting for so long.
-have bottled water to fill bottles if not breastfeeding. Not all rest stops are nice.
-have extra pacifiers and soft toys in easy reach for you to hand back to the baby if they are fussy. This is really important if you are in the car by yourself.
-our max driving seemed to be 8.5-9 hours before complete meltdowns. Once we figured that out we made sure to calculate our drive distances for the next days to not exceed that whenever possible.
-bring a bottle brush and dish soap to clean bottles in the hotel room.
-try out whatever sleeping arrangement you are going to do prior to the trip to make sure baby will actually do it.
-a blanket folded up under the sheet (recommended by one of the lovely notches) worked for getting K to actually sleep in the pack N play.
-try to pack according to what you will actually need at night so that you don't have to drag too many things into the hotel room.
-use sunscreen on LO if the sun is shining onto them through the window while driving.

All things considered, our trip went better than expected but it was definitely not fun.