Traveling with a child

Harrison has been on a plane and across the country on a number of occasions in his short life. I think it just comes with the territory when both sides of the family live in the Eastern time zone, and it also just so happens that many of our close friends have gotten married in the past year (Jer’s been in three wedding parties in the past 10 months and none of those weddings were in California).

Harrison’s first plane trip was supposed to be in mid-September, 2016, to Denver. He was four months old at the time. Jer and I were both going, and I was glad to anticipate the extra set of hands to help with Harrison, even on a quick plane ride.

But shortly before the trip to Denver was set to happen, my Dad’s mother, my beloved Mom-Mom, passed away. I’ve been lucky in my life to have never lost anyone who had a direct emotional impact in my life- until Mom-Mom’s passing. I needed to be in Pennsylvania when she was laid to rest, and I had a short few days to make it happen. And so in early September 2016 I went on a very last-minute trip to Pennsylvania, just me and Harrison, taking on the friendly skies.

I didn’t have any expectations for the plane ride, but I was hopeful it would be simple, based on Harrison’s chill demeanor. I booked a red-eye because he has slept well at night since day one, waking often for sure, but only to nurse back to sleep. At four months old, and for flights that I anticipated him sleeping through, I didn’t feel the need to bring anything “extra” with me besides a small blanket. We’ve never owned a stroller, and I got a carrying case with wheels to make transporting the car seat easier. I wore Harrison in a carrier and pulled the suitcase and car seat along behind me to gate check it. The car seat was the most difficult part of our travels, it was big and bulky and I’ve never liked it in the first place (we recently replaced it, finally, yay!) While on the plane, Harrison slept well, as anticipated, waking only to nurse back to sleep. Angel baby. Every leg of that trip went smoothly and easily, and breastfeeding was the only thing I needed to keep Harrison occupied.

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Security has become easier for me since traveling with a baby- I am that person who always “opts out” of the x-ray screening and is then subjected to a pat-down, but when Harrison is with me I can automatically bypass the X-ray, go through the metal detector, and get my hands swiped and tested for whatever they are testing for. This is a win for me.

Fun story, during two separate pat-downs on two separate trips pre-baby (and pre-pregnancy), the security personnel tested the residue on their gloves and the little machine turned on a red light and read “explosives detected.” TWO separate trips. What fun that is. I promise that I had no explosives on me. I was subjected to a more thorough pat-down and my bags were thoroughly inspected. Thankfully each time the machine gave me the green light after the second go-round. And after some googling and question-asking, I’ve deduced that either the soap residue from the glycerin-based soap I often use or residue from the pure coconut oil I use as a moisturizer is what caused the machines to alert to the “explosives.” I am very careful these days to stay away from those products immediately before flying.

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Three months after Harrison’s first plane ride, we flew back to Pennsylvania, solo, for a Witzer family Thanksgiving (Jer followed a few days later). Once again, Harrison was very easy to manage. I checked the car seat before security for this trip (for better or worse, there are a lot of rules to be 100% safe with car seats and air travel, and I’ve never followed them 100%, most people don’t). I had Harrison in the carrier and a backpack to deal with walking through the airport. The plane ride was straightforward, I brought a few simple toys with me that helped keep him occupied, and breastfeeding was still the winner for keeping my chill baby happy on the flight.

When Harrison was 9 months old we flew to Tampa for a friend’s wedding. He was starting to be more active but thankfully the three of us were flying together and Jer and I were happy to be able to tag-team our little guy who was already on the verge of walking. He was a bit more difficult to manage this time around, but still nothing crazy. Plastic airline cups kept him busy, and the biggest help was apple slices. Harrison was just starting to really explore solid food and loved gnawing on the apples. He was harder to nurse to sleep at that point, but thankfully Jeremy is great at bouncing him down, and Harrison got a nap in.

Then came June. The three of us went to Lexington for an extended trip to visit with family and celebrate the marriage of one of Jer’s life-long friends. Our 13-month-old had become rather beautifully rambunctious, and we armed ourselves with a few toys and books and snacks. Unfortunately Harrison was very overtired to begin with, and we had two of “those” flights to get to Kentucky. We had a squirmy, crying baby who said “no” to everything we offered and fought the nap that could have made everything better. We did figure out that a cup of ice could keep him occupied for a good amount of time, so we had a few golden moments. He finally fell asleep about 10 minutes before our first flight landed, which was The Worst timing. He woke up when we landed and didn’t nap again that day. So we persevered, and we are happy that day is now many months behind us.

The end of October gave us a last-minute trip up the west coast to Seattle. I finally bought a lightweight car-seat for us to use for travel, and it has continued to be a good decision. (We could use it all the time, i just dont love it enough.) We check the car seat at the gate to (ideally) minimize the possibility of it getting damaged, and it’s light enough that carrying it through the airport is no big deal. It even fits through the security x-rays. Lots of snacks kept us going on this trip, and another cup of ice on each plane. Harrison travelled as a lap child since he still met the age requirements, but he’s become so active that it was a bit difficult. We were lucky to have a row of seats to ourselves on the way home, so Harrison could spread out rather than annoy the person next to us.

And now today I am on a plane finishing up this post while Harrison is fast asleep sprawled out next to me on the seat we purchased for him. We are flying without Jer to the east coast (he’ll meet us there in a few days). I couldn’t handle the idea of a 19-month-old lap child on a five hour flight plus another three hour flight, so we splurged for the extra ticket when we found a good price. And let me tell you- no regrets. For starters, I packed him his own bag. (Security gave me a bit of beef about the number of bags I had until I clarified that Harrison had his own ticket.) So all the necessary things for on the plane but not immediately needed (change of clothes, wallet, food I don’t want him to see, diapers) are in one bag, and the other bag is one Harrison can have free reign of- books, toys, his food, crayons, etc. It’s worked out nicely so far. I debated bringing his car seat on the plane with me, but all he knows of air travel is sitting in the seat with me or next to me, and I didn’t want to risk him refusing to sit in the car seat and then staying in my lap the whole flight. So we gate checked it, along with a small rolling suitcase that accidentally has his sippy cup in it- major bummer (update, the sippy cup has officially been lost). Thankfully we haven’t run into any other issues. And when the drink cart came down the aisle, Harrison started excitedly saying “ice!” (Which sounds like “sssss!”) Haha, that’s my boy. Some kids may see that cart and be excited about food or soda or orange juice, my kid is excited about a plastic cup full of ice.

We are three hours into our initial five-hour flight and Harrison nursed his overtired body to sleep almost an hour ago. We have hardly touched the “new” (borrowed) toys I hid away for him in his bag, or gotten to the two new books we purchased and wrapped in Christmas paper. If there’s a meltdown today, or too much boredom, here’s hoping opening a present and reading a new book about cats will calm us both down.

And speaking of calm- I did get on the plane this morning with an overtired toddler. And honestly he’s been so chill despite that. But once he started getting amped up, I pulled out a secret weapon that my chiropractor told me about just last night- Rescue Remedy. It is something that’s always stocked in my “medicine” cabinet, and Dr. Maura told me it works like magic for calming down an ornery child, something I’d never considered. So at a choice moment a little while ago, I took the Rescue Remedy out of the backpack and put three drops on Harrison’s tongue (thankfully he rather enjoys droppers full of liquid, and it was a good distraction in the first place). I noticed a difference in his demeanor almost immediately. He totally chilled out and was receptive to things I had to say. He sat next to me and became very observant and relaxed. He nursed to sleep, which is unheard of these days, and now he’s been fast asleep for an hour. Rescue Remedy is coming on every flight with me from here on out!

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***Harrison slept for 2 hours and 15 minutes, which is a marathon for him. He woke up amiable and chill and is happily munching away on cheddar bunnies and chicken as we prepare to land in DC.***

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A quick summarization of what’s worked for us:
4 months old: breastfeeding
6.5 months old: breastfeeding
9 months old: apple slices, empty cups
13 months old: good luck ;) a cup of ice
17 months old: books, stickers, ice
19 months old: Rescue Remedy, books, his own seat

-breastfeeding/bottle/sippy cup is great for takeoff and landing to help with the pressure in their ears
-you can check a car seat and/or stroller for free before security or at the gate; do your own car seat safety research and make an informed decision
-all our travels so far have been made simpler by baby-wearing
-you can bring drinkable liquids through security if they are for the baby (or “for the baby”), my filled water bottle makes it through fine, sometimes they test it
-less is more, I perpetually bring more than I need even when trying to minimize
-don’t use glycerin soap or coconut oil before going through security unless you want to live on the edge

Happy travels!