Traveling with Baby: A Top Five

Most of my friends are surprised when they learn how often I
travel with my kids. I can’t help it! To me, a vacation isn’t a vacation
without my husband and my four children in tow. I’ll be the first, however, to
admit that it’s not easy if you have one child or eight children. And it’s not
easy if you have babies or teenagers. I completely understand where my friends
are coming from and why they sometimes dread the family trip. Trust me; we have
had our fair share of traveling nightmares. Remind me to tell you about the
time my husband lost his passport. Oh, and the time our luggage arrived 6 days
late! That was interesting, to say to the least.

I firmly believe, however, with some careful planning, you
can make traveling challenges a little less…well, challenging. My sister is flying
out to see me with her 3-month-old in a few weeks and I am SO excited to
finally meet my new nephew. But first, I promised her I would give her (and
YOU!) my top 5 favorite pieces of newborn travel advice:

1. NEVER preboard. You want to be the last one on
   the plane. Trust me on this one. You don’t want to be on that plane any longer
   than you have to.
2. Try to feed the baby during takeoff and landing.
   Or you can use a pacifier. The sucking motion will help the baby’s ears.
3. Make sure to overpack when it comes to comfort
   and safety and entertainment. Bring layers of clothing – because you don’t know
   whether it will be freezing or boiling hot. Bring more diapers and wipes than
   you think you need. I learned this the hard way. Bring several extra changes of clothing. You NEVER know if you are going
   to be delayed.  Also? Bring an extra
   shirt for YOU…you might get dirty too!
4. If you CAN, try to travel without a stroller. I
   find the act of getting through the airport to be more stressful that the
   actual flying. At security, If you have a stroller, you need to take the baby
   out of it, collapse your stroller, and put it up on the belt. Trust me when I
   tell you that this is not an easy task. And waking a sleeping baby is not an
   enjoyable task either. A sling or a baby bjorn works much better. And it will
   free up your hands for important things – like wheeling your luggage.
5. Relax and don’t stress if the baby cries. Most
   babies fuss on airplanes – the other passengers will get over it. The good news
   is that you will most likely never see these people again!