Flying with Your Baby

"Hello. Perhaps a glass of wine will dull the senses while your baby cries..."

OK... no, that's not recommended... BUT... flight attendants do have some good tips on how to make a flight with your baby smoother.

A British flight attendant offers ten tips when traveling with kids.

One of the best tips I saw was...

"5. Ear pressure - If your baby is on a bottle or breastfeeding, give them the bottle or the breast for take-off & landing. It's the best things for their ears and they will also be relaxed. If your child is big, then carry cotton or ask for earplugs as soon as you board the aircraft. Make use of them for take-off then save them for landing as the crew may not have any fresh ones left by then. This helps the kids tremendously if they don't know how to pop their ears."

The article was on the Flying with Kids webpage. I spotted other sections on Travel Tips, Travel Health, Travel Planning and Q&A.

Here's another good tip from the Travel Planning section:

"Where to sit depends on the age of your children and whether you are flying with a partner.

If you are flying with a partner, consider booking seats apart from one another so that one can get real rest while the other attends the children for a while. This way, neither of you will get too exhausted on a long-haul flight.

If you're travelling with an infant less than 10kg in weight, your airline may provide a sky cot or bassinette for you. This will mean you are seated in bulkhead seats at the front of a section of the plane. Some airlines provide bassinettes on a first-come, first-served basis at check-in; others give priority to the smallest infants; others don't provide them at all.

If you are traveling with an infant and a toddler, having the bassinette and bulkhead seats is a good option. You have more room for your stuff and the toddler is able to curl up on his/her own seat. But, if your child is not a curler or is older, note that the armrests that divide the seats do not raise on the bulkhead seats. This means that you can't cuddle your child very easily and they certainly can't lie with their head on your lap. In this case, consider seats elsewhere and hold the baby on your lap."