You did it! You made it to the gate, hallelujah! Your sanity may be questioned and you are already ready to pass out once you get onto the plane, but who are we kidding, you have kids now. That doesn’t happen. Babies and kids don’t sleep on planes, they play! They want your attention and this is the time they choose to surprise you with a new circus act…or so you pray doesn’t happen. Babies are pretty unpredictable and what they say goes. One night Michael was just going bonkers (in a good way, he learned a new skill) and I said to Kevin, “We are in control here, this is our world we make the rules! What is this?!” But really…we all know babies make the rules and we go with what they need and want. Sigh haha. I remember traveling before having Michael and I was THAT girl who thought to herself, “great there’s a baby near me”. Oh yea I’m so guilty for thinking this all the time before Michael came into the picture. When I traveled I was usually going somewhere fun and wanted to relax and have a few glasses of wine while in flight. The last thing I needed was a baby learning to grab my hair while on the way to Vegas! I can’t sleep on planes so I am very alert or tired while flying. I’m telling you this to let you know, I have flown on both sides of the spectrum. I’ve been the annoyed passenger who wants to scream shut that baby up and I’ve been the mom who has the baby
that wants to babble for 2 hours straight (ah and it was so cute haha). I would also like to take this moment to apologize for ever thinking those thoughts! What an ignorant ass I was. My gosh if some little chick came up to me and mouthed something, boy would she have a piece of my mind! Ah HELL NAH! Not today little girl! ….Okay anyways. What were we talking about? Oh yes, how to calm your precious little one on a flight.
Well, To tell you the truth there are some measures you can take to hopefully help prevent insane outbursts, but in reality you never know. Truthfully ( I keep it real ya’ll) anyone who says they can keep a baby calm is full of crap. No just playing, man I’m full of jokes today, but like I said earlier babies are unpredictable. We had two long 6 hour flights to and from Hawaii, and this was our first time flying with Michael. Man were we nervous haha. How was this going to go? Should we apologize in advance? Should we just give a sour face to anyone scouring at us if Michael loses it? Will Michael lose it? All these plus a thousand more questions were going through our minds.
On our flight to Hawaii Michael was pretty amazing. We thought we had the golden child of excellence. One big Gold star for you Michael! He was fussy when we first started to take off only from hunger, but once we lifted off he was out. Now when you are taking off and landing they say to have them sucking on something or nurse them during change in altitude. Because they can’t pop their own ears this helps relieve pressure from building up and the poor things getting fussy. So there is tip one: have your baby suck on something while in take off and landing. 
Being only three and half months old, Michael slept most of the way to Hawaii. Kevin and I alternated holding him while he slept every other hour. Great idea for both parents to get a break on the plane. There was a point towards the end he started to get fussy and we just stood up other than that he just suckled most of the plane ride. Tip 2: (only applies if you are not flying solo, I’ll have a post later on how that situation goes)) alternate giving full attention to your little one. Team work makes the dream work! And the statement holds so much truth when it comes to parenting! My gosh I have SO MUCH RESPECT for any single parent out there. They are truly super human! Ya’ll keep being AMAZING! But if you do have someone, anyone to travel with make a game plan to go off of for your flight. It will make things much smoother for the both of ya’ll. Now I know this won’t work every time but having something to base your flight on and a goal to “cross fingers” hopefully achieve should give you a little clarity on the situation.
Let’s face it, if we don’t have the kiddos with us and we see a baby in close proximity on an airplane, we get a little nervous. Something funny to ease up the tension when bringing a baby on board is grabbing a small gag gift for those around you. Like ear plugs, or stop by a liquor and grab some mini bottles (which are allowed on a flight woohoo) to hand out. Then just make a comment say, “apologizing in advance for any commotion coming from these seats.” Or “we have a wild one who is ready to party.” Just something comical to lighten up everyone’s spirits. Now as we were beginning to land in Hawaii, we had multiple comments on how good of a baby Michael was. 
Yay!!..If only this could be the case for all future travel! Tip 3: if you have the guts, bring something light-hearted and inexpensive for those around you to lighten up the mood.
On the trip home we had the same game plan going into the terminal. Alternate every hour-ish and Michael will hopefully be a cute sleepy baby the whole time and we will get raves of how amazing he is. Yea, nope. The eh maybe Thursday or Friday before we left Michael started his 4 month growth spurt. I’ll be posting about ALL about this fun stage soon. Plans didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped for our return flight. At all. If you are already a mom and are reading this you know exactly what I mean. The stage Michael was entering at this time is the beginning of what the pediatricians call “the fun stage”. On the flight home we started out exactly the same way. Fed him going up and held him for about an hour or so. Then I needed to give my arms and bladder a break so I handed him off to Kevin for his session. Hahaha, not this time. No sleeping for Michael. He was awake and alert and learning new sounds he could make. Oh my gosh it was the cutest thing! He definitely had everyone’s attention around us. Most were looking at him with googley eyes except for one lady. I almost wanted to say something to her, but I have gone through some excellent personal development and held my tongue. We had a few different toys stowed in the diaper bag and had him going for all of them in hopes to keep him from absolutely losing his mind. Check out “what to pack when traveling with a baby” to get the load down on what all you need while traveling with your little one. Instead of alternating every hour I pretty much got about 20-30 minute breaks and then was holding/feeding him for another hour or so. But it worked! I am in MOPS (which is a fantastic mom group) and one of the moms at my table said even if they aren’t hungry they will eat/suck. Gosh was she right. The best thing I feel as a new mom you can do besides a ton of googling..or coming to my site, is asking other moms! Who better to turn to than a source you know?! Tip 4: Be prepared for any situation! And remember to go with the flow.
Now as much as we would all love to slip a drop of whiskey in their bottles and let them enjoy a nice long nap, we can’t. It is wonderful getting to discover how Michael will react on each new journey we take him on. No matter how amazing he does or how crazy he acts, it is the best adventure we embark on. Why?? Because babies and kids are unpredictable and you have to roll with the punches and take them as they come. If he is acting bonkers on an airplane I will pray I brought ear plugs or a mini bottle for those around me. If he acts like a gem then woohoo! Once he is old enough there are a bunch of different hacks and ideas I have to implement but until then we are flying by the seat under our pants. At the end of the day you just have to accept your baby as they come. Be proud of them no matter what insane situation may arise and just go with it. Don’t let anyone try to shame you or make you feel ashamed for your child teething and crying because of it. One day they will have kids and be in the same boat as you are if they haven’t already gone through it. So relax, enjoy the flight as much as you can and if you aren’t nursing, have a glass of wine while your partner is holding down the fort! Cheers.
Have a funny story about your flight experiences with a little? Leave a comment and share, I could use a wonderful laugh and a reminder knowing I’m not the only crazy mom flying with my child haha. Make sure and subscribe to get updated on my latest posts!