1st Solo Travel With Baby

I’m by no means a jet setter but I’m a proud survivor of traveling solo with my baby. My first solo trip with him was to Victoria, BC. The two of us traveled by boat up to Canada to meet Andrew. Then last week, Teddy and I had our second trip where we headed to NYC to see my family.

Overall, I’m extremely proud of how that trip went. Especially the time spent on the plane, I was planning for the worst but hoping for the best and I think we ended up somewhere in the middle. On the whole, it went well but there were a few moments of screaming thrown in there. Teddy’s extremely personable and can’t settle down or sleep where there are things to do and people to see so the flight home was a little touch and go because he only got about 20 minutes of sleep on the 6-hour flight. Tired Teddy = kinda cranky

Before I traveled anywhere with Ted, I badgered Mary Katherine Minnis for all her tips. She and her husband travel all the time with their son Joe and she has a lot of helpful tips on her post here.

First Time Mom’s Travel Tips

If you’re using formula, use the premixed liquid on the plane.

There’s no need to worry about getting water on the plane or in the airport when you have a fussy hungry baby on your hands. I brought a pack of this ready-to-feed Gerber formula with me and it worked out like a treat! TSA didn’t give me any trouble about the extra liquid but I did have to get a pat-down. On the return trip, I brought this Enfamil formula and it kept setting off the sensors until I removed all the labels, packaging, and cap from the outside. They didn’t make me open any of the containers though.

Ask if you can bring your car seat on the plane

I heard this tip from MK Minnis and, oh does it make a world of difference! When we went to Houston earlier in the summer, we were able to bring the car seat and it was great because Teddy had extra space and is already accustomed to sleeping in the car seat. No such luck on this trip and it was hard to get him to sleep without it.

Buy diapers when you get there.

Especially if you aren’t checking a bag (I try to never check bags), packing space is at a premium when you’re packing for two. I brought enough diapers to get me through two full days. I figured I needed enough for one full travel day +/- and delays then a buffer zone in case I couldn’t get to a drugstore first thing after arriving.

Bring only the favorite most time-consuming toys.

I brought too many toys and books thinking that I’d have to cycle through them to keep him entertained on the 5-6 hour flight. He just wanted to mess with new and novel things that were easily within his reach. On the return flight, I only bothered to keep his favorites with us in the seat. This animal book, Sophie the Giraffe, and his elephant pacifier were the only three things that I should have bothered with.

Account for everything taking 3x longer than normal.

Like, it’s hard enough to get out the door with a baby on an average Tuesday but it’s even worse when you travel. On the way there, we arrived at the airport a full 2+ hours before our flight boarded and it was a stress-free process to get through TSA, change diapers, tag the stroller and car seat, get food for the flight, etc without rushing. On the way back, however, it took 2.5 hours to get to JFK so I was rushing once we arrived and got to the gate with just enough time to check the baby gear and change his diaper before we had to board. Luckily I had TSA precheck on that leg of the trip (I don’t know how that happened but thank the Lord it did!) but it was added stress that I didn’t want.

People will offer to help you. Let them.

I’ve found that people overall are kind and very understanding when you’re traveling alone with your kid. Most of them have kids or grandkids of their own and remember a time when they were rangling a squirmy little baby. If someone offers help and you’re comfortable with it, let them help you. The people sitting next to us held and played with Teddy so I could eat. Another woman offered to hold him so I could go to the bathroom. The people in the row behind us entertained him for ages with peek-a-boo. Others helped get our bags up and down from the overhead bin, set up or break down the stroll, that sort of thing. It’s really little things that made our trip just a lot easier.