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Flying with a 4 month old
My youngest brother is graduating from college next month, and my H, Zoe, and I are flying out to CA. We are staying in a house in the redwoods with my family. I can't wait! This will also be the first time Zoe gets to meet her 2 uncles.
We have connecting flights in Denver (the way there) and Dallas (the way back).
Does anyone have any words of wisdom when it comes to flying with an infant? Should I bring the carseat base for the rental car?
I have a travel system so I just take the whole thing up to right before you board the plane and they check it for free, right? We are bringing the PNP too. Do they charge and check that like regular baggage? Yes, I know I have to check with the airline anyway, but I was wondering what your experiences have been. We are flying United out there and American back. It was cheaper to get 1 way tickets on 2 different airlines!
Re: Flying with a 4 month old
At 4 months old are babies able to kinda sit up? I can't remember, but if so I would suggest investing in a umbrella stroller. Much, much easier to travel with than a bulky, heavy travel system. And from what I have been told most travel systems don't fit through the x-ray machine which is one more hassle you will have to deal with.
I am going to CA at the end of this week and I am renting a car seat from the car company so I don't have to bring my own. Maybe you could look into that?
As for the PNP, are you staying in a hotel? Most hotels have cribs on site and I always use those because I hate traveling with baby crap! However, on my trip at the end of this week I ended up buying a cheap PNP off Amazon and shipping it to my Aunts house in CA. She is going to donate it after we leave. It was cheaper than having check an extra bag, plus we don't have the hassle of luging the thing out to CA. Maybe you could look into something like that?
At Zoe's age it will be pretty easy to manage her......it's once they get older that it becomes a PITA to keep the baby happy! But my biggest complaint it all the crap I have to bring when I travel with Macy. It's adds to my stress level trying to account for everything I brought. My moto is less is better. But then again, I usually travel alone.
I have been on 12 round trip flights with Macy and I feel like a pro. But now she is at the age where she can't sit still. I seriously need a strong drink after my flights, and I am not a big drinker!
GL!
Baby Macy is here!
12/09 - Macy (daughter) | 4/10 - Began TTC Baby #2 | 12/10 - Chemical Pregnancy | 1/12 - Miscarriage at 14 weeks | DX - PCOS & Hyperthyroidism
Whoops, I forgot to answer this......I usually fly Southwest and I use the stroller up until the time I board the plane. Southwest requires you to tag the stroller before you get on the plane once you are inside the gate. They will not tag it when you check in. Once I have a tag on the stroller I just leave it at the bottom of the ramp when I board and it's placed under the plane. When we land I wait at the bottom of the ramp again for them to retrieve it.
Or, if you don't want your stroller while in the airport (like if you have a short lay over) then you can check the stroller all the way to your destination when you check in. I would suggest doing this with the PNP if you do bring one with, you don't want to lug that heavy thing around!!
Baby Macy is here!
12/09 - Macy (daughter) | 4/10 - Began TTC Baby #2 | 12/10 - Chemical Pregnancy | 1/12 - Miscarriage at 14 weeks | DX - PCOS & Hyperthyroidism
Thanks for the responses, Kathy! We're not staying in a hotel so that's why I was thinking of bringing our PNP. It seems like such a hassle to take with us, but IDK what else to do. I'll look into it on Amazon and see if it's cost effective. I can't even imagine travelling alone with her! :P You're much braver than I am.
IDK if she will be able to sit up on her own by 4 months. Right now she can't. Her neck control is pretty good but she tends to randomly do head dives just when you think she's holding it up on her own. Who knows what she will be like in a month. They change so quickly!
Lily flew for Christmas at about 5 months; it was a breeze. (Compared to what I was afraid it would be, lol.)
It would be much harder by myself, though, so hats off to Kathy.
We used the travel system. Checked the car seat base at check in, and gate checked the carrier and stroller. The stroller was handy for carrying all the crap, if not the baby, lol. We were allowed to check and gate-check the baby items for free. Although I have to say, if there's an alternative to bringing the pnp, I'd try to find one. That would be a PITA. My mom borrowed one from a grandma friend of hers. You might have someone on the other end check and see about borrowing one, or just buying one from a consignment shop.
As for the flight itself, it was easy peasy. I nursed Lily at takeoff and she crashed for most of the flight. She woke up and was cute and happy. I remember the "oh sh!t" looks I got from everyone we sat next to when we boarded, lol.
The connecting flight wasn't as easy, but Lily did well. It was a very small prop plane (yes, really. flying into small town Wisconsin is good times). And we sat in the plane through all kinds of delays, de-icing, etc., and we still did OK. If your baby will take a paci, this is one of the benefits of having a binky baby because it'll help with the ear-popping, if the timing doesn't work out for a bottle or nursing.
Have fun!
My silly Lily is almost 4.
I flew with my daughter when she was 10 weeks old, 8 months old and 9 months old - most of those times by myself. (And honestly, when my husband came it just was more of a hassle, haha, with his belt, shoes, laptop, etc.). Ditto was PP said - if you can borrow a PNP, do that, and definitely minimize what you can. DD slept most of all but her most recent flights, and it actually helped when she was 8 months old to have a layover because she slept on the plane, played during the layover and slept on the plane. I nursed her a lot (I've read babies get dehydrated, just like adults, while flying, so I don't know if that attributed to her wanting to nurse more or not) and I minimized my flying needs - I threw my license and debit card in a pocket of the diaper bag so I didn't have to mess with a purse, wore flip flops and no belt (so it would be easier to get through security), wore her in a sling through security a few times ... and really, it has always been much easier than I feared. Most people are extremely helpful to get you through security and on the plane - TPA especially has always helped me collapse my stroller, load my car seat on the belt, etc. I never take the base of my infant car seat - I just strap it in the car's seat belts as instructed on the side of my car seat. And if you're breastfeeding and taking a pump, you can either pack it in your suitcase or carry it on as an additional piece of baby gear. They're pretty lenient in terms of what you can carry-on for a baby, but I always go with as little as possible because it's such a pain to haul everywhere.We always pack at least one extra outfit for DD and an extra shirt for me (I'm nursing, plus I seem to always end up wearing the spit up or food or whatever).
At that age, hopefully it won't be hard - hopefully she'll sleep a lot and not need a lot of entertainment. The last time we flew (two weeks ago), DD didn't sleep as much, wanted to move around more, play, jumped whenever the loudspeaker came on or people talked loudly, etc.
And if she doesn't travel well, just remember you likely will never see any of those people again, and they can just deal with a few hours of unhappy baby and get over it
Safe travels, and have a good trip!
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I flew with DD to CA the day she turned 3mo. It was the easiest trip we've taken! I carried her in a sling through the airport lines (I felt a little safer having her close) and loaded her stroller/travel system with the diaper bag and seat base. We needed our carseat base for our layover in Dallas (had a few hours, so we went out for lunch with family), so we lugged that with us, but I would have checked that otherwise. All these items were gate checked for free. We didn't bring a PNP with us, so I'm not sure about the rules for that.
Keep in mind that most airlines let you bring a diaper bag as an additional carry-on (as long as it fits under the seat), even though you didn't pay for a ticket for baby. It's easiest to have as few bags as possible, though, since you still have to carry everything at some point. I don't know if you're nursing, but I also brought my boppy and kept it on my lap for nursing and for DD to sleep on. It didn't count as a carry-on, since it was on my lap. It was a lifesaver (okay, armsaver) when we ended up stuck on the tarmac for an extra two hours!!
If you're bringing bottles, be prepared for security to want to test what's in them. This can take anywhere from 2min to 30min extra depending on how lucky you get and how efficient security is. Plan for a little extra time (another reason I kept DD in a sling... so I had my arms free during the wait).
Enjoy the special treatment (and free travel for baby) while you can! I flew with DD 13 times (w/ and w/o DH) by the time she turned two and it was great. It gets a little more difficult when they're toddlers and don't want to sit still, but it's still a blast.