Tips you’ve never seen for plane rides

So you’re going on your first plane ride with baby! Woohoo!! If you’re like me you are excited and full of anticipation, but also nervous about being “those people” on the plane. You know the ones with the baby that screams the whole three hours?!

Now I can’t promise you that these tips will stop your baby from having a bad time, but hopefully you’ll find something that helps! My bigger hope is that you find a tip here that you haven’t read in 100 other articles.

When I was preparing for my first trip with Jude I searched for helpful hints that would make the flight go smoother, and help me know what to expect. I saw the famous- feed during take off and landing, gate check the car seat and ask if there is room for it on the flight, dress your baby in PJs before, wear baby in the airport. All good stuff- but also stuff I had seen 100 times over. I did all of these things- and also discovered some helpful things along the way.

This post is really just about the things I figured out on my first flight after implementing the things you’ve probably seen elsewhere.

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1. I attached all toys and teethers to a paci clip! If it couldn’t be attached to a clip- it didn’t come on the trip.

I like these paci clips that don't have any metal, but are still fun to chew on. I have found that clips with metal rust with drool or washing.

Jude was 4.5 months old on his first flight. An active baby who loved holding things and chewing on things- but also, dropping things.

I didn’t want to pick things up off the floor the whole flight; or worry about sanitation. I gathered all of the paci clips I had and put his toys on them. This worked super well for us!

He was able to chew and touch and drop without us worrying about where things were. I will definitely do this on our next flight and highly suggest you do too!

2. Pack a blow out go bag! Airplane bathrooms are tiny! I was super anxious that the pressure change would cause a blowout, especially because our flight out was on day three of a poop strike, and I didn’t want to lug our whole diaper bag to the bathroom and worry about it and the baby.

Thankfully, we didn’t have a blow out on either leg of the trip- but I was prepared nonetheless. I packed a gallon ziploc with three diapers, a small pack of wipes (that I rubber banded for one handed grabbing), a change of PJ, a small trash bag for soiled clothes, a washcloth in case of a huge mess, a purel wipe, and a chucks pad.

I tossed this into the diaper bag so in the event of a poo-mergency one of us could grab the gallon bag and get going!

3. Buy a hand held light up toy. Jude didn’t have any light up toys before the trip, but I decided to invest in one to take with us.

I got the Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes Musical Toy and Jude loves it! There are two volume settings and I found that on the plane the lower volume was hard to hear- so I used that setting to not disrupt the other passengers.

We pulled it out a few times during his most fussy moments and it really grabbed his attention and stopped the tears!

I purchased it a few days before the trip and let him play with it when he was happy. I figured this would build a good connection in his brain, he would have the happy memory of how cool this toy was so that when he wasn’t having a good time he would remember what the heck this light up thing was and want to play with it.

I pulled this out sparingly during fussy times on the plane and in the car on our trip and each time it worked to calm him down. The lights were mesmerizing and it was something he could hold onto himself.

If you aren't about toys that make noise, Jude played with this Smart Noggin light up toy during an ultrasound appointment and he was really into it!

4. If you have the choice, try to sit by the wing. The wing of the plane is the loudest place to sit, the drone of the engine is your white noise machine here, I think it also drowns out the baby sounds for other passengers.

We did this by accident on the first leg of the trip, and intentionally on the second. Both times once we were airborne Jude fell right asleep.

I have now done this on 3 out of 4 of our flights and have to say that even during the day Jude fell asleep and stayed asleep much better near the wing compared to the back of the plane!

5. Pull packages or stacks of diapers out of your bag at TSA. We learned that TSA scanners have a hard time with diapers!

We brought a pack of diapers in our car seat bag and stuffed the diaper bag also. The first time we went through TSA both bags were flagged and had to be searched, the TSA agent informed us that the density of stacked diapers can make it difficult for the scanner to see past; and they are tricky to ID by the agent watching the monitor.

It slowed us down for sure, but wasn’t horrible as once the agent found the diapers and poked around a little more we were free to go. The return flight I put the remaining diapers in the package I brought in a tray, but left the ones in the diaper bag.

That go round the diapers on the tray were glanced at; and the diaper bag searched again. For reference the diaper bag had 4 stacked size three diapers. They again were pulled out and then we were free to go. My advice would be to keep any packages or stacks of diapers easy to access and remove them for TSA screening.

Hopefully, it keeps your bags from being flagged and searched as the agent can glance and identify them as they come out of the scanner.

My second set of flights I packed diapers only in my checked car seat and in my blow out go bag. I took the go bag out both times going through TSA and didn't have any issues!