The Ultimate Guide to Flying With a Baby

Noah Kaufman
·16 min read

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Flying with a baby for the first time can be as momentous as their first steps, first bite of first solid food, or first drop off at daycare. And like all those milestones, parents can feel understandably freaked out beforehand. No one, not even your baby themself, knows how a child will react to being on an airplane for the first time. And no matter what happens, one thing's for sure: you'll be stuck in a cabin full of strangers for at least a couple hours while you find out.

But dread not—your child may love air travel, for starters—and even if they don't, you will get through it. With a little planning, the right gear, and a willingness to adapt accordingly, flying with a baby or young kids can be prepared for, and perhaps, easier than you think. Below, what you need to know before flying with a baby or young kids, according to their extremely well-traveled parents.

For infants, the safety of air travel is largely dependent on their health. Jay L. Hoecler, M.D. tells Mayo Clinic. It's up to your doctor's discretion, but full-term newborns who are at least 7 days old are generally safe to fly; however, most parents wait for a few weeks after birth. Premature or preterm babies may require more time for air travel clearance—at least, until their lungs or heart mature. In any case, take precaution and clear your new baby’s air travel with a trusted healthcare professional before booking the flight.

After you purchase your tickets, download Flying With Baby by Meg Collins, the blogger behind a relatable mom survival guide Lucie’s List. Collins claims, accurately, to be the voice of reason about everything: “ticketing, check-in, car seats, feeding, napping, and all the other stuff that makes your brain explode.”

There's no sure way to prepare a baby ahead of time, but if you're traveling with a toddler or an elementary school-aged child, you may need to do a little incepting—i.e., plant the idea that flying is fun! and make a game of it at home beforehand. Traveler contributor Debbie Dubrow gave us some timeless tips a few years ago that still hold true:

  1. Talk about your trip and your flight ahead of time, focusing on the aspects that are new to your child or might cause them concern.

2. Read stories about flying. Try, the classic Airplanes by Byron Barton or the 2024 release Ready to Soar by Cori Doerrfeld for toddlers. Richard Scarry's A Day at the Airport is fun and best for older kids. If you’re headed to a new destination, make a trip to the library to pick up a few books set in that place.

3. Line up some dining chairs to make airplane seats, and act out how you should sit down and buckle up on a plane. Build a security checkpoint using a doorway as the metal detector and a cardboard box and towel as the conveyor belt and X-ray. Practice putting your child’s stuffed animal or blanket through the X-ray and getting it back on the other side. This can be a fun and engaging way for your child to act-out the protocols before heading to the airport.

4. Depending on their age, let your children help pack their carry-on bags (but secret away a few new toys in your own). That way, they’ll get to choose which items they just can’t live without, and you’ll get to set expectations about which toys are okay on the plane (leave the harmonica at home, please!).

If this is your first time flying with a baby, it’s safe to say that you will bring significantly more items than you've flown with before. For optimal organization, create an itemized list of the major items (i.e., the car seat, stroller); the bags you’re checking; and the bags you’re carrying on. Do a count of your bags like they’re children on a field trip when you get to the airport, get through security, and get off the plane. (If it sounds like overkill, think about what your trip might be like if you forget the one bag with your baby's favorite stuffed toy. Yeah.)

The go-to items we love the most

The Doona Infant Car Seat/Stroller (for infants up to 35 pounds) combines two of the most cumbersome items you have to bring on a trip. With the Doona, gate check the stroller, and leave the car seat at home. Uber drivers always get out of the car to open the trunk, assuming the stroller will need to go in the back—and are always amazed when you collapse the Doona and slide it into the backseat instead.

The Dohm sound machine helps little ones fall and stay asleep in new and strange places. “I bring my son’s Dohm everywhere with us," says Traveler contributor Lauren DeCarlo. "Hotels, my parents’ house. It’s essential.” You can also download white noise apps on your phone.

The Ergo Baby 360 Carrier is for newborn or toddlers, and known for airy support through the airport and the flight. Its light mesh material makes for necessary ventilation for both you and the baby. Not to mention, it’s strategically designed for lumbar support with double adjusters that tighten for parents in favor of lower back support, helping mitigate the pain caused by sitting on a plane. There’s also padded shoulder straps for your baby, a criss-cross option that buckles on the front, and a detachable storage pouch that can be helpful for more packing space.

A well-stocked diaper bag with enough wipes, diapers, and formula/breast milk/food to get you through the flight and an hours-long delay, minimum, is a must. Frequent flier, Skift aviation reporter, and father Brian Sumers recommends three days' worth of food for the baby to account for any mishaps. Make sure you also have basics like hand-sanitizer, scented diaper trash bags, a pacifier clip ("this will save you the horror of watching a pacifier drop to the airplane floor," says Traveler contributor and mom of three Juliana Shallcross), and one new baby toy. "I still swear by the one-new-toy trick," Shallcross says. "Buy the baby one new toy specifically to open on the airplane. It will keep their attention for a little bit longer than if you brought an older toy. However, for young babies, you don't need much. All they really need is their bottle, maybe a pacifier, and a nice seat mate who makes funny faces."

The Doona stroller collapses into a car seat, eliminating the need to travel with both.
The Doona stroller collapses into a car seat, eliminating the need to travel with both.
Courtesy Doona

For little ones with their own seat, Britax Willow Grove SC Baby Travel System is an infant car seat and stroller combination device, suitable for newborns to children up to 50 lbs (so there’s much room for growth). For the airport, the all-wheel suspension and tough wheels ensures parents to stroll smoothly and steadily, while also providing an extra-large cargo area with five additional pockets for any smaller travel-must haves. The car seat clicks securely into the base, making the device easier to use. Just make sure to familiarize yourself with the travel system before the flight to ensure swift movement through the airport and plane. The Cares Airplane Safety Harness is the only FAA-approved harness for kids over the age of one, when they're big enough for their own seat but too small for the seatbelt to do any good.

A different outfit—for you—is a gift. "A change of clothes is a no-brainer for the baby who may have a diaper situation at some point during the flight," says Shallcross. "But if you can manage it, pack a T-shirt or leggings for yourself in your carry-on." You don't want to be stuck wearing a formula-stained shirt (or worse).

As for what to leave at home? Anything you can get where you’re going, like jars of baby food. Just make a beeline for a local grocery store once you arrive. It can also be fun seeing how other cultures and countries do the basics. (Fun fact: French diapers aren’t quite as absorbent as American ones. Who knew?)

Babies from the US don’t need an ID when flying domestically, per the TSA. This is actually true of anyone under the age of 18. But babies do need a passport to fly internationally.

To apply for a passport for your infant, both parents need to attend the appointment in person; if you’re the sole custodian of a child, you need to bring proof of that as well. You will also need the child’s birth certificate (original and a copy), your passports and US drivers’ licenses (and a copy), a completed DS-11 form, money for the fees (credit is not always accepted for the $80 standard fee and $35 acceptance fee—bring cash or your checkbook just in case), and—the best part—two identical 2x2 inch passport photos of your baby. There are websites dedicated to getting your infant to sit upright and still against a plain white backdrop for long enough to get a photo. Some companies, like epassport.com, will prepare your photos with a guarantee that your baby's photo won't be rejected (check your passport application location's policy on this, as some don't allow third parties to send in photos). If needed, you can add $60 to your application if expedited service is required. For the most up-to-date information on what documents are required for your child's first passport, be sure to check the US Department of State website.

It depends. On most airlines, babies under the age of two can sit in your lap on a flight, sometimes with a special lap belt that you attach to your seatbelt. You may have to pay a fee—primarily on international airlines—which can come with a special boarding pass. It helps to call the airline before booking to confirm. In fact, some require you to call their customer service line to add them as a “lap-infant.” Once the child turns two, they are required to have their own ticket.

Still, if you can swing it, we suggest purchasing your baby their own seat from the get-go. It will be more pleasant to have the extra space (and a buffer from other passengers) and, as Sumers says, it's safer: “You wouldn't hold your baby in your lap in a car, even if you were only going a mile away at 10 mph. So why would you hold your baby on an airplane racing on a runway at 150 mph? In severe turbulence, or in a survivable crash, you may not be not able to hold onto your baby.”

When flying with kids, arrive early to the airport, so you have extra time to check in, get through security, and board the plane. Here's how to prepare, step-by-step.

Security

If you have TSA PreCheck, children 12 and under can get in line with you and breeze on through. But for Global Entry, the baby needs its own account. Here’s how to apply.

When it comes to getting your stuff through, TSA checkpoints are “wildly inconsistent” across different airports in the US, says Shallcross. The good news is that breast milk and formula are some of the few items you're allowed to pack in your carry on in excess of the 3.4 oz liquid rule. "If you're traveling with breast milk or formula, note that you can carry-on, but you will most likely be on the receiving end of a pat-down," Shallcross notes. Having TSA PreCheck makes the process go a bit faster, and sometimes, in lieu of a screening, TSA will test to-go bottles of formula instead. International checkpoints also vary widely, but, often, jars of baby food and bottles will be screened.

As for the stroller you plan to gate check, know that it will have to go on the belt through the x-ray machine, like the rest of your bags. It may be pulled aside and tested or swabbed by a TSA agent.

Getting to the gate

Speaking of gate-checking: "As soon as you make it through security, head to your gate and get the gate tags for your stroller," says Shallcross. "If you wait until you board, the gate attendants may ask you to step aside and wait until they finish boarding the group, before they give you the tags."

And then there's the age-old question: Should you board in the first wave with your baby and toddlers? Most gate agents give you the option of early boarding—and with a newborn or infant, that's the way to go so you can get settled with bags stowed and essentials out for takeoff. But with an active toddler? That means you're on the plane for an extra 30 to 45 minutes, trying to contain their wild energy in a small space. No thanks.

If you're traveling with another adult, super traveler Sam Brown recommends dividing and conquering. One of you boards early with the bags; the other stays behind with the kids, letting them burn off energy at the gate until the last possible minute you can board. And, when traveling with two adults, “it’s helpful for one to go on with all the bags to place them in the overhead compartment,” says Condé Nast Traveler’s Executive Editor and traveling super-mom of two, Erin Florio. “The other can stay with the kid(s) while they run around.”

Nursing, pumping, and feeding

If you need a quiet space to breastfeed before boarding, look for a Mamava Pod. They're designed to allow moms to nurse babies in private, they're free to use, and there's even room for another small child to hang out inside.

As for toddlers, “if you rely on the plane to refill the baby’s bottle, don’t—” says Florio. When finding that many airlines don’t offer milk onboard, Florio finds it’s best to purchase it in the terminal beforehand. She often requests for a terminal café to fill up two empty bottles and then brings them onboard.

The easiest way to keep a baby from crying during the flight is to give them milk or formula on takeoff and landing—the go-to move of parents for decades, as it helps babies adjust to the change in cabin pressure. Admittedly, if the baby is going to be strapped in, nursing will be hard, so consider a bottle. (When it comes to tips for getting your toddler to sleep on a plane, we've got those too.)

If you have a bassinet or plan to have the baby in a Bjorn for most of the flight, they'll need to come out and be strapped into their seat or held on your lap during takeoff and landing. Become friendly with your flight attendants, because you may need their help (and patience) more than usual from here on out (that said, they're often happy to help with things like warm water for a bottle).

This also brings us to our favorite controversy: Should you apologize in advance to your fellow seat mates? Sumers says, emphatically, that “there's no reason parents should bring treats for other passengers, or apologize for their baby's behavior." Everyone knows it's hard to control any situation on an airplane, and that you're doing the best you can, Sumers says. People-pleasers may feel the need to do otherwise; ultimately, it's about whichever move creates an on-plane environment that's most comfortable for you.

What if your kid is a seat kicker?

Try changing up your seating chart. Travel journalist Samantha Brown and her husband would book seats in two separate rows, one right in front of the next, and each sit with one of their twins. If one of the kids got fussy—or kicked the seat in front of them—at least it would be a family member they were harassing.

Do babies’ ears hurt when flying?

Ear-popping and discomfort can be an issue for many flyers in general, thanks to pressure changes. To pop our ears, normally, we yawn or swallow to open the Eustachian tube, which equalizes the air pressure in what’s called our “middle ear.” For babies and young kids, these tubes can be relatively narrow, which is why you might hear crying during the first or last few minutes of the flight. If they are old enough to understand, ensure that they know the pain is only temporary, and allow a few minutes for the tubes to open up. To help ease lasting ear pain, Yamini Durani, MD tells Nemours, have your children stay awake for takeoff and landing (during sleep, they won’t swallow as often, so the air pressure might be more difficult to equalize), and give them a bottle or pacifier, or breastfeed—just make sure the baby is sitting upright when drinking. For precautionary measures, bring along medicine, such as a decongestant or antihistamine, for your child to take just in case.

Many parents worry about the impact of jet lag on children when flying long distances. If you're taking a transatlantic flight (say, New York to Paris), the red-eye is a godsend and the easiest way to ward off jet lag. To start: Your baby will be more inclined to sleep through the flight. Once you land, consider not getting on local time. Yes, you'll all sleep in later and start your day later, but you can keep the baby out later, rather than having to commit to your hotel room by 6:30 p.m. every night, and the re-entry back home goes a bit smoother because you never really got off your schedule. There's also something special about being able to take your baby to the Louvre at 8 p.m. on a Friday.

This article has been updated with new information since its original publication date.

Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler

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