Travelling abroad with a baby was an all new experience for us. We had made quite a few long car journeys but this time, heading to New York, involved flying! In fact it involved two flights to get there and two to get back. The first flight was a quick 45 minute flight from Birmingham to Dublin but the second flight was 7 hours Dublin to New York (our must do list for the city is
here).
Before Annabelle arrived we travelled a lot and shared our top 10 tips
here and shared a round up of our trips across Europe, the USA and Oz
here.
It was fitting then, as with most things in the modern world, that we Googled for advice on how we should handle the flight and found more than a few blogs sharing their advice. It's amazing what a valuable resource blogs can be when preparing for the unknown!
The blogs we found seemed to fall into two categories though 1) baby slept the entire flight or 2) child needed games/toys for entertainment. We knew Annabelle at 7 and a half months didn't fit into either category. There is no way she would sleep 7 hours especially as we were travelling in the day and while toys entertain her there is no way we are at game level.
We did take the advice of booking a morning flight and that served us well. Having to wake Annabelle up at 5am to get to the airport and checked in for our 8am flight meant she was dozing and easy going all morning - great news as we carted our excessive baggage to check in and then made a drama of security with the amount of stuff with had in the nappy bag!
*Take advantage of the free luggage allowance you get with a baby, not only did Annabelle get her own case we also got to take a travel cot and buggy/stroller at no cost (we checked our travel cot and buggy and used the Ergobaby carrier in the airport).*
We spent a week in New York and as it was February it was freezing most days (thankfully extra luggage had meant extra coats) but here are the other essentials we found extra useful for the journey and exploring New York.
1) Our
360 Ergobaby - this carrier has been SO useful since we got it. Honestly travelling and exploring would have been so much harder without it. At the airport I strapped Annabelle in leaving me hands free to help carry hand luggage and eat and drink. It also meant Annabelle could see what was going on without us having to hold the squirmer.
Out and about in New York we used it every day. Being able to have Annabelle facing out meant she was interacting with the world and the squeals and giggles showed she was loving it. Her happy legs kicking around as we admired stunning views or because someone waved back to her on the subway will be memories we'll treasure. Then when it came to sleeping we switch her around and she would nap while we continued walking around. Ideal!
As not all subway stations had lifts or ramps the buggy would have been an issue, with the baby carrier we just continued regardless of the amount of stairs. One thing I was surprised about was the fact that we walked over 60 miles on the trip, most with Annabelle in the Ergobaby, and my back didn't hurt once.
2)
Zip Us In panel - it's an extender panel that is zipped into a coat so that you can expand it over your baby bump or in our case our baby in her carrier. We initially saw this product on Instagram and thought it would be worth a try. We were right, it was. For us we found it useful in two ways: 1) We could zip it over Annabelle when she was facing out and save putting her in a bulky coat as my body heat kept her warm and 2) it really helped Annabelle sleep when facing in. As the panel is black I would zip it all the way up to make it dark and within minutes Annabelle would be dozing regardless of what was going on around. It also kept her protected from the elements and able to snooze as long as she wanted.
3)
Good size nappy bag - okay this may be obvious for everyday life but for travelling we found it essential. We still use the bag we got initially (details can be found
here), it's big enough to carry everything changing related and more. We found the insulated pockets useful to keep the food pouches we had chilled and all the extra pockets great for putting things like teething gel - just in case. We managed to fit in Annabelle's sleeping bag which was useful as it helped her sleep on the flight and it still had space for us to pack a couple of toys that came in handy.
Our nappy bag essentials:
- Nappies
- Wipes (essential for cleaning up everything, including anything chew-able such as tray tables, TV screens, seat arms, toys that hit the floor)
- Nappy cream
- Changing mat - we have one that folds up super small and makes changing her anywhere possible. It's also easy to wipe clean!
- Nappy bags/sacks - great for wrapping up dirty clothes / nappies / cutlery
- Change of clothes
- At least one toy that can be chewed - teething is great right?!
- Mobile charger bank (can't have a phone dying and missing out on pics)
- Zip Us In Panel
*Entertaining a 7 month was easier than expected, the big win = a plastic water bottle! No kidding! For an hour or so on the flight Annabelle was amused by the water in it, then chewing the lid, shaking it, bopping our heads with it, taking of the label. Honestly it was best toy we had! And it worked whenever we had a bottle out and about*
4)
Snacks - baby and mummy friendly. Quite a few of the blogs recommended taking snacks and we are glad we took a selection. Firstly they were a great distraction on the plane or if I wasn't in a position to breastfeed immediately when we were out. I wouldn't advice the food pouches unless your kid is a super neat and tidy eater. Annabelle likes to decorate herself and anything nearby in them. The crisps range from
Ella's Kitchen went down very well though, and with minimal mess.
The mummy friendly part is just to keep energy up. On the first day we were mid way through Central Park, had walked 5 miles and I'd fed Annabelle twice and I realised I was feeling lightheaded. Turns out I had forgotten to keep my energy up, easy to do when there is so much going on!
5)
Preparation - okay so it's less of a thing but it's still essential. We faced an expected challenge by not being able to check in online due to travelling with an infant. We found out on check in it was because they don't make the bulk seats available online and people with babies often prefer the bulk head seats as they come with a bassinet. For all future flights (well until Annabelle outgrows it) we will do the same. We were lucky enough to have the only baby on the flights so there was no challenge for the seats but good to know in future it's first come first served.
The bulkhead seats gave us extra floor space so we could put her down and play and the bassinet was a great place for her to sleep and watch people go by. One of the highlights of the flight to New York was Annabelle napping away while we had our in-flight meal and watched a film.
Also take advantage of the early boarding so you can claim your overhead storage. We didn't do this on the first long haul flight and found it annoying that we had to go three rows back and to keep getting things out as there is no where to put your bags in the bulkhead seats.
For our own peace of mind we also made little gift bags with a note in the hope that if Annabelle did kick off they would be a little more forgiving.
We were more lax on preparing our days and what we were doing and decided what to do based on the weather. However we made sure the nappy bag was prepared for the whole day.
Thankfully Annabelle was amazing for the entire trip, we had one day where she slept later than usual but we let t happen. We also let the nap schedule slip and let her nap when she needed. We also didn't push her in the evenings, opting for early-ish dinners or taking stuff back to the Airbnb.
So after initially fearing the travel experience I can honestly say I can't wait to go again! Bring on Norway.
