Katie Dillon - Flying With Kids: Safe and Sane Air Travel With Your Baby, Toddler or Young Child

Copyright 2011 Katie Dillon

All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition.

Photo credits:

Boy Playing Airplane:Dreamstime.com/Iophoto

Departure Sign and Airplaneon the Sky: iStockphoto.com/narvikk

Contents

Join the Discussion on Twitter

Join in the online discussion of this book bygoing to Twitter.com and entering#flyingwithkids (don't forget to include the #) into the searchfield. To add to the discussion, simply add #flyingwithkids to theend of your tweet. If you are completely new to Twitter, go tosupport.twitter.com and click on Twitter basics. I will join in thediscussion and I look forward to meeting all of you.

Long haul flights were routine for us as wespent seven years as expatriates. When my daughter was born in HongKong (7,500 miles away from our families in California), weobviously were going to have to fly her home for visits. I hadanxiety about this for years before I was pregnant.

When the time came, I didnt sleep well forthe week prior and thought about cancelling the trip multipletimes. My newborn baby was fussier than most, had major acid refluxand I had to fly alone with her. To top it off, I booked ourflights at the last minute, so we had to connect in Tokyo insteadof flying directly to Los Angeles. After landing at LAX, we faced a2-hour car ride to Santa Barbara where my parents lived. Door todoor, the entire journey took about 24 hours.

In the end, we were just fine.

Since then, Ive flown with my daughter bothlong haul and domestically more times than I can count, usuallywithout my husband, due to his work schedule. I now enjoy theadventure with her, but getting to this point was challenging. Ibought tons of useless gear and spent countless hours scouring theInternet for information. I was very interested in how otherparents handled flying with kids. The purpose of this ebook is toshare how I plan my flights, what I bring in my carry-on, gear Ilike, my experiences onboard (keeping kids entertained, food,sleeping), how to cope with jet lag, and more. I hope you will findsome helpful information here, regardless of how long your flightis.

Scheduling your flight: If its anoption, schedule your flight in a manner that allows your child toremain on the same daily schedule as at home. Shift your childsschedule to the new time zone after you arrive at your finaldestination. This also helps with jet lag, which well discuss indetail later.

For example, my first flight from Hong Kongto Tokyo (4 hours long) put us on the plane exactly when mydaughter napped in the morning. Therefore, it was easier for me toget her to sleep on the airplane. I was able to watch a movie, eatlunch, and even enjoy a glass of wine during this blissfultime.

The worst flight I ever took: I bookeda midnight flight from LAX to Hong Kong when my daughter was 5months old. Flights to Asia are often scheduled this way becausethey land first thing in the morning and allow business travelersto get in a full day of work. This flight scheduling also helpspassengers cope with jet lag. They can sleep onboard the airplane,since it is nighttime in the US and they wake up when its morningin Asia.

Anyway, my daughter was not used to this muchactivity so late at night. She slept in the car on the way to theairport, but remained awake after that. She fell asleep shortlyafter take-off, but once the captain came on the PA system todeliver his message, she was shocked awake and never fell backasleep. She became so overtired, unsettled, and confused that shescreamed the entire bloody way to Hong Kong. Thats 15 hoursstraight, more or less.

Some of my friends have had excellent luckwith late night, long haul flights. However, if your child isdependent on his or her routine, I would think twice about bookingone.

Seat assignments: Most familiesrequest bulkhead seats when traveling with young children. Thismakes sense because if you have an active child, there is no seatin front of them to bump into or lose toys under. The bassinets arealso typically here. Check with your airline to verify the locationof the bassinets, because they are not in every bulkhead row.Remember that you cant store bags during take-off or landing inbulkhead seats because theres no seat in front of you to slidethem under.

If you arent able to reserve the bulkhead,speak with your airline or check Seatguru todetermine which seats on the plane will be best for your family.Seatguru allows you to search by airline and airplane model to findthe exact seating configuration. They will even warn you if, forexample, a particular row of seats doesnt have fully recliningchairs. I like to check Seatguru regardless, just so I can get agood idea of the planes layout, especially regarding where thebathrooms are relative to our seats.

Onboard outlets: Of course, an airlinemay change the model of aircraft without notice, but it does helpto know what style of outlet is available on your flight, if any.Some planes have the cigarette lighter-style adaptors while othershave regular plugs. Some airlines will show you on their websiteswhere these outlets are located. Make your seating assignmentsaccordingly. However, I do bring the cigarette lighter charger,regular (two pronged) power cord and an external battery for mydaughters DVD player just to be safe. Ive been on two flightswhere the outlets just plain didnt work.

Manage expectations: Once your childis able to understand, start talking about the flight well beforedeparture. Read childrens books about flying and travel. Tell themwhat to expect from the time they leave home to when they arrive atthe final destination. Emphasize that therell be a time at thebeginning and the end of the flight where theyll have to stay intheir seats with their seat belt on. Mention that they wont beable to use anything with batteries and tell them what activitiesthey can do during this time.

Your ability to relax is critical. When mydaughter was a baby, I arrived at the airport at least an hourearlier than necessary. This allowed me to get through security,change her diaper, and feed her before boarding the plane, all in arelatively relaxed manner. Your child will sense if you arestressed, so do everything you can to prevent this. Getting to theairport early helps.

Feeding: Getting your child to eatprior to boarding the airplane is less of a concern if you arebreastfeeding. However, make sure that your baby is hungry enoughto breastfeed during take-off and landing. This will help preventtheir ears from bothering them as a result of the change in cabinpressure. A good cover-up is invaluable and will help make yourfellow passengers more comfortable. I used one from BebeAu Lait .

When my daughter was starting solid foods, Ifed her as much as possible prior to boarding the plane. The reasonis two-fold. One, we could get stuck on the tarmac or at the gate.Two, the seatbelt sign could remain on longer than usual due toturbulence after take-off. As you can imagine, feeding jarred foodon the plane to a baby is hard to do with the seatbelt sign on,unless your child is sitting in a car seat next to you. It wasespecially difficult for me, given that my daughter had acid refluxand hated her car seat. And, babies cant sit upright in theirseats very well, so I often found myself juggling the jar, spoon,and baby on my lap. There wasnt much I could do, in the event of asupreme mess, until the seatbelt sign was turned off. Not tomention that if you requested bulkhead seats, you wont have accessto your bags, since you cant store them at your feet.

Going through security