Baby's first flight

my son flew first when was 30 days old. He had a bottle at take off and landing for the ears and he was brilliant all through the flight. We flew to egypt and then to and sharm al sheikh. I take with me small toys, an average of 1 per hour for every hour of flying. Also i always take re usable stickers which I stick on the food tray and he loves to remove and stick them back. Stickers are brilliant. After some flights, we leave the aircraft covered in an array of stickers. We also play I spy with my little eye a sticker with--------- . And then he looks for it. God bless the re-usable stickers. They feel discomfort when their ears close up and when they drink something it opens up, so I guess thats the only worry I had when I first flew.
Take care

@ SMM - What brand of stickers do you use? I totally agree. Stickers are an absolutely God-send to parents of young kids everywhere.

hello there, no brand in particular. I just buy the fun books with the re usable stickers or just the sheets wih stickers. Also get the little stamps with washable ink. they love stamping on books and paper. Dino stamps are good with the feet that have the stamping ability. A wipe with any wet-wipe will get any marks off the trays when you are ready to leave the aircraft. Take care and thanks. I love this website. I really do.

I flew to Europe with my five month old son, as well as many flights with my other babies. I like to request the bulk head seat, as well as an isle seat so I can get up and down with out disturbing others (too much!) I wrote this before, but I think the best advice is to make sure to take a change of clothes for YOU as well as baby, a light weight tshirt and skirt. Children spill, throw up, etc. on mommy! I have to say, I love travelling with children. MY experiences have been very positive! Oh, I love coffee, so I bring a small travel mug so I can have a little treat without worrying about spilling on babe, good for other drinks as well. Yes, definately nurse or give bottle on take off and landing, sucking helps with ears.

First flight with our son was easy as pie. At 4 months sitting in place was not an issue. Now that he's 20 months I wonder what would happen. Our next scheduled flight - Oakland to Seattle should be slightly more eventful. Stickers sound like a good idea, so does the bulkhead row. We'll probably bring our secret weapon with us too - the paper catalog from http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/. It's full of pictures of blocks and cars and kids and chairs and desks and EVERYTHING a kid might find interesting. Our son loves books and magazines but this catalog is like toddler crack. I bet you could call their customer service and have one sent to you.

Kiuchi - you're hilarious! I can just picture your son dizzy eyed over discountschoolsupply catalogs. My kids are crazy over oriental trading and scholastic catalogs. I need to add that to my tip article. Maybe for older kids, it can be a sorting game - books about animals, books about vehicles...What's next?

Our first flight with our first son was when he as 2 months old. We flew to Houston for a friend's wedding. I was totally stressed out about the trip. I even bought an inflatable nursing pillow with me because I couldn't nurse without one. I also brought a sling onboard and all sorts of other gear. My husband thought I was insane, but he knew better than to argue with a mom who was going through postpartum. Alas, baby slept the entire flight. 2nd flight was to Peru at 4 months. Baby also slept most of the trip. Now...fast forward to 15 months to Scotland solo. Let's just say, I rather forget that trip.

We flew for the first time at 6 months and things went rather smoothly, despite a 2 hour delay in the airport. It was an evening flight and he slept the entire time, even snoozed as we walked through the airport in the Bjorn (which is a lifesaver with an infant, btw). Now that my son is a never-sit-down-go-go-go little toddler boy, I long for the ease of flying with an infant!! Our biggest issue is when he falls asleep on a nighttime flight and wakes up at landing not knowing where he is. There is no calming him down at that point until we get to the car and on the soothing road.

We flew to Hawaii with our son when he was 1 day away from his first birthday. We weren't sure how he was going to do on the 5 hour leg of the trip as it was his first flight, so we packed little goody bags with a set of ear plugs, some hard candy and a note that explained it was the first flight and we hoped these treats would help make everyone's flight a little more pleasant and we would do everything in our power to keep him happy and quiet. Before we took off, we handed them out to the folks who were in the closest proximity to us. We got a lot of compliments, thank you's, and folks told me I should put things like this together as a business. For the record...most people didn't use the ear plugs. Our little guy did great (and I think setting expectations really helped too...I used to be one of those people who did a lot of business travel and used to hate sitting next to a baby on a flight).

My son flew to Germany when he was 3 months old (he is now 21 months and has flown there 5 more times). The way over was easy as he slept the whole way on our 8pm flight. I made sure to have a bag of "baby everything" ie. diapers, formula, bottles, wipes, ready before take off and we were set. I also LOVED having our Boppy with us so he could sleep on us during the flight. The way back was not so much fun as he was awake but we tried to keep him awake as much as we could in the aiport prior to taking off so that he would drift off to sleep when the plane took off. Good Luck!!