Flying with a Newborn

Shopping For Things You Need

Start by thinking about your child's needs: a place to sleep, milk to eat, clothes and diapers to wear, a car seat to ride in, and a couple of toys to play with. 

Sleeping on the plane is fairly straightforward because you'll most likely opt for a lap child ticket so your child will snuggle with you during the flight. You'll want a swaddle blanket within reach to keep your baby comfortable since flights can be chilly.

When determining the best place for your baby to sleep when you get to your destination, you have a few options. You can bring a travel crib, you can see if your hotel provides cribs, or you can stay at an Airbnb with a crib. No matter what, I would recommend that you bring a fitted sheet from home to ensure your baby feels comfortable in this bed (smells are a really big deal) and also pack at least two sleep sacks/swaddles for your baby to use while your are on your trip. When picking a travel crib, think about how you will bring it on the flight as it will likely need to be a checked bag, and be sure to put a protective bag around it to keep it from getting damaged or dirty under the plane.

My son was breastfed and we didn't supplement with formula so I can only speak to breastfeeding and pumping while traveling. You are allowed to bring breastmilk and formula for your baby through TSA Security without the same restrictions of other liquids. You are also allowed to bring a separate bag with your breast pump and associated supplies onto the plane because it is a medical device and doesn't count as a personal bag. I would recommend choosing a breast pump with some sort of battery option because you never know what the outlet situation will be on a plane. Check out my blog about breastfeeding on flights for more details about this topic. We bottle-fed my son at night with breastmilk, so I packed two bottles and all accessories plus a travel bottle drying rack (this thing is amazing!).  I used this backpack-style pumping bag to hold everything that I needed.

When thinking about diapers, I recommend having one within reach for every hour of travel, and then I pack ten per day of vacation. If you need more during your trip, you can go to the store to get some. I use the car seat bag to store extra diapers because it also provides extra padding for the car seat when it's gate-checked.

When thinking about clothes, I recommend having two outfits for your baby for every day of your trip, plus two pairs of pajamas for each night at this age. Or, plan on doing laundry during your trip.

You can gate-check two items per child for free (a stroller and a car seat). I recommend gate-checking these items because then you can keep your baby snuggled in their car seat until the last second before boarding the plane, and then you can snuggle them back into their car seat right away after. Having a good stroller and car seat travel system is a must at this age. I recommend buying a protective bag for your car seat and stroller to help protect these items from dirt, grease, and damage.

Choosing toys to bring at this age is a fairly easy task. I recommend a couple of teething toys, and a spinning toy for your baby to interact with and look at.

Packing For Your Trip

The basic things you'll need to be ready for when you fly with a newborn are eating, sleeping, pooping, and repeating. Newborns don't do much else at this stage, and to be honest, I was more worried about the logistics of going through TSA Security than I was about the actual flight. I stuck with my motto of being over-prepared and I'm very glad that I did because everything went smoothly.

Right before we were in the front of the security checkpoint line, I took my baby out of his car seat and put him in our Koala Baby Carrier so I could be hands-free through security. I put this carrier in the bottom part of the stroller so it was easy to grab while in the airport. This is a must!

There's a 50% chance you'll need your child's birth certificate when going through airport security. Put it in a clear document sleeve to keep it protected. I always keep the birth certificate in the laptop sleeve area of my backpack so it's easy to access and doesn't get damaged when traveling.

We opted to use only one large suitcase, two backpacks, and the breast pump bag for this trip. We checked the suitcase so we didn't have to roll it through the airport, I'm so glad we did this! We use packing cubes to keep everyone's clothes organized. Then, we used one backpack as the diaper bag and the other for our personal items that we wanted to have within reach for the three-and-a-half-hour flight from Chicago to Sacramento. In the diaper bag, we had one extra outfit for our son, an extra shirt for my husband and me (in case we needed a quick change during the flight), my breastfeeding cover, the changing pad, the teething toys, baby wipes, and 12 diapers (one for each hour of travel - counting drive time, flight time, and airport time).

During the Flight

Before boarding, you need to approach the podium and request your gate check tags for the stroller and car seat. Be sure to place the tags on the outside of the bag for the stroller and car seat, not on the stroller and car seat themselves. Bring these gate check items with you to the podium, because the person who helps you with tagging will need to confirm that you are actually gate checking a stroller and car seat like you say you are.

When boarding, use your Koala Baby Carrier to be hands-free. Then, as soon as you sit down, use Clorox wipes to disinfect your seats and tray tables to prevent your kiddo from getting sick on their first big adventure.

Family boarding can be a blessing and a curse, judge your boarding position based on how your baby is handling all of the airport craziness that day. Sometimes it's better to stay off the plane as long as possible so you can keep standing to rock your baby rather than having to sit still.

Encourage your baby to eat during takeoff and the descent to help relieve ear pressure.

The changing table on the plane is small and difficult to use. It's located directly above the toilet and is only about a foot and a half wide. Be sure to have all of the things you need for the diaper change organized before you go into the bathroom because there is no room to find anything once you're in the stall. You will need to throw away the dirty diaper in the small bathroom trash can or if you put it in a bag that can be tied, you can dispose of it in the larger trash bag that's used by the flight attendants at the back of the plane. To keep things easy, I use the Ubbi on the go bags for diaper changes on flights and also for managing trash in our row of the plane.

Check out my list of baby and toddler travel essentials for more items that will help make your first flight (and every flight after) a success.

You've got this, Mama!