Our family survived our latest traveling adventure. Five airplane rides, totaling over 20 hours in-air time, it’s easy to say we are happy to be home! But I also can’t say it wasn’t that terrible. And one of the reasons I truly believe flying is so easy for our family is CAR SEATS!
Both Doodle and Sugarplum spent the majority of their flight time snugly and safely buckled into their car seats. They are used to long car rides to Disney and other places strapped in so they really don’t argue about it on the plane. In fact, the only big whiner about car seats was Honeybun who “can’t sleep well or be comfy without a car seat on the plane!” (She now travels with a Boost-A-Pak which can not be used on the airplane.)
But, being on mostly international carriers, Doodle was forced to forward face in his car seat (most non-US airlines only allow for forward facing car seats, even for infants!) and now that he is over two and 20 lbs, I wasn’t as worried about it. But I will definitley say the last flight, on JetBlue who allowed him to be rear facing (after giving me a little trouble and checking their manual, which was a first), was the best.
He slept comfortably nearly the entire time and the flight was much more enjoyable for everyone involved. I highly recommend rear-facing any child on the airplane who still fits the requirements of rear-facing in their car seat and here’s why:
Safety. The same as in a car, rear-facing is safer in the event of an on-ground accident. The forces involved in an airplane collision are the same as in a car so the safety factors of rear facing are the same.
Sleep. The increased recline of rear-facing is much more suitable to comfy sleeping. Sugarplum is constantly struggling with a droopy head on the airplane now that she faces forward but it is a total non-issue with Doodle rear-facing, his body is comfortably supported and cradled for optimum sleeping bliss.
No kicking. We had one long flight with a very unruly passenger who just could not handle Doodle kicking her seat. And despite my best efforts to keep his little legs under control, it was a losing battle. When rear facing, his kicking is either his own seat or my face, which I can easily shut down with a stern “NO kicking mommy’s face!”
No messing with the tray. Doodle’s favorite past time on one of our flights was flipping the tray table up and down. While this seems innocent enough, it also jostles the seat in front, it loud and he didn’t now how to secure it back up which made it a game I had to unwilllingly play (he unhooked it, let it flop down, then pushed it back up and I had to secure it. And no matter how many times I said “all done,” “no more,” or “last time,” I was held hostage playing until he was content.
Falling toys. While Doodle may be a pro at dropping his unwanted toys down the side of his seat, it is nothing compared the hassle of him accidentally kicking ALL of his Thomas trains on the floor and me having to try to retrieve them in the tight space with a big belly! When rear-facing, most toys stay within the confines of the car seat unless deliberately thrown to the side!
Supported legs. Another major complaint of Sugarplum is that her legs fall asleep when dangling and her recently lankly legs are too long to fold up within the seat like she used to. Rear facing, Doodle has more leg room and can put his feet up the seat back, bend them into his seat or splay them out the sides rather than just let them dangle (or kick…)
When we flew to San Diego last week, we didn’t get any push back for keeping the baby’s car seat rear facing (maybe they didn’t know any better). Why is it that airlines prefer forward facing seats?
We’ve never had a problem with a rear-facing infant seat when flying domestically but I think generally once a child is in a convertible, people expect them to be forward-facing in general, including in the car. The idea of extended rear-facing is still pretty new so peoplw without young kids oftentimes just don’t know. This was the problem on our last flight, the attendant admitted he’d never seen a “seat like that” (convertible) facing backwards before but was more than happy to check his manual while I found the section in my car seat manual showing it was ok for the seat and size of my child.