Traveling with Babies
As this holiday season approaches I have one more reason to dread traveling at this time of year – I now have to manage the lineups, customs, security, shoes off, shoes on, boarding pass at hand routine with a 4-month old baby. This adds feeding, changing diapers, changing dirty clothes, soothing to sleep and playing with baby to the mix. A lot to handle, while not forgetting to bring all the baby gear for sleeping away, holiday gifts and, almost forgot, my own luggage!
Canada’s Baby Care Book, a great reference book on baby care from birth to 12 months created by doctors of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, has a good list of tips to keep in mind before hopping on a plane with babies under 6 months (p.281):
- “Book a non-stop flight when possible.
- Give yourself lots of extra time to get to the airport. You’ll need it.
- Change the baby shortly before boarding, then take advantage of early boarding opportunities, if offered.
- To reduce earache, encourage your baby to suck on something during ascent and descent.
- Book an extra seat for the baby. The cost may be worth it by journey’s end. “
Also when traveling this holiday season don’t forget to offset your carbon footprint. Zerofootprint lets you calculate your carbon emission for air travel and buy offsets that go towards carbon-neutral projects. A return 1.5-3 hour flight, for example, generates one tonne of CO2. You can then purchase a Travel Offset for $16 that will offset this amount of carbon emission and travel with a clean mind.
PerryWinkles Kids – Fine Children’s Clothing
PerryWinkles Kids Blog » Breastfeeding on the Go said,
December 9, 2007 @ 9:58 am
[...] Preparing to travel with a baby for the first time is no easy feat. Yet another challenge of holiday travel is figuring out how to breastfeed while on the go. One obvious difficulty is finding a place that is quiet and somewhat private. You can take the time to find these places when you’re out and about with no agenda but what happens when you’re in an airport waiting lounge or in a plane, for example, and your baby needs to eat NOW! You’re pretty much bound to your seat or not wanting to stray too far if you’re waiting to board a plane. Rest assured that you can still breastfeed comfortably in these situations. [...]