Traveling With a Newborn

My ten-month season in Andorra ended last week. So that meant it was time to fly back to my homeland of Canada with my wife and newborn daughter.

Seven weeks.

Oh, just reminding you how old my daughter was boarding her first flight…an international flight.

Andorra does not have an international airport, therefore we had to take a three-hour bus ride to Barcelona before boarding our nine-hour direct flight to Toronto. You might be thinking: Can a baby even fly that young? Is it safe bringing her into the airport with all the germs in the air? Weren’t you scared she would cry the entire time?

My wife and I had the same questions. We just thought we’d be overseas a little longer and she’d be a little older. Unfortunately, however, we did not make the Spanish League playoffs. That meant we could fly back three weeks before our anticipated date.

Being away from home for ten months means wanting to get home to friends and family as soon as possible. Making sure your newborn is safe to fly, however, takes major precedence. Normally, children get immunized at two months — long before most parents even think about booking a flight. My daughter, on her first flight, did not fit that age criteria.

Are we bad parents? Did we selfishly plan to return to Canada too soon, without thinking of our daughter’s health?

Safe to Travel

We always put our daughter’s needs first. While we could not wait to get back home after the season, we would have stayed in Europe for another year if that meant it was the safest option for our daughter. But our pediatrician informed us that it would be completely fine for our daughter to travel before her two-month immunization as long as we get her shots at the necessary time when we landed in Canada.

How about the germs in the airport?

There are germs everywhere; it’s impossible to put a germ-proof bubble around our children for their entire lives. What we did was carry two small bottles of hand sanitizers — one for me and one for my wife. Every so often we cleansed our hands to be as sanitary as possible. We also packed wet wipes in the diaper bag to keep our daughters’ hands clean. I will tell you, newborns must have the best BBQ sauce under their fingernails because they love to put their hands in their mouth.

There is no way to prevent every single germ from reaching my daughter. The only thing we can do is try to keep her and ourselves as clean as possible.

Weren’t you scared your daughter would cry the entire time?

Read on…

Preparation Is Key

Flying on the plane with your newborn is not the hard part. Honestly, they will sleep 80% of the time if not more. Just make sure you pack your carry-on with: enough Pampers, a spare change of clothes, a changing mat, a blanket, wipes, a burp cloth, a soother, a small baby medical kit, and enough milk to feed your child throughout the flight. The necessities you probably already have in the diaper bag on a daily basis.

Feeding is routine, nothing more than what you normally do, and nothing less. A little tip fathers can relay to mom to help prevent your child’s ears from popping is to feed the child (from the bottle or from the breasts) when the plane is taking off and when it is landing. If your child is swallowing at this time, it will keep their mind off of crying from popped ears.

(You can say you found that out yourself. You might just get some brownie points and I don’t need the credit! Just thank me in the comments!)

Back to my original statement — preparation is everything.

My wife and I prepared a week in advance before getting on the flight because we understood it’s a whole new ball game. I was so prepared, I practiced folding up the stroller and putting it in the travel bag about three times. Getting to the gate and realizing it didn’t fit would have been a whole ordeal.

It’s easy to travel by yourself or with another adult because you have done it before. You know what to expect and can hold your own weight. The newborn…well, she isn’t as strong.

I had to pack clothes, a basketball, my iPad and MacBook, and a few size 13 basketball shoes in my luggage. My wife had to pack clothes, her makeup, skincare products, and a few of her heels.

Now my nine-pound daughter, who stands a whopping 56 centimeters tall had the following: a new, state-of-the art Uppababy Vista stroller as big as a shopping cart, a bassinet that connects to the stroller, a carseat, and her own 50-pound suitcase with all her clothes, wipes, diapers, and other newborn necessities.

Was she carrying all of that?

I think not!

As we made our way from the taxi drop off to check in, I found myself pushing a trolley that had about one hundred pounds in suitcase weight with my right hand, while trying my best to steer the stroller and not bump into anything and keep the little princess asleep, with my left hand. I followed my wife (the General), as she led us to the check-in table while pushing the other 100-pound trolley loaded with suitcases.  

And my daughter?

Sound asleep the entire time. Besides her occasional “where are we?” look when she opened her eyes every now and then, she slept literally from drop-off to landing.

Credit to our daughter — who just wants to eat and sleep — for being the most cool, calm and collected baby I’ve ever met. She made this whole experience so manageable for us.

Final Thoughts

Traveling with a newborn is not as terrifying as people make it out to be. This was our first experience traveling with our daughter and we got through it without any major hiccups. The only advice I would give is to be prepared for anything. Shit happens, especially in an airport. It helps to stay optimistic and be on the same page the entire time — and have a plan when maneuvering through it all. You might experience moments of frustration, but I promise that getting mad won’t help the situation.

And lastly, enjoy it. Yeah, it might be a little stressful. It might give you a bit of anxiety. But there will come a time when you’re thinking back on past adventures you’ve had with your child (like their first flight) and my guess is you will miss every second of it.

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