Newborn on a plane flight?
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Anonymous
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Quick poll:
Would you take a 4 or 6 week old on a 3 hour flight from DC to attend your sister's wedding, in May/June? Assuming a healthy full-term baby. I thought I should avoid plane travel with a baby until 8 weeks when he gets his shots, typically. I will ask the pediatrician as well, but am getting a lot of push back from family (which I will ignore if I need to) that I am being hypervigilant, etc. The older kids are in elementary school and preschool and so I know germs are not completely avoidable. Am I being silly? DH has of course offered to stay home with the baby so I can attend, which I may opt for, but I know I will not want to be away from the new baby at that point. And pumping ahead of time to build up enough for time away, plus pumping while away would not be fun at all. |
Anonymous
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There's no way I'd miss my sister's wedding for that reason. And I'm pretty sure I'd be crucified if I showed up at a family event without the brand new baby to show off. I never shied away from taking my babies out in public, and I know for us school brought lots of viruses tomour family. I figured if we could survive that, a plane ride isn't so bad.
Can you drive if flying bothers you so much? |
Anonymous
| And if I do go with the newborn, please share travel tips. I am thinking the ergo or a wrap would be best but am open to suggestions. |
Anonymous
| I would go for that reason, and use an Ergo, wrap, etc. all the time, while flying, at the wedding, etc. If you're close to 8 weeks, you could even ask about doing the vaccines a touch early. If not, at least you'd hopefully be out of the (so far very mild) flu season. If you can afford it, consider taking the baby seat on the plane/buying a second ticket. |
Anonymous
| There will be fewer germs in the summer so you have that going for you. Just wear baby close the entire time. And you wash/sanitize your hands constantly. |
Anonymous
| Yes. I did it at 2 weeks for a 4 hour flight when I adopted. It was fine! |
Anonymous
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Ok, thanks for calling me on this, pps. I will keep checking if anyone else posts, so thanks in advance.
Fwiw, the wedding will be small - just immediate family on both sides. |
Anonymous
| Absolutely. Nurse on takeoff and landing. Wear in a sling. I traveled several times during maternity leave and that's how we rolled. No carseats, no strollers. |
Anonymous
| I took my mid-November baby home at Christmas, so probably around December 20, in a Bjorn. He was fine, no one got too close to him since I was wearing him. He was healthy at birth so no concerns--if he had been premature or something, I probably wouldn't have done it. |
Anonymous
Did this too. No problem at all. Check car seat and stroller at gate which I also used to put my duffle bag on so i was only pushing the stroller and hands free otherwise. |
Anonymous
| Yes I flew with a 5 week old for a funeral. He was very easy at that age -- just held him and nursed and he slept. He wasn't exposed to any more germs than he would have been at a friend's house or at the mall. Just bring changes of clothes, for baby and yourself, in case of spit up or poop incidents. |
Anonymous
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I can't imagine missing a sisters wedding.
I'm due a week after my close cousins wedding. We all agreed I'd go as long as baby is 2-3 weeks old. |
Anonymous
| Its done often in adoption and other stuff. You may want to buy a seat so child can remain in car seat, especially for the neck support. If it is under two weeks you need to get a doctors note (we also adopted but ended up being in driving distance) but I did look at the rules and had a friend have an issue getting home as they did not have a doctors letter. |
Anonymous
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That sounds like a nightmare to me, OP, but I had csections and one baby who nursed for hours at a time.
I would get refundable tickets and tell your sister you will have to make the call based on how things go. You could have an easy baby and feel fine or just be wrecked from slew deprivation and have a baby who cries all the time. You can't really know until you are there. Talk with the ped too. |
Anonymous
| No leave the baby with DH. |