There are a lot of information and tips out there that would help you prepare for your first trip with your little one, but I thought I’d just share my own learning points specifically for travelling with an infant. Umar was 4 months when we headed for the Maldives, and then a roadtrip in Malaysia the week after. Personally I felt that this was a good age to travel as he was not very mobile yet (crawling / walking) and relatively easy to please as long as he was well fed and comfortable. I noticed that older babies tend to have developed preferences and temperaments… And therefore a little more fussy.

The Maiden Plane Ride

We were quite nervous about flying with Umar. Afraid we’ll be one of those helpless parents with a crying baby getting dagger stares from fellow passengers. But alhamdulillah, it was a smooth journey there and back, with a surprisingly cooperative little Umar. Some practical tips:

~ Make sure you do online check-in and seat selection prior to the flight. Buying an infant ticket does not mean they will automatically give you the front row seats. You still have to do seat selection. Depending on the plane configuration, some flights will have bassinets and this can only be set-up if you choose the front seats.

~ As for the stroller, you can bring in all the way to the airway bridge (that passageway that connects the airport to the plane), and the crew will ask you to leave it outside before you step on the plane. They will tag it as ’special delivery’ which means your stroller will be loaded on to the plane baggage compartment last, and will be offloaded first. Same treatment is given to wheelchairs. Make sure you see them tag it, or else you will not see your stroller when you get off the plane and may have to carry your baby until baggage claim. If your flight transits somewhere, this tag will make sure you get your stroller back during transit.

~ If you have a travel system stroller like ours, you can actually bring on the attached infant seat onto the plane. However, they will only allow you to place it on a seat if you buy a child ticket. An infant ticket won’t permit this. But as the flight to Maldives was not full, the kind airline crew asked the guy sitting next to us to move elsewhere so that we could place Umar’s seat on it. We were not so lucky on the flight home, so the crew helped store the bassinet in the overhead compartment.

~ Now, breastfeeding. All the literature I read tells me to nurse him upon take-off, but they never actually specify exactly when. The trick is not to start nursing when the plane starts to taxi.. cos it may take up to 15mins before it actually takes off, by which time baby will be full and not want to feed anymore. Start nursing when the plane is actually taking off, cos the baby actually needs to feed (swallow) when the air pressure changes. For planes departing from Singapore, the ascent is not very steep, so you need to nurse for quite some time. The most useful tip I had was to use your own ears to know when to nurse. If you feel the air pressure changing, quickly nurse your baby. I did the same thing when we took Umar up the KLCC twin towers, the lift escalated at such a phenomenal speed… thank God D reminded me to nurse him.

~ I know some babies hate the bassinet on the plane cos its so small, but Umar was quite curious about it, and I guess he didn’t mind as long as he could see me. He fell asleep in it once, but the airline require you to hold your baby during turbulence, so he ended up sleeping in my arms most of the time. All in all, the plane rides were pleasant, and my only source of nervousness turned out to be when strangers wanted to hold Umar! I’m usually quite easy about this but with the H1N1 scare at that time, I was the paranoid mom armed with a sanitiser, spraying it on Umar’s little hands throughout the journey.

Stroller vs Carrier Debate

The outcome of the debate was… we brought both! And more! Haha. D was really irritated with me. I insisted on taking the stroller, the Bjorn carrier (thanks Husainy for the loan!) and 2 slings; the MIM sling and the mesh sling! My excuse was that the carrier is for our walks and boat rides (more secure than sling), the mesh sling for the water and showering with Umar, and the regular MIM slings for feeding Umar in public (the mesh sling gives poor coverage).

In the end, the stroller was a good decision, cos the island was stroller-friendly and it provided a familiar sleeping place for Umar. He falls asleep easily in the stroller, and this helped D and I enjoy quiet romantic dinners after the little boy has gone to sleep. The Bjorn carrier was really useful for the boat rides and walks on the beach, and the sarong sling was compact enough for me to fold and bring along for when Umar needs his milk-fix.

Beach Essentials

A huge beach bag comes in handy when you’re on a beach vacation with baby. My essentials comprised of his hat, baby sunblock (very important!), baby sunglasses (which he hated cos his long eyelashes made it difficult for his eyes to open under the glasses), hooded towel, regular and swim diapers, diaper bag and a change of clothes. When we went island hopping we didn’t change Umar out from his swim diapers and swimsuit the whole time, cos our wet clothes would only get him wet again. But when we went to the pool we’d change him out after his swim so he can sit at the sides of the pool while Ibu and Ayah took a swim.

One thing to be careful about taking baby swimming is that he may injest too much chlorine or seawater. Esp for very young babies who have not had all their immunisations yet. So we had to keep a close watch. Also, Umar’s not ALWAYS in the mood to swim, so we found that we had to be flexible about our plans, and let his moods guide us. Like he didn’t look terribly happy in the photo below.. so we had to pack up and head back indoors even though I really haven’t had enough!

Toys and Books

We found that babies don’t really need many toys. They are not adults and don’t need varied entertainment. One favourite toy is enough, although Umar always prefers human interaction. So books may be more useful to keep him entertained. We also found that he hates being cooped up indoors, and experienced first hand what my helper deals with every day. No wonder she always walks up and down the corridor with him.. Umar knows our neighbours better than I do now!

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My most useless item? I brought the baby monitor along, only to have D give me that “I-told-you-so” look. I thought it may be useful if Umar is sleeping in the room and we wanted to laze by the beach. But of course, since Umar was never asleep longer than 15mins during the day, it was completely useless!

One useful item to include when going on a beach holiday or anywhere else with hot weather, is an Evian spray bottle. Babies can get overheated easily, and a spray to the face and head would help on a hot hot day. I forgot this item when I went on our Malaysian roadtrip, and this was a BIG mistake. Umar got overheated coming down Bukit Bendera in Penang, and he was so angry that for the first time in my nursing life he refused to feed to be calmed down (cos this means going under the tudung).

About 50 other tourists in that furnicular had to hear him wail and scream all the way down… I had never felt so helpless in my life. I swear I would never never ever again go into an enclosed train / tram / cable car with no way out when my baby wants out. And I would never never go anywhere without doing research about the place first, which is really my biggest tip to you guys. Bukit Bendera was an impulse visit for us, and the fantastic view aside, we quite regretted it. Preparation is key, so be sure to be well-read about your destination before your trip. InsyaAllah, I believe babies are even more adaptable than adults, so with adequate preparation, you’ll have a wonderful family vacation insyaAllah!

Other mommies, feel free to share your tips and experiences travelling with an infant too! I’m sure as the kids get older the considerations will be much much much more, so this post is specific for infant travel for now :)