Q.
We
will be flying nearly five hours cross country to visit relatives
at Thanksgiving. Our son will be three months old and is nursing
and our daughter will be two years old. We wondered if you
have any tips for us? A.
Have fun! This is a pretty good age for flying with your
baby because he will charm all those people on the plane who are
sure they don't want to fly with a baby. Then, when you get there,
he'll brighten everybody's holiday by grinning at them, too!
Do your best to
get him to suck during take off and landing to help his ears.
During the flight,
flush his nose every 10-15 minutes with breast milk. Express a
little and get a small dropper to put a few drops into each nostril.
This kills viruses trying to get in and will also make him sneeze.
The more he sneezes the better because it sends viruses flying
out of his nose at 100 mph. If you have no milk, get a weak salt
water solution to do the flushing.
Bring lots of extra
diapers and clothes.
Your daughter may
not fly quite as easily but I can give you one great trick: Bring
along one toy for every 5 minutes of the flight. Yes, 12 toys/hour
and, no, they do not need to be the size of a large doll or truck.
Get big bags of little dinosaurs or her favorite old books along
with a dozen new small books. I know, this trip is getting more
expensive by the minute, but don't forget how amused she is by
wooden spoons, old paper towels rolls, empty plastic bottles and
so on. You will need a separate duffel bag for all this, but the
flight will be much better for it.
Make certain that
you bring enough food for her for 5 to 7 hours and extra clothes
for her and you. I once had the lovely, very personal, experience
of having my two year old pee right through her diaper while sitting
on my lap before takeoff. We had four extra outfits for her and
not even a pair of sweat pants for me. Long flight.
Some people swear
by the "red eye" experience and some people do not.
Kids do not reliably go to sleep during this late night flight
but many will.
The trip is truly
worth it and the flight will be . . . memorable.
|