A young mother is also a person, and she wants to go on vacation, recover from childbirth, and change the environment. Many parents try to take their babies with them. Today, a couple traveling with a newborn will surprise no one. And if there is a flight by plane, then restless mothers begin to ring all the bells, feverishly search for answers to many questions regarding the compatibility of the child and air transport. How to prepare your baby for a long flight, how to help him along the way and minimize all possible risks, we will tell you in this article.
Is flight harmful?
So far, no one has been able to reliably prove and substantiate the terrible harm of flying on an airplane for babies. Even those who are categorically against such travel for crumbs cannot intelligibly explain their position.
Pediatricians for the most part do not see anything wrong with such a trip, provided that the baby is healthy, he does not have heart diseases, severe brain and neurological pathologies.
However, in defense of the position of opponents of flights for infants, I can remind you that many airlines, including leading Russian carriers, ask parents who are going to travel on board their ship with an infant for a receipt that they will not have any claims against the airline. if the baby suddenly becomes ill during the flight.
They do this solely in order to protect themselves legally. But parents need to remember that the child will not have problems if they, adults, do everything right: they prepare the baby, help him at every stage of the air travel.
At what age can you fly?
The age at which a child can easily travel by air is a reason for heated debate among mothers, doctors and a wide variety of specialists. According to Dr. Komarovsky, almost all babies tolerate flights very well. The only limitation, according to the doctor, is children of the first week of life. It is better to spend seven to eight days after birth on the ground, since at such an early age the crumbs already experience serious difficulties in adapting to the world around them. Children under 2 weeks of age should be taken with caution.
Thus, Yevgeny Komarovsky emphasizes, starting from the eighth day of life, the child is quite able to fly in an airplane with his parents. Mom and Dad, however, need to try and create the safest possible conditions for maintaining the health of the baby. We will talk about them below.
Babies up to 6 months old are generally ideal companions, from the point of view of other passengers on the liner. They sleep almost all the way and do not bother anyone. This, alas, cannot be said about children over a year old, and especially about three-year-olds who cannot sit still, and it is imperative to run around the cabin, look through the windows and comment loudly on what they see.
Preparing for the flight
How the baby will survive the flight largely depends on how the parents prepare him for this adventure. The immunity of a newborn is still being formed, it is difficult for him to perceive cardinal changes, and therefore additional stress factors for him need to be eliminated. So, the last vaccination should be given to the baby 3 weeks before departure. This will reduce the immune load.
It is better not to plan a vacation with a small child in winter, when it is snowy and frosty in your home region. In case of a sharp hit in a hot climate and a different time zone in a nursing baby, the acclimatization process will be much harder and longer.
It will be possible to relax normally, without running with a baby’s crumbs to the doctors, only if the climate change is quite smooth – the climate of the country to which you are flying will be at least a little like a baby’s habitual one.
Children who do not have acclimatization do not exist in nature. To one degree or another, it manifests itself in everyone – with an increase in temperature, intestinal disorders, sleep disturbances, emotional disorders, and so on. Moreover, an infant undergoes this physiological “readjustment” of the body much more difficult than older children. The average duration of this process in children up to a year is about three weeks.
However, you should not listen to the advice of “experienced” from the Internet, because each baby’s acclimatization is purely individual.
It is harmful not to fly an airplane, and not to know the rules and safety measures that will help the child overcome the path without harm to health:
- Don’t change the climate too dramatically. It is not worth flying from frosty Siberia with a baby to hot India in the midst of New Year’s holidays.
- Prepare your baby for jet lag in advance. A month before your trip, try to put it 15 minutes earlier or later every day (it all depends on which way the time shift is expected). So the child will gradually enter the daily regimen, which he will observe, being in the new time zone.
- Do not vaccinate immediately before departure.
- Visit the pediatrician the day before the trip, he must confirm that the child is healthy and ready to fly.
The documents
For babies who are taken with them on the plane, it is imperative to take the original birth certificate. The child himself must be entered in the passport of the mother or father. If the parents have new passports (biometric), then there is no way to enter the child into them. A separate foreign passport must be obtained for the baby.
In countries with a visa regime, a baby will need a visa on an equal basis with adults; most embassies do not charge a fee for it from an infant.
If the baby flies with his grandmother or another relative, from the parents, in addition to a receipt in the absence of claims against the airline, in the event of a deterioration in the condition of the crumbs in the air, a notarized and certified consent for such a trip will be required. It must indicate the details of the accompanying person, the purpose of the trip and the duration of the trip. It is also advisable to describe the powers of the accompanying person, what actions he can perform, what decisions lie in his competence.
For a child, even an infant, it is imperative to purchase travel documents. For babies from birth to 2 years old, the international tariffication of air services implies a separate Infant tariff. By purchasing such a ticket, you do not buy a separate seat for the baby in the aircraft cabin, he will fly on the lap of an adult. The cost is about 10% of the price of an adult ticket for the flight, in some companies it is free. This travel document allows one stroller to be transported free of charge.
What to take in carry-on baggage?
The rules for the flight of children do not prohibit taking a bottle with a pacifier or baby food in hand luggage. The flight attendant will always warm it up for the baby at the request of the mother during the flight. For the child, you need to take drinking water, since dry air in the cabin of the aircraft can negatively affect the state of the mucous membranes of the respiratory system of the crumbs. It is generally prohibited to carry liquids on board an aircraft, but baby food is not covered by the ban. You can safely take with you several bottles of 300 gr.
Carefully read the list of prohibited items (on the website of the airline that is lucky you, it is mandatory). This will help you choose the right funds for your travel kit. Usually for infants they take a couple of diapers, vasoconstrictor nasal drops “Nazivin Sensitiv” or “Nazol Baby”, remedies for colic “Espumisan” or “Bobotik”.
Take other medicines only if there is a doctor’s recommendation. If you are transporting a drug that is prohibited for free export, take with you a prescription and a doctor’s appointment, which will indicate why the little patient needs this particular drug.
Take one set of new baby clothes in your carry-on bag in case he splashes or spits out.
What should I check in the luggage compartment?
All the rest. Suitcases, clothes, etc. The stroller for travel should not be a large-sized transformer, use a compact “book” or “cane”. At the airport, you can walk with a stroller, but when boarding a plane, it must be given to the flight attendants. Children’s transport will temporarily go to the luggage compartment. Do not forget to clarify where to look for your stroller later – sometimes it is left on a belt with other luggage or moved to a counter with oversized cargo.
Nobody forces you to hold the baby in your arms for the entire flight, it can be rather difficult. Some airlines provide a dedicated infant carrier that can be easily attached to the back of the front seat. You should declare that you need it on the way at least one day before departure to the representatives of the airline (you can call it).
If you decide to take it with you, a child car seat must be checked in with your luggage.
Main steps
In the airoport. When registering, it is known to all adults, sometimes quite a lot of time is wasted. In order not to harass a small child with a long wait in line, try asking to arrange you with a baby at another counter, for example, where business class clients are registered. There are usually no queues. Very often, airline employees willingly take a step towards mothers with babies.
On a plane taking off… Once you are in your seat, try to make your baby more comfortable. Babies are not fastened with seat belts, for them there are special fasteners that are attached to the belt fastened on the mother. You can get such a device by asking a flight attendant.
The most unpleasant moments in flight are actually myself take off and landing. Ears are blocked due to pressure drops. Adults yawn and (swallow saliva to relieve their condition. Babies also experience discomfort, but it is impossible to tell them exactly what to do to get better. Therefore, the baby must be given a pacifier or a bottle with a drink.
In flight. Infants rarely have problems in flight, as they spend their time quite self-sufficient, combining snacks with sound, healthy infant sleep. If the baby nevertheless burst into tears, ask the stewards for permission to walk with him along the aisle, shake him. This is usually acceptable if the aircraft is not in the turbulence zone and there are no other restrictions on the part of the crew.
By after landing. At this stage, you will again have to go through control at the airport and get your luggage. To speed up the process, ask the airport staff at your destination for help (this is where school and extracurricular English lessons come in handy!). Often mothers with babies are skipped out of line. In addition, the employee will probably tell you where the mother and child’s room is, so that you can carry out the necessary hygiene procedures for the baby after the flight – change the diaper, for example.
A well-known pediatrician and TV presenter, who quite often has to tell parents how to travel with babies on an airplane, says that parents need to remember a few key nuances that will help the baby survive the air journey well.
Sucking motions alleviate ear congestion during takeoff and landing, while swallowing motions significantly reduce the likelihood of a blockage in the auditory tube. According to Komarovsky, the nipple or breast proposed at these stages of the flight reduce the risk of otitis media, especially in the presence of ARVI. Although the doctor does not recommend flying at all with infections.
If a child has a stuffy nose, and in infants this happens quite often due to the narrowness of the nasal passages, this can complicate his condition. Therefore, it makes sense to take vasoconstrictor drops with you. They should be instilled half an hour before take-off after preliminary instillation of saline into the nose. Vasoconstrictor drops should also be dripped before planting.
So that the mucous membranes of the child’s respiratory tract do not dry out in conditions of low humidity in the cabin, Komarovsky recommends irrigating the nasal passages of the crumbs with special sprays based on saline during a long flight. You can buy them at any pharmacy.
- When planning a route, try to make it without transfers. If this is not possible, try choosing flights so that the waiting time at transit airports does not exceed 4 hours.
- Do not hesitate to find out at each airport where you will be, the location of the mother and child room. There the baby can be washed, put to bed, comfortably fed and changed.
- Keep calm. A child, even a very small child, survives the flight much more easily than his parents worried about this. Don’t forget about the strong emotional bond between mom and baby. A calm mother is the key to the peace of the baby.