the newbie: Tips for Traveling Overseas with a Baby
By Melissa Walker, who can also be found blogging at melissacwalker.com
We’re back from a 10-day trip overseas with June! It was intense, but awesome. Here are a few tricks I tested (I’ll leave out the ones that didn’t quite work!):
Flight attendants are your friends. Find the nicest one and share a “What can you do?” smile when the baby cries, because she will! Our lovely attendant (the same one on both flights!) brought us airline-themed toys and games to distract June, and they worked, for at least half an hour.
Let go of the first day. When you change time zones, babies get all kinds of kooky. We let June sleep at will on that first day, then got her back on wake-up and nap schedules on day two. By day three, we were all set!
Be sensitive to her perceptions of this “new place.” We noticed that June was having fun, but there were times when she looked a little freaked out or worried while meeting someone new—she met LOTS of new people on this trip. Her dad and I made a point to spend at least half an hour each day where it was just the three of us hanging out as a family, to help her feel more secure.
Bring familiar items. We brought her pacifier, sheets from her pack-n-play (they smell like her detergent), her white noise machine and her favorite sleep sack. Bedtime felt like home, and that made everyone happy!
We had a really fun trip, and hope for more (though I may go for a shorter flight next time).
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