Flying with babies

Touch down Turks and Caicos!

The girls have taken 14 flights since they were born and we are gearing up for their next flight to Texas soon. Our very first flight included a layover in Denver. When we landed, RD and I decided that we weren't leaving Denver. Ever. That was going to be our new home forever. The mountains are beautiful! There was no way we were ever getting back on that enclosed space with our babies. But alas, we pulled our lives together and boarded that 2nd flight to Austin. Fortunately the crying for two hours on the first flight wore them out and they slept the 2nd flight.

We've learned a lot since that first flight. Here's how we fly with babies.

1. BOARD LAST - That "family boarding" is a trap devised to torture parents. The plane is hot, my carry on is squished below and I'm trying to reach for bottles but can't remember if they are in the inside pocket or the outside pocket or the hidden pocket on the side pocket (which inspired me to create a new diaper bag, my next shark tank idea). I keep getting elbowed and the commotion is enough to send a sensitive baby into a crying mess. Just don't board first. It's so tempting as everyone begins to crowd around like Penguins in Antarctica and you begin to panic... DON'T GIVE IN. Board last. Absolutely last if possible. Fake a diaper change if someone offers you to go in front of them.

Like a fool we boarded first and in a panic sat in the first row (Southwest). This was a fatal mistake as all diaper bags had to be stowed ABOVE aka totally and completely out of reach. Fail. 

2. EMPTY SEATS - The lap infant deal is great. You have two years to jet around and forget the extra financial responsibility that tiny humans place on your budget. However it's also a sneaky deal. You have to restrain an every-increasingly curious tiny human into a small space surrounded by strangers some with friendly faces and some without friendly faces. SO... beg. Beg shamelessly. Let go of any pride you have and beg the gate agent to rearrange seats so that an empty one is next to you. Sit in the back row if you have to because that empty seat is a game changer. It worked for us 9/10 times.

Empty seat!!!

3. WARMING BOTTLES - The first 10 flights the babies main diet was still a bottle. Not easy in an airport. After many mishaps, we got better at timing bottles. They hardly ever took a bottle at take off but a paci worked fine for their ears. We would buy a double cup 1/2 full of hot water from Starbucks. We discovered that some airplanes don't even have hot water (it's 2015 how's this possible?!) so we didn't count on that. You could also do a thermos but our bottles didn't fit in the thermos to warm and it's one more thing to stuff in the diaper bag. So Starbucks hot water became our life saver. 

Finding a quiet-ish place for a warm bottle.

4. CHANGE OF SCENERY - If the babies weren't sleeping, we'd switch babies every 30 minutes. Their attention spans are so short and it helped us when we ran out of tricks or toys. Most flights we are a row or two apart because of oxygen masks etc. So the babies got to see a new toy, new seatbelt, and so on.

5. BABY GEAR - When they were still little we liked to check the stroller and car seats before security and carry the babies in bjorns or ergos through security. The baby carrier is a must have through security to have both hands for unloading everything at security. When they got heavier strollers were essential and great for naps on longer layovers. The only major downside is potential for the stroller to get damaged.

Napping. An airport miracle. 

6. NEW TOY - Duh. I'd get something from Target and save it until I absolutely needed it. It's not a toy but the Monkey Mat was a life saver before they were too mobile, we'd do diaper changes and play while I could pretend they weren't getting as many germs as they did while licking the window on the plane.

Monkey mat for the layover.

7. TEAMWORK - For two type-B personalities, RD and I made a thorough game plan for arrival all the way to baggage claim. Who is carrying what bag, who is unloading liquids at security, breaking down the stroller, and so on. Flying alone can be stressful, add a baby or two and the entire nursery packed into a couple of diaper bags... recipe for disaster. But our detailed game plan really made the process much smoother. Probably more for my own brain but RD went along with it graciously as he always does. :)

Goodbye warm weather...

Edit, a few other boring specifics that I remember where helpful knowing for our first flight:
-You can bring through security: milk, juice, water, snack pouches, and other baby related liquid. They'll just run it through a machine so allow time for that. Sometimes it's a couple minutes other times they take their sweet time.
-The stroller has to go through the security scanning machine if it will fit. They'll take it aside and swipe it, check it, etc. Check the wheels after that's where we lost a bolt.
-They'll swipe your hands if you are the one holding baby through security.
-If you're traveling internationally you have to purchase a ticket for baby, I don't know if online booking makes this obvious, but it's 10% of a single ticket price.
-We've never been asked for a birth certificate for domestic flights, but it doesn't hurt to bring a copy for peace of mind. Now that they are toddlers I'll bring their passports so there's no issues.
-Some airplanes don't have a changing tables in the bathroom (!!!!), you can't control an in flight diaper emergency but we always change diapers before the flight just in case.