Pregnancy Medevac: Traveling With an Infant

***Okay, so I started this post like a month ago, but I still think this is worthy of posting. Just pretend like it's timely. :)


As I scoured the internet for tips on how to travel with an infant* I rediscovered just how odd of a group we FS folks are. When I tell non-FS friends that I'm about to spend 24+ hours traveling back to the other side of the world with a 7-week old all by myself they all think I'm utterly insane. When I mentioned to my Post bestie that I was nervous about forgetting to pack something vital in my diaper bag, she sympathized, "I know, I remember when I was flying from New York to Bangkok with my newborn and toddler by myself. It was really rough!" Just another FS mom day, hah! Anyway, since it seems like all of the resources on the internet are focused on domestic flying (for example, one of the most common "tips" is to schedule flights for baby's usual nap time. Um, do babies nap for entire days? I wish!), I thought I'd devote at least one blog post to my experience.

One other thing to note is that since my tickets were government purchased, I didn't get a whole lot of say in the itinerary. I suppose I could have tried to go back and forth with my travel office in Manila to get better timing, but I was lucky to get tickets at all considering how long it took my HR Tech to get my son added as my dependent! But, if you're somehow lucky enough to have some flexibility, try to get decent domestic layovers.** I had a 4 and a 1/2 hour layover in Minneapolis. That meant almost 10 hours of travel time before I even got on the 14 hour flight to Tokyo (which was followed by another 3 hour layover and then the 4 hour flight to Manila, ugh!!).

Traveling alone with an infant 3 mos and under is not easy, but IMHO, it is much more do-able than traveling with an older infant or toddler. Tiny babies do sleep a lot, and they are easily distracted with a boob or bottle. They are also relatively immobile, so you're not going to be wrestling them into their car seats or trying to make them sit on your lap during the flight. I can't imagine traveling as long as I did with a lap child, so thank goodness the government recognizes that and pays for the baby's own seat.

Travel Tip #1 - Bring a Car Seat. 1 I definitely recommend taking a car seat on the plane to use as a bassinet (Delta no longer offers the bulkhead bassinet seats for infants, at least on the type of aircraft they fly to Asia). Having a car seat frees up your arms, and gives you a safe place to put your baby when you, say, need to go to the bathroom.
Travel Tip #2 - Get a Travel Boppy. My other favorite travel accessory: a travel boppy! I cannot recommend this enough even if you are not breastfeeding. Having a comfortable pillow on which to rest baby so that you don't have to support their weight continuously with your arms is such a god send when you are about 10 hours into your trip (so imagine how grateful you are at 24 hours in!).
Travel Tip #3 - Bring a Good Quality Nursing Cover. If you are breastfeeding, I also recommend investing in a good quality breastfeeding cover. I cheap-ed out and used a cover I scored for free, which did the job but the material was so flimsy I constantly worried about being exposed when N would kick his feet around. I highly recommend getting a Baby Au Lait cover, which is much sturdier and won't be kicked off easily. Planes are generally quite cool, so no need to worry about the heavy material even if you are headed to a tropical country!
Travel Tip #4 - Formula Travel Packets. Another thing I would highly recommend is getting some of the Enfamil (or other brand) travel packets. Even though I ended up not needing them, if you are traveling alone you never know when baby is going to have a break down, and there's no convenient place to breastfeed if you are stuck in an immigration line. Just having them was enough of a comfort to relieve that stress for me.
Travel Tip #5 - Use a Carrier. Even though I had the stroller/car seat, I brought a carrier anyway, and I am so glad I did. I used a Moby (practice first if you've never used one, it's not exactly intuitive), and it was perfect for walking around the airports during my long layovers. I just piled all my stuff into the stroller and pushed it around! It is also essential for getting through security. It freed up my hands to put all the luggage and stroller/car seat through the scanner without having to disturb the baby.
Travel Tip #6 - Take a Backpack (a good one) and a Diaper Bag. I know I looked ridiculous walking around the airport (and especially getting on the plane!). I had the stroller/car seat, baby carrier, travel boppy, hiking backpack, and massive diaper bag. I was a like a one woman band without the music, but I had everything I could possibly need and it really wasn't all that difficult to tote around. I put the backpack on my back (essential to bring an ergonomic hiking backpack so it sits comfortably and straps around the waist), the travel hoppy went under the stroller, and I hooked the diaper bag to the stroller using...
Travel Tip #7 - Diaper Bag Straps. Don't cheap out, get the diaper bag straps that hook onto the stroller handlebar. You can buy a diaper bag that comes with these or you can buy them separately and attach them. Having my bag hang from the stroller gave me easy, one-handed access to my wallet and other essentials while going through the airport with a baby strapped to my chest. I don't know how I would have finagled it if I had to constantly swing that bag around.
Travel Tip #8 - Reverse Zip Onsies. Dress your baby in a reverse zip onsie like this one from Halo (I got mine from Baby Steals). Trust me, they are worth it! Diaper and outfit changes were so easy, and I never had to worry about him getting poked in the face with the zipper.
Travel Tip #9 - Don't Be An Idiot - Use Your Resources. My flight into Manila got in at 1200am on a Thursday morning. I thought why deal with the hassle of trying to arrange for an airport expediter?*** God am I am idiot because of course there were about a 1,000 people flying into NAIA 1, which was being renovated and therefore funneled everyone into a tight mass of humanity without any aircon or way out. I mean, duh, this is Manila we're talking about. This was the tail end of our long, long journey, We had been traveling for over 35 hours straight, and N was done. He had comfort nursed for almost the entire flight from Tokyo to Manila. I was dead tired having not been able to sleep hardly at all on our flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo, covered in baby drool and spit up, sweaty, and dripping with used baby gear. So when we deplaned and headed into the biggest mass of humanity I have ever seen, N decided to have a complete melt down. He went right from whimpering to cat demon screaming at the top of his little baby lungs, and he didn't stop.for.two.hours. Thank god we were in the Philippines. My fellow detainees gave me sympathetic looks, cooed over his red screaming face, and shook rattles at his tiny, clenched fists. It didn't help much, but I can tell you I would take over involved Filipinos who care over the looks of death you would get in most Western parts of the world. I don't think I could have handled it at that point! At any rate, this little story was just to point out that the Embassy offers you these perks (airport expedite, motor pool, etc.) for a reason. Please use them, even if you don't really think you will need them.

*I know, I know. I've got six gajillion kids, you'd think I have this thing down pat, but it's been a while, ya'll. 
**Long international layovers aren't fabulous, but they at least make more sense since they give you more time to go through customs and immigration. 
***Frankly, I had totally forgotten about this until the last minute, and then I thought why freak out and try to arrange things at the last minute. I mean, how many people could possibly be flying in at midnight on a Thursday...after all this time (and so many flights) you would think I would know something about Manila!