The first time we flew with Arabella, she was only 3 months old, and I had no idea what to expect. I probably Googled every possible version of “flying with a baby,” “flying with an infant” and “traveling with baby,” and I read a ridiculous amount of tips and suggestions.
I did similar searches again when we took a short flight around 5 months old, when we were flying to the U.S. from Japan and back when she was 8 months old, when we went to Tokyo from Okinawa at 9 months old, and when we moved back to the U.S. when she was 14 months old. Some of the tips were helpful, some were not, and some only applied to certain age ranges. And, of course, we learned a lot from the actual experiences. So as we get into the holiday season this year, I wanted to share my comprehensive guide to flying with a baby.
Deciding when to go
The first thing you’ll need to do, of course, is decide whether you want to travel with your baby at all, and if so, if you want to take a plane. This may be a very easy decision for you, or it may be really difficult. There’s no wrong way to feel about flying with a baby! But I would suggest you talk to your pediatrician (and possibly your own doctor) about whether you and your baby are ready to travel. Arabella was born in 2019, so we didn’t have to worry about COVID-19, but we were still very worried about germs in general. Because of that, we decided to wait to travel until she had her first round of immunizations.
I also figured it would take several weeks before I felt physically ready to travel, and for us to get some kind of routine going. But we didn’t stay home for three straight months and then hop on a plane, either. We started taking her to local tourist attractions and restaurants very early, which helped us understand what things we would need to pack and how she might react to unfamiliar places, whether she would nap in her stroller, how to quickly put on the baby carrier, etc.
All of this is to say that you should not feel pressured into traveling with your baby before you’re ready, but you also should not feel bad if you need to or want to travel with them early. Flying with a baby is about 10,000 times easier than flying with a toddler!
When booking the flight
Once you’ve decided you’re going to travel by air with your baby, you’ll need to book the flight. I would recommend getting a direct flight if possible, rather than breaking the flight up into chunks. Sometimes that won’t be an option, though, so if you do have a layover, remember that it will likely take you a lot longer to get from gate to gate with your baby than it would have before. Don’t book flights with only 30 minutes to run from one end of Atlanta airport to another!
If your baby is on a very strict schedule and has never napped anywhere other than in their bassinet or crib, please take that into account when choosing a flight. If not, especially if the flight is not terribly long, you may want to try to book the flight during nap time. The ideal would be if you could bring the baby on the plane awake, feed them when the plane is taking off, and have them sleep for the rest of the flight and the landing. That may not be possible, though, and for a long haul, your best bet is probably an overnight flight.
You’ll also have to decide whether you want to buy a seat for your baby or not. We did not buy a seat for Arabella on any of the flights we took her on as a baby for vacation, but she did have her own seat when we moved back to the U.S. If you do get your baby a seat, you should bring a flight-approved car seat and strap it into the seat for your baby to sit in.
If you don’t get them a seat, you may ask the airline about getting seats in the bulkhead area so that you can use the bassinet. Just be aware that the bassinet has a weight limit (Arabella was almost too big at 9 months) and you’ll have to take the baby out for take-off, landing, and any time the seatbelt sign is turned on. I found it to be more annoying than helpful, but I know most people love having that option, particularly on long flights.
What to pack
Deciding what to pack when flying with a baby can be a little overwhelming. I wanted to be as prepared as possible, but I also didn’t want to have a million suitcases! Some people choose to just pack the bare minimum as far as diapers, wipes, and other supplies, and then buy what they need at their destination. But since our first flight was to Hong Kong and our second was to a tiny Japanese island, I didn’t know if I would be able to easily find the things we wanted, so I tried to bring everything with us. If you’re traveling to visit friends or family, I’d recommend having them get some diapers and other supplies ahead of time, so you won’t have to bring a ton but you also won’t have to go diaper shopping as soon as you arrive!
Please make sure you’ve taken your baby out of the house for more than an hour or two before you first fly, if at all possible — this will make it much easier to know what you’ll need to bring for your specific little one.
My packing list looked like this (please note, links are affiliate links):
Carry on:
* Sling
* Diapers and wipes (about twice as many as we would normally use for that time frame)
* Disinfecting wipes (I didn’t always remember to get the travel-sized packs, so would just put a bunch from the large container into a ziplock to use on the go)
* Two swaddle blankets (to use for a variety of things, including covering surfaces or draping over the stroller/car seat)
* Nursing cover (would also wear nursing-friendly top)
* Formula (powder packets and ready-to-drink bottles, more than I thought I’d need — learned my lesson on the first trip)
* Bottles and nipples for the formula
* Pacifiers and pacifier wipes
* Change of clothes for the baby and change of shirt for mom (2-3 extra outfits for baby and full change of clothes for everyone if the flight is long)
* Plastic bags for dirty items
* A few small toys and books (Arabella loved the Very Hungry Caterpillar crinkle book, and this Baby Shark book came in VERY handy a few times. It’s also helpful to bring some toys they’ve never seen.)
* If the baby is old enough for solids: snacks, baby food and spoons. Also, something I wish I had known earlier: You can buy shelf-stable boxes of milk and bring them on the plane (if your baby is old enough to drink cow’s milk), so you don’t have to keep asking the flight attendants for milk.
* Bibs and burp cloths
Checked bag:
* Travel-sized bottles with baby laundry detergent and baby dish soap (plus a little scrubby brush to use for bottles/nipples)
* Soft carrier
* Portable white noise machine
* Travel crib and sheet, or a crib-sized sheet and a pack and play sheet (to use on the hotel crib)
* More swaddle blankets
* LOTS more diapers (and swim diapers if necessary)
* More formula/food/bottles for the trip and return flight
* Warm blanket for the stroller if the weather is cold OR clip-on fan and SPF 50 blanket if the weather is hot
* Sunscreen and hats for everyone
* Clothes and pajamas for baby plus extras in case of blowouts
* Bag for stroller and bag for car seat (we usually checked both at the counter, because the Okinawa airport wouldn’t let us take them through security. You may want to gate check instead, but should still consider bags to protect them)
Gear considerations
Since we were living abroad and the pandemic had not yet hit when I was pregnant, I specifically sought out a stroller-and-carseat combo that was super travel friendly. I loved ours because the carseat would click in to any car (or airplane) seat with just the seatbelt — no base needed — and the stroller is easy to fold and is pretty light while also being an all-around great stroller. However, if your normal car seat and stroller aren’t very travel-friendly, or your child has grown out of their infant car seat and you’re looking for a new, travel-specific one, you don’t have to spend hundreds on new gear.
The Cosco Scenera Next carseat is a favorite of a lot of traveling families, in part because it’s so light and easy to transport/install in various cars. I am not a big fan, because it has very little padding and just seems uncomfortable, but it works for short trips and is very inexpensive. After using that one a few times, we got the Graco Contender 65, which is more expensive but still affordable and pretty portable.
Regardless, I would highly recommend bringing some kind of car seat, unless you know for sure that the person you’re visiting has an unexpired one for you to use, or you can locate a good baby gear rental service (Australians call it “baby hire,” just FYI) in the location you’re visiting. Taxis/Ubers are highly unlikely to have them, and I’ve heard lots of horror stories about rental car car seats.
For a stroller, you can go with a cheap umbrella stroller if your baby is big enough. But if you’re planning to travel quite a bit, you should look into the GB Pockit All-City. We love it because it (very easily) folds up very small, and is also very light weight, but has the ability to recline a little and comes with a decent sun visor. You also could choose to not bring a stroller at all and just use a carrier, but that’s personal preference.
We loved (and still love) using a diaper backpack as our carry-on bag, and ours has a little fold-out mat that Velcros in and out of the bag that you can put the baby on to change their diaper. It also has a ton of little pockets and places to put the things you need. If you’re bringing a different type of bag that isn’t specifically for baby, you will probably want to bring a diaper change mat, too, since airport bathrooms are a little sketchy at the best of times.
As for a travel crib, I linked the one we have in the packing list above, and we love it. But if you’re going to a hotel, you can call ahead and request a crib. Most hotels in the U.S. will provide a Pack and Play, but in Asia, it was always an actual crib. I still always brought my own sheets, though, because sometimes the crib provided had the wrong kind of sheets for a baby.
On the flight with baby
Every airline that I’m aware of allows families with small children to board very early in the process, and I’d recommend you take advantage of that. I was never one to board early before, but now it takes me much longer to get settled in! We always wipe down the tray table, arm rests, and windows with disinfecting wipes, and then would get some formula, a pacifier, and toys out and put them in the seat back so they’re ready to go.
Even if you take nothing else from this blog post, please remember this: Feed your baby as the plane is ascending and again as the plane is descending, or give the baby a pacifier if they won’t eat. Having them suck on something will alleviate any ear pain from the change in pressure, so this is very important! In our case, I was both breastfeeding and formula feeding, but Arabella would occasionally drink a little from a bottle even if she wouldn’t latch. On the final descent on our way home from our first flight, we ran out of formula, and it was a very bad few minutes — she screamed the entire way down and refused to latch. Luckily, we’ve never had that issue again, but it made me hyperaware of this issue!
One more thing about take-off and landing: You aren’t allowed to wear your baby in a carrier or sling for either, and you can’t have the baby in the bassinet during take off, landing, or any time the seatbelt sign is on. So if your baby isn’t fastened into their car seat in their own plane seat, you will need to hold her.
Additionally, if the baby is in their car seat for the flight, you should try to get them out and walk them around every two hours or so. You’ll probably want to walk them around either way, but it’s important to not have them stuck in the same position in the car seat for long periods of time.
Other considerations
If you’re traveling internationally but changing planes midway, make sure you check the airline restrictions of the place you’re leaving from and the location of the plane change. Generally, if you fly from one country to another and then switch to a domestic flight to continue within that same country, you’ll have to recheck your bags and go through security again — an example would be flying from London to New York, and then from New York to Miami. Or from Seattle to Tokyo, and then Tokyo to Okinawa. What that means it that even if you’re allowed to carry something on in your original destination, you may not be able to take it through security when you change planes.
This played out for us when we flew from Japan to the U.S., then had to go through security in Minnesota before flying on to Cincinnati. Liquids can be brought on board planes in Japan, and some liquids are allowed for babies in the U.S., but apparently the 8 oz. bottles of ready-to-drink formula were too big. They wanted me to open all of them to test them (which would have ruined them, since I couldn’t refrigerate them after), or to go through enhanced screening with all my bags. I chose enhanced screening.
You’ll also probably have to take your baby out of the sling/carrier every time you go through security.
An awesome thing about the airports in Japan is that they all have these free strollers for you to use throughout the airport. A not-awesome thing is that they always made us check our car seat and stroller at the counter, and wouldn’t let use bring it to the gate. If you’re in the U.S., you should be able to take it to the gate and then gate-check it, which is helpful. But if not, you’ll want to have a carrier of some kind handy.
One thing to keep in mind if you do check your pricey stroller (or your car seat) in the U.S. is that baggage handlers are NOT careful with your stuff. We never had an issue in Japan, but our stroller got broken in half between Chicago and DC when we moved back. The airline DID pay to replace it, but we were strroller-less for a few days. This is why we always used a padded car seat bag (it’s also helpful now since it has backpack straps), and why I like having a travel stroller that folds up small enough to put in the overhead bin.
And a few things we didn’t use, but you may want to consider: A breastfeeding pillow (like a Boppy) for the plane, a crib darkening tent for the hotel room, and noise canceling headphones
What about screen time?
You may be wondering when I was going to recommend a tablet loaded up with Cocomelon, Super Simple Songs, PinkFong and Sesame Street. And I am certainly not here to judge anyone for using screen time on flights! We use an iPad all the time now during travel, and used it extensively on our flight back to the U.S. from Japan. But honestly, Arabella wasn’t interested in watching anything on a screen until she was about a year old. She just didn’t have the attention span for it. And I don’t think many babies do. Plus, if you’re holding the baby and not having them sit in a car seat, it’s going to be hard to balance the tablet or phone to let them watch anyway.
In any case, you know your baby. If she is riveted by Baby Shark, then by all means, let her watch it on the plane. Just remember the headphones!
If you found this post useful, please consider pinning it for later. And please let me know what I missed! What tips do you have for flying with a baby?
