Yesterday I got on a plane with my 5.5 week old. Was I a little nervous and probably unprepared?! Absolutely. But was it worth it? 1000%
We heard that my grandpa wasn’t doing too well! He lives in Michigan and hasn’t met Ryder yet. I could’ve used multiple excuses to not make the trip —
I have a newborn.
I don’t have anything warm for him to wear.
What does it even look like to fly with a 5 week old?
What happens if he’s miserable on the plane. That’s embarrassing.
But you know what I learned when I talked to those around me (because everyone wants to talk to you when you have an infant on an airplane), that everyone has been here. No one was concerned about his fussing. No one was complaining when he blew out his diaper and smelled a little. They’ve all been there. Or if they haven’t, they were probably the child in the situation at some point. And almost everyone is wearing headphones and in their own world anyways.
What’s my point? Is flying from Florida to Michigan with an infant intimidating? Yes. Is there any reason you shouldn’t just get on the plane and take the trip? Nope. Family is so important. If you live far from yours, take the trip — plane or car ride. You’re capable of so much more than you give yourself credit for & your baby will probably do better than you imagine. You got this, mama 🤍
Here are some tips for flying with a newborn that I compiled for ya —
- nurse/feed on the take off & landing to help their ears
- Try to plan the trip so they can nap on the plane if possible
- Keep a easy accessible bag ready to grab to take to the bathroom with you in case of a blowout
- You can gate check (or drop it at the ticket counter) your car seat and stroller
- Your diaper bag doesn’t count as an item for you — it’s a medical bag exemption for your baby
- You can bring more than the allotted “ounces” through security of formula or pumped milk. Just let them know what you have ahead of time
- Not every bathroom on the plane has a changing table. Look for a sign marked or ask a flight attendant to make sure yours does
- Each airport has nursing rooms if you don’t want to nurse in public. You can locate them on the map (and google the airport map ahead of time if it’s a new airport to you or you have a short layover)
- If they start to fuss, do not stress. Go through the checklist of things that could be wrong — need a change, hungry, cold, hot, need to burp, etc — and try until you solve the problem. Don’t let others around you put the pressure on you to calm him down in a way that stresses you out. You got this, mama
Do you have any other tips for flying with newborns? Drop them in the comments for others mamas to see!
XOXO,
Hil
hrmarciano 