With normal travel mostly resumed and a new system for international travel now in place, you may be thinking of finally booking that long awaited holiday. If you haven’t travelled abroad with your baby before you may be feeling a little bit anxious or unsure about airline travel. So far I’ve been on four airplane journeys with Dylan. Nothing super adventurous or exotic as they were trips to Ireland and Scotland to visit family, but as they both involved airline travel I thought I’d share what I learned from my experiences.
- Travel documents
Before you even think about booking any trips abroad, you will need to make sure you’ve got all the right documents you need for travel. Dylan doesn’t actually have his passport yet as I’ve not gotten around to it yet, but as I travelled within the UK and Republic of Ireland, in theory infants under 2 can travel with you on your passport if it’s within the common travel area. Now I travelled between the UK and Ireland with Aerlingus and had no issues, BUT I have read online reviews regarding RyanAir where families have been refused carriage as their infant did not have a passport. I also made sure to have an original copy of Dylan’s birth cert with me when I travelled but on the four separate occasions through different airports it was never checked.* Additional rules around covid restrictions and testing requirements should also be checked on gov.uk as we all know these are just as likely to change!
*Travel restrictions are changing all the time so please do not rely on the information here alone – always check what documents are required with your travel operator before setting off, preferably by phone or email. This is true particularly for children as the guidelines on this are often vague on company websites.
- Car seat / Travel cot
Whether you bring them with you or you rent or borrow them at your destination, having a safe place for your baby to sleep and travel is essential! Most airlines allow you to have 2 pieces of baby equipment checked in for free (usually your pram plus one other item). It’s worth checking with your airline carrier to see what they allow. We were lucky that on both trips we stayed with grandparents who had travel cots in their homes for visiting grandkids.
- Large muslin swaddles
Large muslin swaddles are perfect for chucking down over the seat on the plane, using it as an extra blanket, or let’s face it, mopping up any unexpected baby sick. If you end up having any long waits in the airport too, they can double up as a make do play area to keep your baby entertained.
- Milton wipes
Along with baby wipes, I always carry a small pack of milton wipes in my bag. Super handy for sterilising toys/ teether rings/ teats and dummies on the go. This way you don’t need to worry if your baby decides to chuck anything out of the pram.
- Sleeping bag / blanket
Planes can get quite chilly with the air con systems so having a blanket or two to keep them cosy is a must have. I used a zippy sleeping bag on one of our early morning flights and Dylan slept for the whole journey. I would also recommend bonds wondersuits or another zippy style sleepsuit for travelling in especially if it’s an early flight. Fiddly poppers are not your friend in a small airplane cubicle at 10,000ft!
- Baby food
We travelled when Dylan was 2, and 4 months old so he was still just on formula. It made it a bit easier in terms of not having to worry about additional food snacks or weaning bibs etc but if your baby is at that stage you will want to consider these extra items. In terms of baby milk you are allowed to bring as much breast milk or formula as you need for the journey and can have sterilised water in a container too. The rules are slightly different for breast milk so its worth having a read of the guidelines here.
To make things easier for going through security we had already packed all our other liquids in the checked in luggage which meant the only thing we needed to take out of our hand luggage was the formula.
- Feed during take off /landing
Feeding or offering a soother during take off and landing can help regulate the pressure in baby’s ears and prevent any sudden ‘popping’ sensations which may make them uncomfortable. I fed on one trip and Dylan had a soother on the other. He didn’t seem to have any problems with his ears so it appeared to have helped!
- Travelling alone?
I was lucky that I had either my mum or my partner with me on both trips so I didn’t need to navigate the airport journeys solo. If you are travelling alone though, don’t be afraid to ask the staff for help. On all of our trips, I found the staff to be super helpful and we were even skipped up the queue at passport control in Dublin airport which was really convenient
- Flight times
If you can choose a flight time that works for your baby then do that! In my experience the early flights worked better for us. Even though they were a bit of a nightmare for us having to get up at 430/5am it meant Dylan was still tired enough to sleep well on the plane, and if he was awake he was still pretty happy about it. Arriving home before midday also meant we could get back into a normal routine again by bedtime.
We had two evening flights which involved two mini-meltdowns onboard and honestly when it’s your baby that’s crying on a plane it’s really stressful. Admittedly, it’s probably a lot worse in your mind than it is in reality, but every second seems like an eternity when you can’t get them to settle in enclosed public space.
- Entertainment
It’s always worth having some small toys in your bag to keep them occupied. I had Sophie the Giraffe, a small Peter Rabbit rattle and a comforter on rotation which seemed to work well. On our last flight I actually remembered to download some cocomelon episodes onto my iPad in case of emergency, but thankfully I didn’t need to break out the AY-pples and ba-nAY-nAYs!
- Extra supplies
Just in case of delays take extra supplies. You would likely be able to pick up what you need in the airport but there would be nothing worse than being stuck there without enough nappies/change of clothes/food for baby! I speak from experience as on our first trip we ended up with a 6+hour delay in Heathrow and a major poonami incident.
- Don’t overdo it
With all that you should bring, there are actually loads of things that you really shouldn’t. On my trip back to Ireland I was adamant I needed to bring the baby bjorn bouncer chair on top of everything else (see picture below). For all the effort it took to bring it home and lugging it through the airport I used it maybe 3 times during my month-long trip home. If you think you might not use it or it’s something that’s just ‘handy to have’ you can bet you will get by without it for a short trip away.
Last but not least, have fun! If it’s your first baby’s trip on an airplane, take photos, show them the views from above the clouds (if they’re awake) and just enjoy the new experience!
Safe travels!
Jess x