You may know how to book a flight, get a hotel in San Diego, and make your way to all your favorite locations, but do you know how to do all of that with a baby? Air travel can be difficult enough on its own, but with an infant, it can seem like the worst way to spend your day. Fortunately, there’s a lot of ways that you can make the situation much easier, you just have to know what you’re doing. Here are tips on how to survive air travel with infants.
- Avoid feeding your baby any kind of refined sugar. If you have already started feeding your baby any kind of foods or snacks that have refined sugar, then you are definitely going to want to avoid these foods on the day of the flight. Refined sugar will actually impact your baby’s immune system, and if there are sick people on the plane, the recycled air that your baby is breathing could make your baby more susceptible to viruses and bacteria.
- Give your baby a bottle or pacifier to suck on during takeoff and landing. When the plane is taking off and landing, there is a significant change in air pressure, which tends to cause a considerable amount of pain in the inner ear. However, if your baby is sucking on a pacifier or bottle, the sucking action of the mouth can really keep the air pressure flowing through the ears, nose, and mouth so that the transition is a lot less painful.
- Consider purchasing a separate seat for your baby. While some parents do choose to keep their babies on their laps, and that is perfectly legal, the Federal Aviation Administration prefers to have all babies sitting in a safety seat. Usually, a normal car seat works just fine. If you don’t decide to purchase a seat for your baby, you may want to ask the crew when you board if there are any extra seats available just in case.
- Have age-appropriate toys and teething rings. Once you are up in the air with lots of time to kill, it’s important that your baby is thoroughly stimulated. It is not recommended to give your baby any kind of medication that would induce drowsiness, but it’s very possible that s/he will fall asleep naturally from time to time. During waking hours, though, be sure to have books and toys to keep your baby happy and comfortable if you want to avoid any crying fits.
- When permitted, walk up and down the aisles from time to time. Once the seatbelt sign is turned off if your baby starts to get a little restless, feel free to get out of your seat and walk the aisles a little bit. This will give your child an opportunity to look at a change in scenery, bounce around a bit in your arms, and flirt a bit with the other passengers. People love to make faces at babies, and babies love to make faces back. A little silent social time can really go a long way.
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