Should I take a 2 month old who hasn't had shots on airplane?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went on a long flight with a 10 week old.
I was breast feeding.
The baby gets antibodies from breastmilk.
So whatever you are exposed to, you are protecting your baby

But the antibodies are only the ones you already have. So how do you ensure that the people on the plane will only have germs to which you have already been exposed?

I wouldn't do it, unless it was an emergency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We took our 3 week old on a plane - its not a big deal and the ped said it was fine. Just keep the baby in a bjorn and dont let people touch her.

What about any airborne germs? I don't let people touch me on a plane and I have gotten sick many times. There's a saying -- when you;re warned you're half saved. Head the advice of the majority on this issue.

I am the poster who took their 3 week old on the plane. I think people these day are way too overprotective. We are just not scared of germs the way that others are. Thankfully, we have a very healthy 10 month old - despite her having been on 10 flights, a train, metro and many buses before she was 6 months old. Sometimes you have to keep living your life and just take care of your kids as best as possible. The doctor said it was fine and that was all I needed.

[Anonymous]

OP here--thanks everyone, this is all very helpful. Yes, I know the vaccinations won't be for flu or cold, but given that her immune system is still so young, (which is why I mentioned she'd not even had her shots yet), I have concerns about people coughing and sneezing all over the place--I just wondered if her young age made her even more vulnerable to getting sick than normal. Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We took our 3 week old on a plane - its not a big deal and the ped said it was fine. Just keep the baby in a bjorn and dont let people touch her.

I have to say, I have heard this TIME AND TIME again about not letting people touch the baby. But seriously, crap is in the AIR. The flu can live in the air, aerosolized, for about 3 hours. And in planes it's recycled air so what one person has, EVERYONE is breathing in. So not touching only gets you so far!

[Anonymous]

I flew home with my adopted son when he was nine days old. Adoptive parents do this ALL THE TIME - at least with domestic newborns.

I also flew with him to visit family for a major holiday five weeks later. He mostly slept in a sling on all three flights.

I do not think you should panic. When you are here, do you take DS to the supermarket or drugstore or mall? There are germs everywhere.

good luck!

[Anonymous]

My pediatrician told me the vast majority of germs are picked up from touching things (so when people cough it's not breathing in the germs that gets you, it's touching whatever the cough spray touches). Not saying people don't get sick other ways but I think a lot of times plane sickness comes from people touching things that so many others carrying different cold germs expose them to (think about the airport, bathroom, etc. Even the magazines you buy at news stands, just so many more people touching everything).

I would follow the advice of your pediatrician and I agree nursing makes a difference. If you are EBF I would feel a lot better about it, at least when the baby is this young.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if babies that young or more susceptible, but the scary thing is that if they do get sick they typically end up in the hospital. This is what my Ped drilled into me last winter when my DS was born. She didn't want me taking the baby around groups of people or into enclosed places. Perhaps this is a bit conservative.

I think it's great to live your life without a fear of germs, but when you have a serious health scare from germs (like I have), you tend to become a lot more cautious.

[Anonymous]

There is a difference between a newborn to ages 2 (or more conservatively, 3) months, versus an older baby, in terms of what happens if the child develops a fever, as they would if they caught a virus such as the flu while traveling, or indeed in any public place.

This is why YES you should keep your small infant home as much as possible, during the first 2 (or 3) months. You do not take your newborn to the supermarket, drug store, or mall, not if you can help it, anyhow. After 2 months, you venture out more, but still during cold and flu season, you shoudl stay away from crowds as much as possible.

If your newborn child develops a fever, the treatment is different than if they are 4 months old, because a fever in a newborn could be a very serious thing. That is why newborns with a fever are often hospitalized. If you take a trip to a farawya place with a newborn, and that newborn develops a fever, you will be in a new place, away from your usual pediatrician, in an unfamiliar hospital.

If you have just adopted a baby, of course you have no choice but to fly home with the baby! But for most people, they do have a chilce, and the choice should be to stay home.

[Anonymous]

I vote WAY no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went on a long flight with a 10 week old.
I was breast feeding.
The baby gets antibodies from breastmilk.
So whatever you are exposed to, you are protecting your baby

Look, BF is not some magic cure-all for human disease. That's why lots of babies used to DIE one or two hundred years ago. Didn't have formula back then - but had plenty of germs and no vaccinations.

It's just not worth the risk. You have an obligation to put the baby's well-being first at this time in his/her life. Travel can wait.

[Anonymous]

I'm admittedly conservative and a worrier, but I wouldn't take your baby on a flight until they have had their first round of vaccinations, just to be safer. Its not just the colds from the flight, its the international travelers in the airport and the risk of catching something from a traveler who hasn't been immunized.

I took my baby out and about in town at only 3 weeks old 'cause I didn't really know any better (and it was summer). I didn't let anyone touch her or get near her, but I probably wouldn't repeat that because I didn't realize the risk to a newborn before those 3 month vaccinations. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but this area is very international and my ped. reminded me that diseases that aren't prevalent here (polio, for instance) are still ongoing in other countries.

That being said, I just took my 4 1/2 month old on a 3-hour flight and she was fine. I came back with a bit of a cold, but she didn't get anything. I got my flu shot and BF so don't know if that helped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went on a long flight with a 10 week old.
I was breast feeding.
The baby gets antibodies from breastmilk.
So whatever you are exposed to, you are protecting your baby

Breastmilk antibodies are no protection from the flu.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went on a long flight with a 10 week old.
I was breast feeding.
The baby gets antibodies from breastmilk.
So whatever you are exposed to, you are protecting your baby

Breastmilk antibodies are no protection from the flu.

Either way, my baby did not get sick, neither did I
Oh, my babys shots were up to date

[Anonymous]

mom, shielding your child from germs will only make it worse when he/she gets them.

do you need to tralvel? GO AHEAD.

they're so "portable" at this age.

ENJOY!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went on a long flight with a 10 week old.
I was breast feeding.
The baby gets antibodies from breastmilk.
So whatever you are exposed to, you are protecting your baby

Look, BF is not some magic cure-all for human disease. That's why lots of babies used to DIE one or two hundred years ago. Didn't have formula back then - but had plenty of germs and no vaccinations.

It's just not worth the risk. You have an obligation to put the baby's well-being first at this time in his/her life. Travel can wait.

Absolutely agree.