TRAVELLING WITH A NEWBORN TIPS TO MAKE IT THROUGH
Whether it’s to meet a granny, or just to take a sanitysaving break, sometimes travelling with a small baby has to happen. We know you’re already stressed out by the job of keeping a baby alive while occasionally getting an hour of sleep, and it would be a pity to add even more anxiety into the mix.
1. Cultivate acceptance
Your best-laid plans of booking the flight to coincide with baby’s sleep time WILL go awry when the airline tells you there is a two-hour delay. There will be tears – and baby will cry, too! (Ha, ha.) If you can see the getting-there part of the journey as almost like a circle of hell you have to pass through before your paradisiacal reward, you’ll go into grit-your-teeth survival mode, and you’ll cope, because you have to. Try not to take other passengers’ nastiness and eyerolling personally. Those grumpy people have forgotten that they, too, were babies once. And your baby has as much of a right to exist as they do.
2. Take a dummy
Babies’ ears hurt on flights (due to the pressure change) and they can become inconsolable. Letting them suck a dummy or breastfeed can help.
3. Pack a take-on travel bag
And don’t even bother to stash it in the overhead compartment. Essentials: baby wipes, bottles, snacks, nappies, plastic nappy bags, bibs, toys, and Rescue Remedy for mom and dad.
4. Take it slow
If you’re driving, schedule in frequent stops and accept you won’t get to Durbs in your usual six hours. That’s a long time for a baby to be in a car seat – and she MUST be in a car seat whenever the car is in motion, that’s not negotiable. She’ll need breaks, and so will you. The upside is many babies are lulled to sleep by a long car drive so you could get a nice, long stretch of driving in while baby is out for the count.