Esmé in hand luggage at 4 months :)
Well our little Esmé is quite the jet setter. By the age of
14 months, she has already been to Portugal x1, France x2 and Ireland x3.
That’s total of 12 flights. We’ve just come back from a skiing holiday in
France, so I thought I’d write a post with these tips while they are fresh in
my mind.
For the flights that John has travelled with me, it has been
much easier. We could take it in turns to play with her and had space to get
things out of bags, help with feeding etc. The worst flight was when I was on
my own with Esmé on a 3 hour flight to Portugal. Every time I needed something
from the rucksack, I had to rummage around with one hand and juggle with her
wriggling on my lap, flustered at the fact that I was disturbing the man
sitting next to us. I have picked up a few tips along the way by now that I
hope some of you will find useful…
- Buy some new toys before the trip so there is a novelty factor and it will hold their attention for longer. Asda is a great place for picking up inexpensive toys. Having access to a BIG bag of tricks is a must for any young flyer.
- Go to a play gym in the morning if your flight is in the afternoon/evening. That way, they will sleep on the car journey to the airport and they will have had a decent exercise before the plane and the second car drive to your destination.
- Find out at the check in desk whether you will pick up your pram directly off the plane or whether it will come out on the carousel.
- If I am overweight in luggage, which I generally am with Ryanir, a cheeky thing I do is stuff items into the bottom of the foot muff and shove the blanket on top so nothing falls out and no one sees it. You can get a couple of extra kilos in this way.
- If you are on your own, sit next to someone who looks like they have had a baby. They will more often than not instinctively offer to help you get something from your bag or help entertain the baby, watch them if you need the loo etc.
- Carry everything in a rucksack; it makes it much easier to carry hand luggage that way as it frees your hands up. Then you can keep it by your feet rather than putting it in the overhead luggage section.
- Carry your baby on and off the plane in a baby carrier. It frees up your hands to get passports and boarding cards and also your little one can’t wriggle. It also enables you to take off your rucksack with ease. You can then also take your coat off and put it in the overhead luggage section to free up space in your seat.
- Wear a coat or cardie with big pockets so when you need to get your passports etc, you don’t have to faff with bags.
- Ignore the early call for parents with young passengers to board first. That just means your little one will be sitting longer on a seat, whilst the plane is stationary. While everyone else is queuing, let your toddler crawl around and stretch their legs as much as possible until the last possible second.
- If you want food warmed up, give it to the air stewards a half an hour before you intend on feeding. They can’t microwave it, but will place the food in hot water at the back of the plane. On two occasions, it has been 30 mins before they returned it. So with plenty of notice, it will avoid a screaming, hungry baby. Also, ask them to do it as soon as the safety belt lights come off, because once they get busy with the drinks and nibbles cart, they won’t have the time or the space to do it.
- If you need whole milk warmed up in the airport, ask at a coffee shop with a cheeky smile, or else buy a babyccino and pour it in the sippy cup/bottle.
- Make sure you change your nappy before the flight, even if there is no poo, as it could be a good wait before the plane actually takes off and the seat belt lights come off, and should they feel the need, at least it won’t mix with urine while you worry about them getting nappy rash.
- Make sure you wear leggings or trousers with no buttons. If you are on your own and need the loo, you will be using the facilities whilst holding the baby and pulling your trousers up with one hand!
- Take plenty of baby crisps, rusks, bread sticks – that sort of thing. It really breaks up the journey.
- Babybel cheese is an easy one to carry and to open. Esmé loves these. Fruit (unchopped) such as an apple also are easy to transport without needing to use tubs and they pass a fair bit of time as well.
- Security will allow liquids such as water over 100ml if in a sippy cup, so make sure to pack a few of those.
- Toys that you have to take out of a box and put back in again while you count them work really well with Esmé. Make sure the toys aren’t too small or you will keep having to look for them under the seats when your baby drops them.
- Take some new books out of the library in advance. Choose them according to size for convenience. Ones with flaps to pull up seem to work best.
- Play a game of ‘Catch the Ice’ on the tray in front of you when you order a drink. That passed a good 25 mins for us on our flight back from skiing. Esmé also said ice for the first time J
- I’m not a big fan of introducing too much technology too early on, but if you have a crying baby and there is an iPad in your bag, well, you’d be insane not to use it. John had downloaded an episode of In The Night Garden, and that kept Esmé happy for a while. The only thing is that the plane is so loud, so they can’t hear the sound and I’m not sure if you can use headphones with babies? Also, baby storybooks and flashcard apps or looking at photos of your family on your phone and talking about the people work well.
So there you go. Hope this helps as you start to plan your
summer holiday. Please let me know of any other tips you have. You can never
have enough…
