Expat Survival Series: How To Fly With A Baby

When I was pregnant, I remember coming across blog posts on the interwebs regarding flying with babies. They were always written by some American soccer mom who thought that she knew everything about flying with a baby because she once flew for two whole hours (and most likely in First or Business Class), and therefore was a complete authority on the topic. Tips included things such as, “Don’t schedule your flight during the witching hour” and, “Bring gripe water or Benadryl.” Well, what are you supposed to do when you have 20 hours (or more) of in-flight time, trips that are longer than 30 hours door-to-door involving multiple countries, and gripe water and Benadryl isn’t even available where you live? Expats who are literally flying around the world need a much more robust strategy. This is how you do it, expat style.

We had a trip from Bangkok to Houston (via Tokyo) scheduled when Fergus was 5+ months old. The return flight was scheduled to occur when he was 6+ months old. Well, three weeks before that trip, we had to take a totally unplanned emergency trip to the UK (Bangkok-London Heathrow-Aberdeen), which threw us into the fire with zero foresight and therefore zero planning. After these four trips, here is what we have decided works best for us and our baby at this particular age. Perhaps some of these points can be of use for you and your individual situation(s) as well:

1. Take toys – Yeah, I read this all over the place. But what was missing was one key tidbit of information: Take toys that you can easily wash off. Your baby will be launching anything that he/she comes into contact with across terminal and airplane floors that people from countries that you’ve never imagined actually exist have been walking on, carrying diseases that you never even heard of. Unless you want your precious princess’ toys covered with germs that don’t even have a scientific name yet, you are going to need things which you can wash off in the water fountain, bathroom sink, or wipe down with food grade wipes in a flash. Speaking of toys, if you’ve got any of those leash straps which will secure things to the stroller or car seat, best be bringing them and strapping everything down. {For obvious reasons, do not leave baby unattended with toy leashes.}

2. Take-off and landing strategy – You need a plan in place for the ‘ole dreaded ear popping. This could be: 1) get them to sleep during this time; 2) nurse them during this time; 3) bottle feed them during this time; 4) give them a pacifier during this time (or some combination of these). Take note on the take-off prep – you may very well be sitting on the runway halfway through with feeding your baby your special take-off bottle, only to hear the captain on the loud-speaker informing you that the plane is number 137 in line to taxi down the runway. My advice – don’t get that bottle/boob going until you are absolutely sure that your plane is taking off right then and there, or else you’re gonna be stuck with an empty bag of tricks and an economy cabin full of jerks all watching and waiting to see how long it takes for Screamfest 2013 to start.

3. Clothing – Do not forget to bring at least one change of clothing for you and your baby to cover massive explosions from either the intake hole or the outtake hole. The only person who would suffer more than you if you have to endure 30+ hours sporting feces-stained trousers is the child-hater guy sharing the arm rest next to you. In addition, make sure you bring some items to cut the chill from a cabin a/c system gone awry (baby socks, hat, warm top, etc.).

4. Poop strategy – It goes without saying that you need to bring more than enough diapers and wipes for the trip. One other helpful tip that no one mentioned to me prior to our journeys – check where the changing table is. Some carriers do not have changing tables in all of the toilets, so have a quick check or ask a flight attendant at the start of your flights. The last thing you want to do is be standing for 30 minutes with a 911-emergency-worthy poop-dripping, exploding baby bottom while you wait for some slow a-hole (usually a man) to empty his a-hole and finally emerge from the commode, only to discover that there is nowhere in the cubby hole of a bathroom to set your baby down for Operation De-Stink.

5. Enlist cabin crew help – When you first arrive on the scene, look around your cabin and try to identify the baby-lovers of the airline staff. They will normally be the ones looking at your bub and smiling (not to be confused with the middle age bitter women who hate children). Enlist their help right away, and you’ll be golden if anything crops up and you need their assistance. They may even offer to hold your baby while you pee and/or stretch your arms a bit.

6. Bag management – If you are in the bassinet seats, you will not have a seat in front on you, and therefore will not have access to any of your precious baby supplies during take off and landing. Make sure you pull out what you need before stowing your diaper bag, and get on the plane early enough to be able to snag a space above your seat or at least nearby for easy access. Once the ‘fasten seatbelt’ sign is turned off after take-off, retrieve your bag and keep it on the floor in front of you. When boarding and disembarking the plane, I found it helpful to wear Fergus in a wrap so that both of my hands were free to retrieve luggage from the overhead compartments. Just make darn sure you protect their head should anything fall out, or should some jerk be swinging their arms or bags around in your personal space.

7. Food situation – your baby – If you are breast feeding, you’ll be good to go throughout your trip. If you are bottle feeding, things get a bit tricky. You have two issues to deal with – clean bottles and clean water/formula. For the bottles, once you have used them, you are going to need to sterilize them. As I saw it, these were our options:

1. Option 1: Bring clean bottles and bring liquid formula in their original packages. When you need to feed baby, empty the packaged formula into their bottles and feed them.
2. Option 2: Bring clean bottles and powdered formula, pre-measured in little powdered formula dispenser thingies. Buy bottled water after you clear security for each of your flights, and mix the water and formula powder in the bottles at each feeding.

To clean the bottles, you are going to need travel sterilization bags and tablets, to which you can add water to in the toilet on the plane or in the terminal between flights. Put rinsed bottles in and submerge them, and let them sit for 20-30 minutes (follow package directions), take them out, and rinse them out with more bottled water to remove the bleach smell. The chief problem with this method is that you will need to find somewhere to hang or sit the big bag of water and bottles while it sits. Cabin crew may or may not help you with this.

I have been told about those bags which you can use for formula, which fit inside a bottle ‘shell’ of sorts, but I did not find them in time. In that case, I assume that you will either need to bring enough clean nipples to get you to your destination, or else do the bag sterilizing just for the nipples.

Whatever you do, bring extra formula packs and water, as every time you go through security you will need to sacrifice some of your liquids, which will vary depending on the preferred method at each airport. For example, I encountered the following: staff just opened and sniffed the bottled water; staff opened two formula packs and made me drink it (once straight from the packet spout and once slurped out of the palm of my hand); staff requested that I drink some previously mixed formula from an unfinished bottle, straight from the bottle/teat. The best way to avoid security hang-ups? Just bring the formula powder and purchase your bottled water after you clear security.

Make sure you bring extra of everything, especially if your baby is not eating solids yet, in case you get delayed or some other catastrophe occurs.

8. Food situation – you – Unless your baby sleeps non-stop, at some point you will not be able to join your fellow passengers for chow down at meal time. Bring something that is easy to grab out of the diaper bag and snack on – like granola bars – so you can shove them in your mouth while handling a wiggly little one on your lap in cramped Economy Class. The cabin staff will be able to bring you your meal later when things calm down and baby is in the bassinet or snoozing on your lap.

This is what worked for us, although I suspect that crawling and walking will introduce a whole new list of travel tips. Please feel free to chime in down below in the comments section if you have any sage advice to add regarding travelling across the globe with infants!

NB: At the time of writing this post, if your baby was born in Thailand, the first time you take him/her out of the country you will need to present their Thai birth certificate at the airport. If they have yet to leave the country they do not need a visa to remain in Thailand, but once they have left they will need one to come back in again. If you have not made arrangements for this prior to re-entering the country, you will be given a 30 day tourist visa in baby’s passport, so it may be worth your while to get their visa papers filed when you are making your first trip out.

See my other posts in the Expat Survival Series: What to Bring, House Hunting, How to Prepare for an Urban Flood, and Maintaining Your Wardrobe in the Tropics.

*Photo by Ross Parmly on Unsplash