My Best Tips for Flying with a Baby at 7, 8, 9, & 13 Months Old

You’ve Got This.

Guess what our son never really did on flights (that everyone else promised would happen)? Sleep! Nope, in fact, the most we ever got was a 2-hour nap on a 7.5-hour flight. That’s a lot of awake time in a tiny space, and I learned quite a few tips for flying with a baby after spending all this quality time with our son.

I was extremely nervous before flying with our son for the first time, and I’m guessing that since you’re reading this right now, you’re feeling pretty anxious about an upcoming flight too. I did a lot of research beforehand, and I watched too many videos about how “my baby ended up sleeping the whole time”. This was never the case for us, so, I want to give you all the tips I learned while flying with my active son at 7, 8, 9, and 13 months old.

Follow Your Baby’s Cues

Ok, so this first piece of advice is going to sound strange since I’m providing advice on flying with a baby, but here it is.

Follow your baby’s cues, and do not force people’s advice on the situation.

Why am I saying this? Because EVERYONE said to nurse/bottle-feed your baby at takeoff and landing and, well, that made my son cry. He wanted to look around the plane and take everything in. So, by trying to force him to nurse, I made him do the one thing I was hoping to prevent in the first 5 minutes. Luckily, my mommy intuition kicked in after a couple of minutes, and as soon as I sat him up, he was happy as could be.

You know your baby better than anyone else. Just because we worry their ears will bother them, that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. So far, my son has never seemed uncomfortable (thankfully!) on 8 flights.

How to Entertain Your Baby on a Flight

Let me remind you, our son barely slept on any flight, and as he got older (i.e., more mobile and more vocal), it only got harder to entertain him in roughly 6 square feet of space. Below I’ve compiled my best tips on how we survived all these flights at various ages.

It’s worth noting that we’ve taken direct flights for all 8 flights he’s been on. This is popular advice you’ll see, as it shortens the overall travel time and the number of takeoffs and landings.

First, Keep the Space Clean.

At 7 and 8 months, the flights were around 2.5 hours. He mainly sat on our lap, stood at our feet, ate snacks, and tried to put everything in his mouth. Seriously, EVERYTHING. Therefore, thoroughly cleaning the space around you is so important. We took Medela Quick Clean Wipes and wiped down the walls, seats, window, trays, armrests, and seat belts. I know this may seem overkill, but airplanes are gross, and nobody wants a sick kid on vacation. We could have constantly said “No” and dealt with a fussy baby, but cleaning was way easier.

At 13 months he really wasn’t interested in licking everything in sight anymore, but we still cleaned the area pretty well for peace of mind.

Secondly, Take Never Before Seen Toys

On every flight, our son’s favorite thing to play with has been the info pamphlets in the back of the seat. So don’t be afraid to first let your child slowly explore this new area around them (as long as it’s not disturbing the people in front of you). Another favorite “toy” has been post-it notes. We bought small, colorful ones and placed them around the seats. He loved pulling them off again and again. We also borrowed some toys and books from a friend, which was perfect because then I didn’t have more things cluttering our house after the flight.

While new and exciting toys should hold your little one’s attention for some time, one or two tried and true favorites are always a good thing to take too.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to rely on electronics. I purchased an adult Bluetooth headband and modified it to fit our son’s small head (I had to add more Velcro when he turned 13 months). I went through this effort because I wanted something comfortable that he would keep on and didn’t have any cords. My sewing skills are subpar, but they have worked really well for us. You’ll also want to download videos onto your phone or a tablet. On our longest flight, which was 7.5 hours at 13 months, the Wi-Fi was down the entire flight. Had we not pre-downloaded videos, it would have been a disaster.

Take Lots of Snacks and a Cup

Once you start feeding your little one solids, you’ll want to take plenty of age-appropriate snacks to distract them with. Just don’t let them stuff their little faces, feed them nice and slow for their safety and also to entertain them as long as possible.

Now, I’m ashamed and embarrassed to admit this, but my son actually started choking for the first time ever on a flight at 13 months. I let him grab too many little pieces of pizza, and he shoved them all in his mouth at once. Thankfully, I had practiced choking first-aid many times when he started eating solids and this whole event was probably only 10 seconds, but it was horrible nonetheless. Please learn from my terrible mistake here.

As for drinking, at 7, 8, and 9 months my son pretty much nursed whenever he wanted to. At 13 months though, he needed his trusty little Munchkin cup filled with water. These happened to be our longest flights too, and he drank about 3 cups throughout the 7ish hours.

The Importance of Self-Care when Traveling with a Baby

I guarantee you will be exhausted by the end of the flight, no matter how smoothly it goes. So, make sure to do everything you can to look after yourself.

The first step towards self-care is to stop worrying about what other people’s opinions are. Repeat after me – as adults, they should come prepared with headphones or earplugs. Their comfort is not your responsibility, and you should not feel guilty for their poor planning. On two flights we took, I vividly remember passengers near us being far louder than our son ever was by watching tv without headphones. Babies on planes get a bad rap, but most of the time they handle it far better than we expect.

You’ll also want to take at least one small pillow to keep yourself physically comfortable. At 9 months old we had a 6-hour flight that I was in physical pain afterward. I was so excited when our son fell asleep on me, that I tried not to move even though I was in an extremely uncomfortable position. After 20 or so minutes, I couldn’t take the aching any longer and I shifted slightly. Guess what happened, he woke up and then stayed awake for the remaining 4 hours. After this, I learned the importance of pillows.

Final Thoughts and Tips for Flying with a Baby

• Give yourself an extra 30 minutes before the flight for getting through security, gate checking the car seat/stroller, and one last diaper change. (Example – If you normally like to get to the airport 1.5 hours before your flight, get there 2 hours early now)
• If you use cloth diapers, I highly recommend using disposable diapers for the flight. I personally love bamboo diapers when I use disposable.
• When booking your seats, if you have a travel companion with you reserve the aisle and window seats in one row. If the flight isn’t full, you’ll have a good chance of getting the middle seat for free. We have done this “hack” 4 times now, and only once did we have to ask someone to trade. Nobody wants to sit in the middle seat, so they happily obliged us.
• Some airlines have you add your lap infant when you make your reservation, while others have you add them the day of travel. Make sure you understand and know the policy of the airline you are traveling with.

Happy Travels!

Looking for a place to go? Check out my ultimate guide on Everything You Must Know Before Taking Your Kids to the Florida Keys.

Do you have tips to recommend when flying with a baby? Be sure to add it in the comments below!