6 Best Tips for Flying With a Baby as a New Parent

Learning tips for flying with a baby as a new parent can be hard. You are scared because you want to make sure you are confident and fully prepared. There are times that you won't be able to practice before getting on a plane, and it can be a very daunting task.

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Before last weekend I didn't even think about how trains help with plane travel for infants. This post is about the three things that I learned from my recent travel on a train that will prepare me for my air travel with my 15-month-old son. These are the things that I know will allow me to have a better flight with him. If you're not sure how to travel with your infant, don’t worry. 

This post is about tips for flying with a baby.

Easy Tips for Flying With a Baby

If you're scared about putting on a train or plane taxi cab, don’t worry. You will learn what works for me so that you're able to travel with your infant effortlessly as stress-free.

It is my very first time traveling using public transportation with my son. He is 15 months old; he'll be 16 months old next week. There were some things that I noticed traveling by train that I know that I'll be able to adapt for a flight. 

Remain Calm

The first thing is that when I first got on the train, everything was fine. I was able to set my stuff up. I was able to put my son's things down. Then we were able to get a little bit settled, and he had a poopy diaper. That really threw me into a tailspin. It's “like oh my God, we had just changed him before we left.” The toilet wasn't really situated to live for families with children to change a diaper.

I went to panic mode. Now, this also will depend on gender and your kids. I only have a boy, so I don't know the ministry for girl mom. Still, I know that there have been several times I've had to change Noah standing up with a pee-pee diaper. 

When he has a poopy diaper, I just got to get all up in the crevices, you know. 

After I figured out how to change the diaper in that situation, I became really flustered. My son became really flustered. The first thing I that I is that you just have to calm down through the entire experience. 

Really disinfect as much as you can. Try to put the baby on top of the actual toilet seat to bear most of their weight from their back to their bum on the toilet seat and then just change it. After we came from the bathroom, we were able to go back to our seats. I will say that after you have been a little flustered, it takes you a while to calm down, so once you calm down, then my son Noah was able to calm down. 

The particular train ride that I took was from DC to New York, about three and a half to four hours on the local. That's as long as the flight is going to for my birthday trip, an international destination.

Keeping Them Distracted

You can have all these activities for them like I put on my cell phone. I tried to have Noah watch the TV. He is 15 months old. Noah is at the stage where Noah’s going to crawl and will not sit in the seat. The best thing that you can do is just find other safe ways of keeping your child distracted. 

There were times when he likes to look out the window. There were times where he would look at the phone, but most of the time, he just wanted to kind of get up and be busy. 

On a train, you're going to have more space than on a plane. Noah’s not going to have as much space in the aircraft to run around. Still, I would direct him to stay and try to think of things to redirect his attention. He’s 15-month old. I mean, he's not looking at anything for longer than like 5 seconds. As long as you can kind of direct the baby and coach them to where they need to be and find other things to do, they will be manageable. Snacks and drinks really help with keeping him distracted.

Give Them a Little More Grace Than Normal

You're going to have to give a little bit more grace to things than you usually would. For example, since the goal is to keep them calm and quiet, my son likes pulling out all of the wet wipes from his diaper bag. I will let him take an extra one. Don't be too strict where it causes unnecessary drama. 

Again, provide enough guidance where it's like, hey, you can't run up and down there because you see people coming up and down the aisle. Remain calm and keep the same energy, the same tone, to know that you're not like fussing at them. You’re trying to coach them. For the most part, Noah would stay in the general area we were in, which was great.

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Pre-plan Your Exit For Final Destination 

You don't know when your baby is going to tire out. Noah started to fall asleep within the last 15 minutes of our trip. I will say that you really want to pre-plan how you're going to get off without waking them up. 

You have a lot more space on the train and a little bit more time to execute what you need to do versus on a plane. You're not going to have their stroller with them on the plan, so what I would recommend doing is if you're traveling by yourself like I did start thinking what do I need to pack up now so that when we get to our destination.

What I had to do was started to wipe down everything. Noah slept on my chest. The items he dropped on the floor I would pick up would put it back where it was supposed to be. I would make sure that the stroller was lined up where it needed to be to just put him right in there. Just pre-planning who will carry what when you get off will be your Saving Grace. 

Gaining Your Confidence: Trains Help Plane Travel

As the trip went on, I became a lot more confident about keeping Noah calm. Confidence really comes from experience. You haven't really experienced how to do something unless you really know someone who's experienced that are you really can like apply it to something you've done it's complicated. Take note and pay attention to little pockets of they're not bouncing off the wall.

Notice times when they are resting. That's when you want to have them watch something on your phone or play with something. 

You’re baby, like Noah, will scream. Your baby will holler and be loud, but you have to remain calm. Most people, especially if they're sitting right behind you, give you a little more grace. I really wouldn't worry about the external things you can't control. 

You don't know when your child's going to scream, poop or want to run up and down the aisle.

That stuff you can't control. Just remember that as the trip is going on, you'll know the cycles in which your child is active and when they're not busy. Overall, I was able to gather all of our stuff and then meet my husband so that we were to go off and go to our destination. The trip ended up being a success, and I now feel confident doing this again with him at any age. It's amazing how a simple train ride helps me with my plane travel coming in a few weeks. If you want to learn more about planning international travel with your infant, you will enjoy this post.

Below, on my youtube channel, there are three more tips for flying with a baby that you don't want to miss.

Interested in a checklist of items for traveling with kids? Click here for a free download of my most popular toddler travel checklist.

This post is about tips for flying with a baby.

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