Why do you fly with your infant on your lap if you can afford another seat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If flying with a lap infant is no big deal, then why does the FAA and the AAP strongly recommend against it?

You all can call me a sanctimommy all you want, but you’re still choosing the less safe option for no good reason.

Can you imagine this lady's poor children. Being raised by a completely neurotic mother has to be 1000000000X worse that any of the risks listed in this thread.

My thoughts exactly.
For her own kids’ sake, I hope this is a troll post. But I fear it is not.

Yes because following FAA and AAP recommendations must mean I’m neurotic about my kid’s safety to the point where I don’t let her do anything ...

The extreme harping on this very minor risk is weird. Not a cool person.

[Anonymous]

I've bought my kid a seat and flown with her in my lap. She's 18 months now and it was easier to get her a seat when she was an infant. Her infant car seat was easier to carry and set up on the plane and she napped in it most of the flight. I did hold and nurse her during takeoff. Now that she's a toddler, she refuses to sit by herself so I prefer flying with her in my lap. We plan to fly with a grandparent so we have all three seats in the row.

[Anonymous]

I've been on probably 100+ flights in my lifetime, with 10-15 of them being trans-continental and I've never experienced turbulence so bad that I wouldn't have been able to hold on to something.

But whatever, clearly OP has an ax to grind. You do you and MYOB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the odds are very, very long. This study showed that over a 3 year period, with 7573 reported medical emergencies, 10 results in infant death. That's about 3-4 per year. And those are not necessarily due to lap children. That's all deaths including unrelated medical issues. How many children fly annually? According to the CDC, in 2016, there were 3965 deaths of children under age 5. The risks of infant death on an airplane are significantly lower than many other issues, including deaths in traffic accidents (even in car seats), number of deaths from infants left in a hot car, deaths from household accidents, deaths from guns, and so on. You realize that putting your child in a car seat and driving out of your driveway is hundreds of times more dangerous than carrying your child in your lap on a plane?

There are far, far greater risks in this world for parents to consider than this very, very unlikely situation, but you go ahead and spend your money for the rare chance that your child will be killed on an airplane because it didn't have a seat. I'm glad that you can afford to throw a few hundred dollars away on this over-cautious mentality, but I chose other safety options and concerns when my children (now 7) were small.

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/study-lap-infants-at-increased-risk-of-death-on-airline-flights-080414.html
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/child-health.htm

It’s not mutually exclusive. I choose to do everything to make sure my child is safe, including purchasing a seat. I don’t care if there’s only a small chance of its being an issue.

You realize that by this logic, you shouldn’t be driving your kid or really leaving the house st all, right? I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I call BS on the “I choose to do everything to keep my child safe” thing. You do not. All these decisions are calculated risks.

You are making no sense. I choose to minimize the risk in the things we have to do. My kid will be in a rear facing car seat until she hits the weight limit for her seat’s rear facing setting. I choose to fly with her in the safest possible way. The answer isn’t to stop living, but there’s an option in between never going anywhere and knowingly putting your kid at greater risk—it’s called buying them a damn seat, which the AAP and FAA strongly recommend you do.

why are you so fired up about this. you do you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If flying with a lap infant is no big deal, then why does the FAA and the AAP strongly recommend against it?

You all can call me a sanctimommy all you want, but you’re still choosing the less safe option for no good reason.

Can you imagine this lady's poor children. Being raised by a completely neurotic mother has to be 1000000000X worse that any of the risks listed in this thread.

My thoughts exactly.
For her own kids’ sake, I hope this is a troll post. But I fear it is not.

Yes because following FAA and AAP recommendations must mean I’m neurotic about my kid’s safety to the point where I don’t let her do anything ...

The extreme harping on this very minor risk is weird. Not a cool person.

Extreme harping? It’s not hard to buy a seat. If that makes me uncool in your book, so be it. 99% of the time, the flight will be smooth, but I don’t want to have to try to hold onto my kid if something happens. There’s a reason the FAA and AAP agree with me and not you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If flying with a lap infant is no big deal, then why does the FAA and the AAP strongly recommend against it?

You all can call me a sanctimommy all you want, but you’re still choosing the less safe option for no good reason.

Can you imagine this lady's poor children. Being raised by a completely neurotic mother has to be 1000000000X worse that any of the risks listed in this thread.

My thoughts exactly.
For her own kids’ sake, I hope this is a troll post. But I fear it is not.

Yes because following FAA and AAP recommendations must mean I’m neurotic about my kid’s safety to the point where I don’t let her do anything ...

The extreme harping on this very minor risk is weird. Not a cool person.

Extreme harping? It’s not hard to buy a seat. If that makes me uncool in your book, so be it. 99% of the time, the flight will be smooth, but I don’t want to have to try to hold onto my kid if something happens. There’s a reason the FAA and AAP agree with me and not you.

OMG seriously, lady, you need a Xanax or something. And another non DCUM hobby while you're at it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can get annoyed at me for this, but I have never understood it and have to ask. Unless you have to take the flight and absolutely cannot afford another seat, why do you fly with your infant as a lap child? The FAA is crystal clear that it is not safe. The reason it’s allowed is because the FAA knows people would balk at the requirement and not fly as much. The airline lobby is strong.

This article includes statements from the FAA making that argument: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/should-small-children-have-their-own-plane-seats/

So why do you do it?

Fine, then accept that risk. If there’s bad turbulence you won’t be able to hold onto your kid, but that’s your choice. We all have to take risks in life (driving in a car, flying on planes), but some of us choose to find other ways to comfort our kids on planes and make sure they’re secured in case of bad turbelence or a crash. I hope you never have to try to hold onto your kid if god forbid the plane hits bad turbelence.

This thread cracks me up.

OP: I never understood and have to ask....why not buy an extra seat?

Response: Benefit outweighs the risk.

OP: FINE!!! It's your choice, but SOME of us choose to protect and comfort our kids!!!!

Responders: Uh...okay? thanks?!? I didn't really ask what you did, just answered your question, but, okay.

[Anonymous]

Oh, and the NTSB agrees with me too. But sure, I’m neurotic about safety:

Parents are legally required to place their young kids in car seats every time they get in the family vehicle. So why is it that children under the age of 2 can sit on their parent's lap when flying?

The National Transportation Safety Board wants to change that. The federal agency says that a large number of air plane crashes are actually survivable but only if everybody is buckled up. And as much as a mother or father might love their child, it is highly unlikely that they will be able to hold on tight enough during a crash to stop the baby from flying throughout the cabin.

Most aviation accidents are survivable," said Nora Marshall, who oversees aviation survival factors for the NTSB. "Your child deserves the same level of protection that you're going to get with a restraint system."

So now the NTSB is pushing the Federal Aviation Administration to require child seats for infants. Currently the FAA says that only children over the age of 2 need their own seats. Everybody younger can fly on their parent's lap.

"Proper restraint use is one of the most basic and important tenets of crashworthiness and survivability," NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman wrote in a letter earlier this month to FAA Administrator J. Randolph Babbitt.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Travel/dangerous-airplane-seats-kids-parents-buy-extra-seat/story%3fid=11518330

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the odds are very, very long. This study showed that over a 3 year period, with 7573 reported medical emergencies, 10 results in infant death. That's about 3-4 per year. And those are not necessarily due to lap children. That's all deaths including unrelated medical issues. How many children fly annually? According to the CDC, in 2016, there were 3965 deaths of children under age 5. The risks of infant death on an airplane are significantly lower than many other issues, including deaths in traffic accidents (even in car seats), number of deaths from infants left in a hot car, deaths from household accidents, deaths from guns, and so on. You realize that putting your child in a car seat and driving out of your driveway is hundreds of times more dangerous than carrying your child in your lap on a plane?

There are far, far greater risks in this world for parents to consider than this very, very unlikely situation, but you go ahead and spend your money for the rare chance that your child will be killed on an airplane because it didn't have a seat. I'm glad that you can afford to throw a few hundred dollars away on this over-cautious mentality, but I chose other safety options and concerns when my children (now 7) were small.

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/study-lap-infants-at-increased-risk-of-death-on-airline-flights-080414.html
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/child-health.htm

It’s not mutually exclusive. I choose to do everything to make sure my child is safe, including purchasing a seat. I don’t care if there’s only a small chance of its being an issue.

You realize that by this logic, you shouldn’t be driving your kid or really leaving the house st all, right? I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I call BS on the “I choose to do everything to keep my child safe” thing. You do not. All these decisions are calculated risks.

You are making no sense. I choose to minimize the risk in the things we have to do. My kid will be in a rear facing car seat until she hits the weight limit for her seat’s rear facing setting. I choose to fly with her in the safest possible way. The answer isn’t to stop living, but there’s an option in between never going anywhere and knowingly putting your kid at greater risk—it’s called buying them a damn seat, which the AAP and FAA strongly recommend you do.

Oh, I see. You live close to the city center, so you can walk to everything and minimize the time your child is in a car?

Wait, what? You live in the suburbs and have to drive any and everywhere? Why don't you care about your child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Following the FAA and AAP recommendations makes me neurotic? Ok ... I’m surprised you all are so ok with ignoring them.

Not necessarily.

But frantically posting about this issue at 1:50 PM, 1:00 AM, 2:00 AM, 4:00 AM, 4:30 AM, 6:30 AM on into the daylight hours does make you neurotic.

Get some sleep. Get some hormones for PPD. Get off the internet.

Life is not a worst case scenario.

Stay away from the internet for 24 hours, focus on enjoying your baby, and get some sleep.

You will be more rational when you are rested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If flying with a lap infant is no big deal, then why does the FAA and the AAP strongly recommend against it?

You all can call me a sanctimommy all you want, but you’re still choosing the less safe option for no good reason.

Can you imagine this lady's poor children. Being raised by a completely neurotic mother has to be 1000000000X worse that any of the risks listed in this thread.

I know some people like this and I feel so badly for their poor kids who hardly ever get to do anything. Life is for living! You can’t put your kids in bubble wrap for 18 years!

Really? Following FAA and AAP recommendations is considered wrapping my kid in bubble wrap?

No, OP. But I doubt your mania for safety is limited to flying.

That said, I doubt you choose the safest option all the time, so really, you're just an argumentative b!tch. So there's another reason to feel bad for your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If flying with a lap infant is no big deal, then why does the FAA and the AAP strongly recommend against it?

You all can call me a sanctimommy all you want, but you’re still choosing the less safe option for no good reason.

Can you imagine this lady's poor children. Being raised by a completely neurotic mother has to be 1000000000X worse that any of the risks listed in this thread.

My thoughts exactly.
For her own kids’ sake, I hope this is a troll post. But I fear it is not.

Yes because following FAA and AAP recommendations must mean I’m neurotic about my kid’s safety to the point where I don’t let her do anything ...

The extreme harping on this very minor risk is weird. Not a cool person.

Extreme harping? It’s not hard to buy a seat. If that makes me uncool in your book, so be it. 99% of the time, the flight will be smooth, but I don’t want to have to try to hold onto my kid if something happens. There’s a reason the FAA and AAP agree with me and not you.

Omg. Move on, lady.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, and the NTSB agrees with me too. But sure, I’m neurotic about safety:

Parents are legally required to place their young kids in car seats every time they get in the family vehicle. So why is it that children under the age of 2 can sit on their parent's lap when flying?

The National Transportation Safety Board wants to change that. The federal agency says that a large number of air plane crashes are actually survivable but only if everybody is buckled up. And as much as a mother or father might love their child, it is highly unlikely that they will be able to hold on tight enough during a crash to stop the baby from flying throughout the cabin.

Most aviation accidents are survivable," said Nora Marshall, who oversees aviation survival factors for the NTSB. "Your child deserves the same level of protection that you're going to get with a restraint system."

So now the NTSB is pushing the Federal Aviation Administration to require child seats for infants. Currently the FAA says that only children over the age of 2 need their own seats. Everybody younger can fly on their parent's lap.

"Proper restraint use is one of the most basic and important tenets of crashworthiness and survivability," NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman wrote in a letter earlier this month to FAA Administrator J. Randolph Babbitt.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Travel/dangerous-airplane-seats-kids-parents-buy-extra-seat/story%3fid=11518330

So OP, when did you last sleep?

How much sleep do you get a night?

Try turning off all screens after dinner and don't turn any one until after lunch.

Budget yourself a healthy amount of screen time, maybe one hour or less in your case.

Start sleeping.

If you need to hire a sitter to take care of your baby do that so you can catch up on sleep.

Being online from 11:50 something at night through 11:00 or so the next morning is not healthy for you or you baby and is far more likely to result in harm to her (dropping her, smothering her, forgetting her in a car, leaving her somewhere, losing your temper with her, car accidents, etc) than some hypothetical turbulence on a flight you might or might not take during her first 2 years of life.

[Anonymous]

OP, are you ok? This level of fixation is not normal. No one is disagreeing that in absolute terms, a child restrained in their own seat is safest. Some people just weigh the risks and benefits differently than you. Why are you so worried about what other people are doing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, do you always make the safest choice for other things?

Driving your kid to school in 7 times more dangerous than riding a school bus (both are way more dangerous than flying with a lap baby), and yet I know parents who don't think twice about picking up their kid on the day they have soccer practice. Do you write posts about how horrible those people are?

I never said they are horrible people. I said they’re choosing a less safe option for little discernible reason. It’s not analogous to driving in a car because we often have no other choice. If you can afford a seat for your infant and don’t buy one, you’re choosing the less safe option. My question is why. Most of your answers seem to be that the risk is worth saving the money. The FAA and AAP strongly disagree.

This is the answer OP. Sorry you don't agree, but this is the reason. The money is not worth the risk offset. It's very simple.