Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Plane + Fussy Baby = Nervous Mom
Asa and I are flying to Texas next month to see Berkeley graduate basic training. I AM NERVOUS. Most of you know how fussy Asa can be a lot of the time. By the time we fly, he will be barely 4 months old but I am hoping by then he will have outgrown more of his fussiness. The trip is 6 weeks away and 6 weeks can do a lot for a baby, right? Even so, the thought of flying with my infant in a confined space with lots of people makes me a little jittery. Please, all you veteran moms of flying with infants, give me some advice on how to make it less stressful.
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6 comments:
Ask your doctor what you can give him to knock him out. If it's Benadryl, you might want to try it out before hand because sometimes it can have the opposite effect.
Annie, I stress out SO bad when I fly with Parker. Here are some things that help me:
1. Attitude. This is public transportation. You paid for it just like everyone else did. Plus you'll never see them again.
2. Make a friend on the plane. Its surprising how many people actually enjoy being next to the baby and helping keep him entertained. I usually try to make a friend before boarding.
3. Toys toys toys. Anything that can keep Parker distracted is best. He also likes to rip out the pages of the magazines.
4. If you can choose your seat, head to the back. That way you'll be right next to the bathroom in case you have to change him or just go in there and soothe him without other people hearing him scream. Plus if you choose to sit in the back and someone sits next to you, they chose to head all the way back there near the baby. Thats their fate hahahahaha.
5. Nurse nurse nurse. On take off and landing especially. It helps with the pressure changes.
So that was a lot of advice, you don't have to take it all but that is what has worked for moi.
Good luck!!! Won't it be so fun to see Berk again with little Asa more grown up?
We took Bear to NY when he was 6 weeks old and then to Hawaii when he was 3 months. I just made sure to feed him at take off and landing. The sound of the engines helped him sleep. I have to say Lexi had some great advice. Don't worry about it too much it's not as bad as it seems like it's going to be.
I agree with Lexi's advice, it's good. Plan on Nursing him a lot, I like to sit by the window seat so i can have a little more privacy. I also try to check out the seats before the plan boards so that I can get the seat empty next to me too to have a little extra privacy and space for everything. I traveled a ton with Nixon ALONE from when he was 2months - 2 years. There's never anything that's going to make it easier if the baby just simply isn't happy. Some kids to great on planes, other's... not so well. Nixon always cried on the plane, the one time he didn't when he was a baby was when i was able to bring his carseat on he plane cause the seat next to me was empty and he slepted the whole time. If you can do that, I suggest you do. If asa sleeps well in his carseat.
good luck, and remember.. don't stress too much, like lexi said, it's public transportation, they should pay for first class if they don't wanna deal with scremaing babies.
I was really nervous to fly with Lily alone too. I flew with Lily when she was 2 1/2 months old. What I did that really helped was got a Moby wrap (baby's love being snuggled up to their mom's). Also I asked the pediatrician what I should do to make it more comfortable for her and they said to give her a binky. Well, Lily would never take a binky so they suggested that I giver her Tylenol to take away the pain of take off and landing. The Tylenol made her sleep the whole plane ride.
Medication is fine if you like side effects and drugging your kids for your own convenience. Medicine is for sick kids.
After 9 baby trips with lots of layovers, we have found that our kids have a reason to cry during boarding, take-off, landing, and de-boarding :), not that they always do.
Boarding is just boring for them. Emily will often talk to the people around her and tell them not to worry because he won't cry the whole time. This actually sets your neighbor's expectations pretty low and works out for you in the long run. If you talk to them before hand, they will often play peek-a-boo with your kid and do what little they can to help out. Don't feed him at this point because you'll need to do that during take-off.
During take off and landing, follow Lexi's advice and give him something to suck on. A well timed feeding will do the job.
My most uncomfortable times were during de-boarding with a YELLING child (who was just woke up at 11:30 PM). However, at this point everyone is getting off and will actually give you all the help you need to get off!
As for in-flight, if he likes sleeping in the car, the airplane probably won't be very different. If he wakes up during the flight, a new toy will be helpful. You don't need to go buy new toys. One time Emily made a sock puppet and I gave it a funny personality. The airplane hippo kept the kids (and nearby adults) entertained for hours.
Keep Asa awake during any layover and don't feed him (if that is reasonable).
You know Asa best, and so you will do what is best for him.
Good luck
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