{"id":507,"date":"2013-03-20T08:45:44","date_gmt":"2013-03-20T12:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/?p=507"},"modified":"2014-05-20T15:57:35","modified_gmt":"2014-05-20T19:57:35","slug":"plane-procedures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/20\/plane-procedures\/","title":{"rendered":"Plane Procedures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our most recent airplane ride was a late one.\u00a0 We took off at 5:30 pm and arrived at 10:50 pm (including a 2 hour time change, only a 3 \u00bd hour flight total).\u00a0 My girls were miraculously pleasant on the flight.\u00a0 Sugarplum fell asleep about 15 minutes after take-off and Honeybun\u00a0was about an hour into the flight.\u00a0 Both slept soundly until shortly before landing when we gently woke them up so they would have some relaxing time to become alert before having to walk off the plane.<\/p>\n

However, while my sleeping beauties slept soundly, it seems the rest of the children on the plane were losing their minds.\u00a0 As I looked at my own sweet Sugarplum, fast asleep, I felt really bad for the other parents who were struggling with their little ones and I began to ponder how I was so lucky on this flight (trust me, we\u2019ve had our share of lost minds on the plane, see \u201cBaby Screaming on the Plane\u201d).\u00a0 I came to a few conclusions as to how we achieved such bliss and amazingly it had nothing to do with toys, snacks or other \u201cessentials\u201d.<\/p>\n

First off, my girls are no strangers to air travel.\u00a0 They pretty much get the routine from getting through security (Honeybun\u00a0still argues with me when I tell her she doesn\u2019t have to take her shoes off anymore) to boarding and sitting nicely on the plane.\u00a0 This has definitely helped though I think there are still other steps we\u2019ve taken that have helped me to look at some other parents and say \u201cif only they\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Timing is everything.\u00a0 We try to fly when our girls are tired in the hopes they will sleep on the plane (it doesn\u2019t always work out, but that is always our hope).\u00a0 However, this is not the best option for every child.\u00a0 If your child has a specific sleeping routine and is used to sleeping at the exact same time and in the same place each day, please don\u2019t schedule your flights at that time.\u00a0 My girls are extremely flexible sleepers and used to sleeping wherever they are whenever they\u2019re tired.\u00a0 Not all children are as flexible and those who have a strict routine will most likely not sleep on the plane, they will be the screamers who refuse to sleep and make mommy\u2019s life miserable the whole flight.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"DSC02257\"<\/em>2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Car Seats, from the beginning and as long as they can.\u00a0 We have always taken our car seats to the plane with us (as long as they were permitted, some European carriers do not allow child car seats of any kind).\u00a0 Even if we don\u2019t have a ticket for the baby, we take the car seat to the plane.\u00a0 Often if the flight is not full they will allow you to use an empty seat for the baby who should be on your lap but only if you have an approved car seat.\u00a0 If there are no empty seats you can easily gate check it with your buggy (I recommend bringing some kind of back to put the seat in, though, to protect it from filth and rain).\u00a0 My girls have always flown in their car seats whenever possible and are used to it now (Honeybun\u00a0even cries sometimes when she can\u2019t use it).\u00a0 It also helps that they are already used to the car seats and know that in the car we cannot get out of our seat belts and we don\u2019t on the plane either.\u00a0 They sit nicely with their seatbelts buckled and only get up to go potty (or when younger for diaper changes).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"SP_A0057\"<\/a>3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I do not allow roaming.\u00a0 I know some mothers swear by letting their child walk the aisles to pass the time but I am strongly against this practice for my own children for many reasons.\u00a0 The most important is safety.\u00a0 You never know when you\u2019re going to hit sudden turbulence and I don\u2019t want to risk my children getting tossed around the cabin in such an instance.\u00a0 I also don\u2019t allow it out of respect for other passengers.\u00a0 It\u2019s one thing to listen to a child playing\/crying\/screaming in their seat, but listening to the same child play\/cry\/scream as they run up and down the aisles (and of course the accompanying adult \u201cdon\u2019t touch him,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cthat\u2019s not yours,\u201d \u201cthis way,\u201d \u201cOver here,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cno, no.\u201d) is exhausting and irritating (even as a parent myself it bothers me).\u00a0 And when your child gets used to the freedom, only utter chaos can ensue when you have to return to your seat due to turbulence or impending landing (many of these instances on our last flight).<\/p>\n

4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I recommend breastfeeding, for as long as you can if you\u2019re going to be travelling.\u00a0 Not only will it speed up your time at security (\u201cNo TSA dude, I amazingly do not have any bottles for my baby which you will require me to open so you can do a vapor test\u201d), it is like magic on the plane.\u00a0 Have a tired or restless baby?\u00a0 Give him\/her a boob.\u00a0 Nothing is better on a long (or even short) flight than soothing your baby gently to sleep without screaming or fighting.\u00a0 After listening to the baby in front of us on our last flight fight her mom trying to rock her to sleep for an hour and a half, I\u2019m glad I had my magic breasts with me and working at all times when Sugarplum was a lap baby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our most recent airplane ride was a late one.\u00a0 We took off at 5:30 pm and arrived at 10:50 pm (including a 2 hour time change, only a 3 \u00bd hour flight total).\u00a0 My girls were miraculously pleasant on the flight.\u00a0 Sugarplum fell asleep about 15 minutes after take-off and Honeybun\u00a0was about an hour into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,8,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-mommys-life","category-baby-business","category-tiny-travellers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4509,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions\/4509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}