Originally Posted by turtim

Dear all,

I am a student and I am currently working on a school project about (mainly air) travelling with babies/ toddler. Wondering if any parents here are free to answer a few questions.


1. I understand that travelling with babies/ toddler especially by plane can be exhausting and will need a lot of dedication. What usually is the reason you decide to travel with babies and put up with all the extra trouble? Usually its to see family! I have a child under 1 and we have three trips booked this year including a 17 hour flight. 2 are shorter trips to get him used to flying and the upcoming 17 hour trek.

2. What do you feel about flights? Is that the most stressful part of your entire trip? I would assume so but im of the mindset that im not going to stress. I will do my best to keep the kid calm. But im not going to freak out if he cries and worry about other passengers. Its the nature of traveling with kids and im sure at some point he will cry.

3. What methods have you tried to calm your child or to stop them from crying? (e.g. sleeping schedule, feeding milk, distraction .etc) We plan to have many toys, videos and such. using a pacifier/walking the isles will help as well. I think generally he will be fine but take off and landing are the xfactors.

4. I've seen these solutions such as sleeping pills or some parents handing out goody bag to passenger around them. What are your opinions on it? Would you consider them? If so, what do you think if the airlines do the goody bag instead? I have friends that have suggested benedryl or baby tylenol to help with ears. We will definitely consider them. Especially benedryl for the 17 hour flight. I thought about carrying one or two extra noise cancelling headphones in case of an angry neighbor.

5. If there is this product that you can let a baby suck it and reduce the crying sound to nearby passenger, what are your opinions? Will you consider using it?
That would be a pacifier. and yes this will be integral in calming him down.

Thanks a lot for reading my questions! I appreciated any reply!

Originally Posted by turtim

Dear all,

I am a student and I am currently working on a school project about (mainly air) travelling with babies/ toddler. Wondering if any parents here are free to answer a few questions.


1. I understand that travelling with babies/ toddler especially by plane can be exhausting and will need a lot of dedication. What usually is the reason you decide to travel with babies and put up with all the extra trouble?

life goes on... also family members living in different countries, needing holidays

2. What do you feel about flights? Is that the most stressful part of your entire trip?

flights are necessary. If possible avoiding transfers though. streessful and tiring indeed

3. What methods have you tried to calm your child or to stop them from crying? (e.g. sleeping schedule, feeding milk, distraction .etc)

numer one rule on board a plae: all the rules you have given your kids on the earth's surface do not apply... if they want that chocolate, give them! if they want to eat, let them eat, if they want to watch tv, they watch tv. Ok, I'm a bit extreme here, but that's what some of my friends do. I got lucky until now as my kids always reacted well to flights, and I simply play and talk continuously to them. Normal life. The baby / young toddler needs a bit more often to get in the arms and move around to see things.

4. I've seen these solutions such as sleeping pills or some parents handing out goody bag to passenger around them. What are your opinions on it? Would you consider them? If so, what do you think if the airlines do the goody bag instead?

don't be a criminal: never ever give any sleeping pills or whatever to your kids. And I won't do goodie bags. Probably also again lucky my kids behave well. Sometimes a crisis here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary. And at the end of the day, it's just a palce, not a spa.

5. If there is this product that you can let a baby suck it and reduce the crying sound to nearby passenger, what are your opinions? Will you consider using it?

If you baby takes it, the pacifier is great ;-)

Thanks a lot for reading my questions! I appreciated any reply!

Originally Posted by turtim

Dear all,

I am a student and I am currently working on a school project about (mainly air) travelling with babies/ toddler. Wondering if any parents here are free to answer a few questions.


1. I understand that travelling with babies/ toddler especially by plane can be exhausting and will need a lot of dedication. What usually is the reason you decide to travel with babies and put up with all the extra trouble?
The wording of this question is somewhat offensive. Perhaps you should consider the connotations of "put up with all the extra trouble?" in the context of parenting a baby/toddler. You appear to suggest that babies/toddlers aren't worth the "trouble" they cause when traveling.

​​​​​​​My kid made his first international flight at 4 months, and before he was 3 had made about 9 trips by air, 3 of them international. Traveling with a baby/toddler requires careful planning, but really is not that difficult. We visited family, took a trip that had been several years in the planning, and went to an international festival that was a once in a lifetime experience. Adding air travel to the baseline work of parenting was about a 10% short term increase in the amount of work needed.

2. What do you feel about flights? Is that the most stressful part of your entire trip?

The actual flights were easy. The stressful part of the trip is TSA/airport security.

Sometimes stress is a choice. Worrying about if other passengers will be bothered by a baby on the plane - some speak of great stress about this, but I recognized that other people's reactions were out of my control and not something I should waste time worrying about. I did my best to anticipate and meet my kid's needs, and made a deliberate choice not to worry about what I could not control.

3. What methods have you tried to calm your child or to stop them from crying? (e.g. sleeping schedule, feeding milk, distraction .etc)

Generally feed immediately before the flight, and had toys for distraction. Only once had problems with my kid crying on a plane and that was because the FA deliberately woke him up when he was sound asleep.

4. I've seen these solutions such as sleeping pills or some parents handing out goody bag to passenger around them. What are your opinions on it? Would you consider them? If so, what do you think if the airlines do the goody bag instead?

Attempting to sedate a child for a flight is dangerous, illegal in many areas and absolutely sickening as a parenting strategy. As for goody bags, do drunks who bother everyone around them give them out? Or the jerk who spends ages on his cell phone? Or the people who watch the movies with volume on high and no headphones? The notion of goody bags for anyone who sits near a child on a plane is ridiculous. Why should passengers expect or be given a reward for tolerating a fellow human being? And why should goody bags only be mentioned in the context of children?

5. If there is this product that you can let a baby suck it and reduce the crying sound to nearby passenger, what are your opinions? Will you consider using it?

What type of product? A drug? A pacifier? A bottle of something?

I carried age appropriate snacks and toys for my kid, used his familiar car seat for all flights until age 5, fed him before flights and on his usual schedule on the plane and had one episode of crying on a plane in 3 years. No, I would not waste money on some product hyped to stop crying from bothering people.

Thanks a lot for reading my questions! I appreciated any reply!

Originally Posted by turtim

Dear all,

I am a student and I am currently working on a school project about (mainly air) travelling with babies/ toddler. Wondering if any parents here are free to answer a few questions.


1. I understand that travelling with babies/ toddler especially by plane can be exhausting and will need a lot of dedication. What usually is the reason you decide to travel with babies and put up with all the extra trouble?

First, the babies aren't any more "trouble" in the air than they are on the ground. But, like the other posters said, for us its often to see family. My kids' grandparents live on the west coast of the US, we're on the east. People love to say "just wait to travel until the children are old enough"...so, they're saying grandparents should go years without seeing their grandkids just so some schmuk doesn't have to listen to a baby cry (and they often don't)? Eff that, man. There are some extra supplies to bring, but if you plan its really not that difficult.

2. What do you feel about flights? Is that the most stressful part of your entire trip?

I'll say this, I have never EVER had people be as rude to me as when I did when I flew with my infant daughter. I'll never forget my first trip with her. Flying VX transcon and as we're boarding, some dumbass millenial who is obviously traveling with a group of peers says, very loudly so my wife and I can hear "OH GREAT, A BABY". Seriously, would anyone say that about any other type of person? "OH GREAT, A BLACK LADY!!!" Can you imagine that? The stressful part is not the baby, is not the travel...its the a-holes.

3. What methods have you tried to calm your child or to stop them from crying? (e.g. sleeping schedule, feeding milk, distraction .etc)

I do have one trick I abide by...I do nothing but fly with my kids when they are most likely to sleep. So for transcon or international (which we've done a few times) that means flying at night. When my oldest was napping more, we did some short hops scheduled during her nap. Luckily, our schedules give us that kind of freedom.

The two other rules we follow: a.) Families go in the back of the plane. You'd be surprised how often it seems flyers with kids realize this. We sit back there with the other breeders. Most parents are not bothered when someone else's baby cries. And b.) Get the kid's energy out before the flight. Luckily, we fly B6 alot and we use their playgrounds quite a bit. Get there early and let them run around for an hour, then snack, then book. Usually does the trick.

4. I've seen these solutions such as sleeping pills or some parents handing out goody bag to passenger around them. What are your opinions on it? Would you consider them? If so, what do you think if the airlines do the goody bag instead?

Remember the aforementioned VX douche? I offered to buy him a drink immediately after he said it. He turned red with embarrassment, because I was just nice back to him. He refused the drink. Unless there was some extreme situation, like my kid threw up in your lap, then I really don't feel the need to buy the good graces of my fellow passengers. Being 6'4 and flying coach, maybe I feel I've had enough 5'0 tall, tiny women recline ALL the way back too often when sitting in front of me. Those people should be giving ME goody bags.

5. If there is this product that you can let a baby suck it and reduce the crying sound to nearby passenger, what are your opinions? Will you consider using it?

Its called a pacifier and yes, we have used them. If someone is that put out by a crying baby, then maybe those people need to buy some noise-canceling head phones. Seriously, if peole are so sensitive, then maybe they should take precautions themselves.

The last thing I'd say...babies/children are just people and, like adults, they get scared when put in unfamiliar situations. The best thing a parent can do for a child, if they know they'll be flying with them in the future, is take them on some flights when they are young. Kids love planes and the whole experience can be very fun for them. They are very good at adapting. The more they fly, the less scared they'll be, which will help with the crying and acting out.

Really, its just common sense.


Thanks a lot for reading my questions! I appreciated any reply!