Maine Nesties
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Hannah and I are going to ME!
Woohoo! We are going to spend 2 weeks in ME visiting my family! We fly out next tuesday and I am so excited! Although, that is 2 weeks without DH which will suck but I am sure I will have enough other people to hold a baby while I nap.
Anyone ever fly alone with a 2-3 month old? I am thinking of checking her carseat (Free, right??). We have the Chicco travel system so I was thinking of just laying her in the stroller part without the infant seat. Think that would work, or should I gate check both the seat and stroller?
Anything else I need to know? She has not been taking her paci much lately and I am worried about her ears.
Re: Hannah and I are going to ME!
I disagree about checking the carseat. Get there early and ask at checkin (and again at the desk if you fail at checkin) if they can put you somewhere with an empty seat next to you. If they can, you can keep your carseat on the flight and Hannah will have someplace to be. If they can't, you check your carseat at the gate, no big deal. Just be prepared: they will make you take her out of it to carry her through security, and they will make you fold your stroller if it folds small enough to go through the xray. (Otherwise, they'll wheel it through for a special screening.)
I flew alone from MA to CA with Ellie when she was just under 4 months old and was really nervous about it, but it was fairly easy and she slept most of the way. I nursed her on takeoff and landing to help with the pressure.
Also, I was given a tip from another traveling mom: You can bring someone with you to the gate to help. They get a special "boarding" pass to go through security; that way you're not juggling everything yourself like I was. (Of course, I haven't tested this yet, so call the airline ahead of time to be sure this is true.)
Good luck!
I agree with Megan, I would ask when you check-in to see if the flight is full. We did this when we flew to NJ (2-3 months) and to FL (6 months), and almost every flight we were able to get an empty seat next to us to put the infant seat for free. If not, like she said, you can check both at the gate. I think it's probably better to check them at the gate anyway, because then you can have them between flights if you have a layover, and won't have to worry about them getting lost. I don't necessarily think it'd be that easier to wear her because I think you'd have to take her out at at security and for take off anyway, and if you're bringing the infant seat, you'll want a stroller to push it on. I don't know how bulky your travel system is, but a simple snap and go might be easier especially if you are going to have to fold it up and put it through the machine. We used the snap and go, and it was pretty easy. Megan's suggestion to ask to see if someone can help you at the airport, especially getting through security is a good one.
He didn't have any issues with his ears; I think I've read that doesn't become an issue until they're older and their ear canals are more developed. I did nurse him if he was awake, but a lot of the times he was already asleep when we boarded. He pretty much slept through all his flights and people were really surprised when we got off that they were sitting next to a very quiet baby.
Gate check anything you absolutely need to have at your destination. You can't drive away from the airport without a carseat, so DO NOT regular check the carseat.
You can carry the baby (obviously) through the security metal detector but you'll have to take off any carrier (Ergo, Bjorn, etc.) and put it through the x-ray machine, so I don't see the usefulness of using a carrier if you're going to have to bring a carseat and stroller anyway.
Double-check your airline's requirement for gate checked strollers - some recently changed their requirements. IIRC, it has to fold up small and be under 20 lbs. I think they got tired of people gate checking their double Bobs!
I think you'll find that the idea of flying alone with a baby is a lot scarier than actually doing it. It's a juggle to get through security and onto the plane, but other than that it's pretty easy.