Traveling with an Infant

March 31, 2021 and April 4, 2021

Upon arrival at LAX, I was super anxious and nervous about traveling with an infant. My mind was flooded with questions. Should I check her car seat and stroller? Should I gate check her car seat and stroller? Is security going to be a hassle? Will we be able to juggle our carry ons and an 8.5 month old infant? Is Quincy going to be a complete terror on the plane? And so on, and so on.

Quincy was 8.5 months when we flew, so we chose the lap seating infant option. Our motto is to keep it as free and as cheap as possible when we travel, so we had 2 carry ons, 2 backpacks, the car seat, and the stroller. This was the free luggage we were allotted. We decided to check her stroller and car seat so that we would not have to deal with juggling too many things through security. I put Quincy in a baby carrier to easily carry her throughout the airport.

At security, we had to take out the usual shoes, electronics, and liquids. Quincy was allowed a liquids baggy as well, so we had 3 baggies of liquids. Babies are also allowed a reasonable amount of baby food and formula. Since I am breastfeeding, I only brought powdered formula (in case I chose to drink alcohol). I still took this out so they could check it. Also, I packed enough baby food to last 5 days which means about 15 squeeze pouches which fit in a gallon sized ziploc. Lastly, I had a ice pack in a small cooler for baby food, bottles, and snacks. These extra liquid items that you are allowed for babies have to go through extra security. They must check all of these items, so allow for extra time to get through security. You go through the metal detector with your baby. I had her in the carrier as I walked through. Then, they have to run a quick test on your hands, and you’re done.

Once through security, it was off to our gate. We were early, so we were able to purchase coffee and food to eat on the flight. There are no meals on flights and you only get water and snacks right now from LA to Orlando(I’m guessing that’s true for most domestic flights), so bring food on the plane. For Quincy, I had her baby food, puffs, teething wafers, Cheerios, and yogurt melts in baggies. For my husband and I, we bought sandwiches and snacks at the Airport.

On the flight, I was nervous for melt downs and fits. Also, I was nervous about ascending and descending because of Quincy’s ears. When we took off, I still had her in the carrier, and I had her suck on her pacifier. This seemed to calm her and her ears did not hurt. The only times she fussed on the plane were when she was hungry or tired. We were lucky that we had a whole row to ourselves, so my husband and I were able to have her sleep on the seat between us for a nap. For diaper changes, I was able to use the baby changing station in the bathroom. Warning: it is super, super small, and a little difficult to change your baby, especially if u have an active, curious baby like me. When the plane was descending, I nursed her so that she would not have any ear discomfort and be relaxed. This worked and we landed with no problems or screaming. I highly endorse the pacifier and nursing/bottle to help your baby remain calm on the plane

To exit the plane, I put Quincy in her carrier, we grabbed our carry ons, and we deplaned. Then, we went to baggage claim to get our stroller and car seat.

Our flight from Orlando to LAX was not as smooth as our flight to Orlando. First, when we arrived, the airport was a zoo. It was complete mayhem! It took forever to get our boarding passes and check the stroller and car seat. Then, we had to wait in an insanely long security line. I knew we were probably going to miss our flight, but I had hopes we might make it. I decided to throw out all the extra baby products that would need to be checked separately to speed up the process. This ended up being a terrible idea because we missed our flight and our baby had no baby food.

The next flight we could get on was 4 hours later, so we had to wait in Orlando for 4 hours and keep an 8.5 month old entertained and not fussy while we were exhausted from waking up at 3:30 AM to make our original flight. We somehow survived and got on our first flight. We both had aisle seats and the flight was packed, so that complicated the flight. I ended up keeping Quincy in the carrier so she and I could both safely sleep. This was a life saver! Quincy was much more energetic on this flight, so we used toys, downloaded videos, and provided snacks to help keep her entertained. The flight back home was also more complicated because we had a connecting flight and a layover. We landed in Arizona and had a 2 hour layover before returning to Los Ángeles. This flight was super quick, a little longer than an hour, and Quincy and I slept almost all of it. We landed in LA around 4:00 PM, but we were originally supposed to land around 10:00 AM, so our missed flight cost us about 6 hours.

Ultimately, if we had made our first flight, the flight home would not have been as difficult. Make sure that you are at least 2 hours early if you are traveling with an infant because missing your flight can be an exhausting mistake. Don’t forget pacifiers, and try to nurse or give a bottle to help your baby relax and their ears not to hurt. Get a direct flight if possible because our first flight was much more manageable and less stressful than our flights back home. Our first flight with Quincy was a breeze! This proves that traveling with a baby can be a simple and easy. Learn from our successes and our failures, and JUST DON’T MISS YOUR FLIGHT!!!