On the Plane

Flying with a young baby can be a daunting affair but there are ways to make sure you aren’t the most unpopular people on the plane…

1. Pack baby’s stuff in a separate carry-on to your own and keep nappies, wipes and a change of clothes separate again. You don’t want to be lugging a whole backpack up and down from the overhead locker and to the loo every trip.
2. Reserve a bassinette as early as you can. If you’re going somewhere popular with young families like Bali or Thailand, they get booked up fast. Baby may not sleep for hours (and you have to get him in and out every time the seat belt light comes on anyway) but it’s good to have options.
3. It’s good to breastfeed (or bottle) on take off and landing as babies can’t equalise so the swallowing does this for them. But don’t panic if your baby isn’t in the mood; if she wants to cry, let her. Crying alone will stop ears popping as her mouth opens wide.
4. If baby is four months plus he’ll probably be entertained by DVDs such as the Baby Einstein range. Download it onto your iphone or ipad if you have one rather than carrying around a portable DVD player.
5. The noise of the plane’s engine (70 decibels) means taking books to read aloud to your baby is probably pointless. But the noise itself tends to be quite soothing for babies anyway so it’s not all bad.