Travelling with a baby: Do’s & Don’ts

So it’s been a while, actually more than a while since I sat down and wrote an actual thought out post for my blog.

I’m sure you won’t blame me once you know what my day consists of with an 11 month old! (Mostly, it consists of watching him like a hawk as he ‘explores’ his surroundings by banging a wooden spoon on the table and picking anything and everything up from the floor only to put it straight into his mouth!)

Yeah, it’s tiring. And whilst I’m doing that, I simply can’t think about things like writing a blogpost. Take my eye off him for one second and he’ll have left the room and found yesterdays crumbs on the floor to munch on.

However, right now, he’s asleep besides me, and well, I better start my blogpost, like actually start it (this is all ramble), before he wakes up!

Our first travel

Our first travel with our baby boy was back in September. We were flying to Istanbul, Turkey, for a 5 day holiday. Our baby back then, was a wee 5 month old, who didn’t sleep more than 2 hour intervals at night, and who wasn’t yet on solids. Most of the day, he’d be napping, drinking milk or sitting in his bouncer intrigued by the colours around him.

Since it was our first time travelling with a baby, we didn’t know what to expect. But we played trial and error and learnt from mistakes. Here are a few tips.

1. Carry baby in a sling/baby carrier: It will make your life so much easier. And best thing is, you will be hands free! A baby at that age will still be needing regular milk and if he/she is breastfed, it will make your life tons easier if he’s already attached to you. I remember when we had arrived at Istanbul airport and were in queue at passport check, he began to cry really loudly. He was tried, in an unfamiliar place and wanted milk instantly. I was also tired, and in a queue so couldn’t really break away to feed him but because he was in the sling, I just needed to put on my cover and begin feeding him whilst standing. It’s also useful on the aeroplane, if you’re baby is in the sling, he can remain there to sleep and you won’t have to worry about your arms hurting due to holding him! I definitely recommend the baby bjourne baby carrier, its firm but comfortable, easy to put and for babies from birth up till 3 years!
2. Wear a rucksack: This is something I do even outside of travel. On a daily basis, instead of carrying a baby bag, I carry a rucksack. I like that it gives you the freedom to use your hands to pull a trolley bag for example and that it doesn’t keep falling off your shoulder. Because it’s on your back, you don’t have to worry about it. Perfect for travelling! In my rucksack, I carried 4 nappies (my husband had a few in his rucksack), 1 pack of baby wipes, a small hand towel, nappy bags, sudocream, a spare change of clothes and vest, my purse, some toys, eye liner, lipstick, lip balm, and a spare cardigan for the baby.
3. Dress baby in a baby grow: Make sure baby is as comfortable as possible. I knew my baby would be most relaxed in a baby grow so I dressed him in that and a jumper on top (because it can get quite cold in the plane!). Also a hat, and coat is important, when travelling from the UK in autumn/winter. You can always remove it once you reach your holiday destination.
4. You also wear comfy clothes!: I wear abayah, so it makes it tons easier to wear one that’s travel friendly, breastfeeding feeding friendly, lightweight, not too glamorous and one I don’t mind getting dirty. That, and a hijab that will stay in place (I usually wear mine loosely without an under cap because it begins to hurt my ears after a while). My husband usually wear his joggers and a jacket with many pockets and trainers. Trainers, guys, are useful when you’re walking around with a baby and suitcases!
5. Stay in a baby-friendly place: Before you book a hotel or air bnb, ensure it’s baby friendly. We stayed with a lovely, lovely family — husband, wife and their 11 year old daughter and they were the most generous, hospitable hosts. Their air bnb was great and their place was also a 10 minute pushchair ride to the blue mosque. More about that in this post: https://medium.com/madiyah-rana/turkey-2017-807e31f3db4d
6. Take a direct flight: This second time round we did that. But the first time we decided to change over at Amsterdam. Not a good idea because a 4 hour flight became 7 hours in total and babies sleep was also interrupted! It has it’s positives, like you can get to stretch your legs, change baby and have some off flight time, but also, it takes so much longer and you sometimes begin to feel like the entire flight id dragging.

The trip itself was a memorable one. Our boy adjusted very quickly, had his odd nights of no sleeping but otherwise, alhamdulilah, we enjoyed it!

Our second travel

Our second travel was a very recent, we went to visit my in laws in Sharjah, which meant a 7 hour flight with our now 10 month old! I was dreading this one because he likes to crawl and explores so getting him to settle in a seat is tough. But there were some great pros of travelling direct, with a good air line! Here are some I put together:

1. Travel with a good airline even if you have to pay a little more: Last time, we travelled with pegasus (I really would not recommend them), the seats were too close together, the space really tight I almost felt like I couldn’t breathe! Emirates however, on this trip were brilliant. From the ample space, baby changing facilities and even baby food. Alhamdulilah, they were a pleasure to travel with.
2. Choose the bassinet seat if you can but don’t use the bassinet!: This may sound like an oxymoron but I’ll explain. Definitely reserve bassinet seats for you and your spouse. They are usually located at the front and because they’re for children, you’ll have other parents besides you, so won’t feel too bad when your baby is winging, because you know the mum next to you also was going through the same minutes ago! There is also more leg space because there are no seats in front of you, so I would put baby on the floor with some toys. Sometimes, he’d want to crawl in the aisles but we’d quickly pick him up so he wouldn’t be an annoyance to others. When it comes to the bassinet however, I would recommend not using it only because at turbulence, take off and landing, it has to be removed. We had a lot of turbulence on this travel so I’m glad we didn’t ask for one because it would mean baby would continue getting disturbed by being taken out off the bassinet.
3. Try to put everything in hold: Carry nothing except your rucksack and his. It means less to think about, less to carry and more time to try entertain the baby!
4. Travel at night if you can: On the way going, we travelled at night but on the way back it was daytime. I definitely prefer and would recommend night time for two reasons. The first is that it’s also babies nap time, so they’ll usually follow that routine and sleep. Aeroplane or car rides usually make babies feel sleepier and secondly, because it’s dimmer in the aeroplane, the baby won’t be as alert and wanting to play. They’ll know it’s time to sleep. Our baby slept 4 hours in total on the 7 hour flight, both times, but when he was awake, he ate or was entertained by his toys and occasionally cartoons.
5. If there are spare seats, take advantage of them: Because we travelled at off-peak times when everyone went back to school and work (if you can do that, do it! Perks of being a student :), there were a lot of spare seats. When going we used them to lay our baby down to sleep and the second time round we shared the responsibility of taking care of him by sitting separate. My husband would take him for an hour whilst I sat back, watched something and ate and then we’d swap and he’d eat and sleep. This really worked for us because when we were sitting next to each other, he was being passed from him to me and he was getting agitated because of lack of freedom to roam around or sit in his own seat.
6. Don’t forget sun cream!: After 6 months babies can begin wearing sun cream. I made sure to apply some every day to prevent sun burn.
7. Use packing cubes: This one is at the end because it’s a pre-travel tip. Try using packing cubes! They make so much more space. I was able to fit all of our babies clothes into two of them which saved heaps of space in our suitcase. We purchased ours from here and they were very useful: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Packing-Cubes-WantGor-Organizer-Compression/dp/B075Q9R3NH/ref=sr_1_4/261-3706838-4207201?ie=UTF8&qid=1519591883&sr=8-4&keywords=packing+cube

Train rides

In terms of train rides which I do quite often as I visit my parents regularly, my only extra advice is to travel a not so busy time in the day and do not travel alone in the evening. In addition to above tips, I’d add throwing in more snacks and if you need to change baby change before you leave and if you really have to on the train, then to out a mat on the seats and change there as the toilets can be very unclean! Don’t forget to have your phone fully charged before travel and to sit in a two seater rather than a four so that you have your own privacy and space and baby doesn’t get anxious due to seeing too many strangers!

I really hope these tips help all you mamas and papas out there! If you have any more to add, please share 😃 May Allah bless all our travels and make them easy and enjoyable for us all.