Flying with a baby

[tig_536]

Hi everyone -
I was just wondering about formula and the airport security. Can we take powder? Can we take liquid formula in a sealed container? I got some small 2ounce premade enfamil from his ped. What about dry cereal and baby food? Is water still a no go too? Thanks for the advice in advance.

Does a stroller count as one of your carry ons? How strick are the air lines with carryons? We are not buying my 5 month old a ticket. We are taking his infant seat hoping that there will be an extra seat. We are flying on delta. Any info or tips would be greatly appreciated. We are taking the red eye so i hope he sleeps.
Thanks again,
Jennifer

 

[Princess Roo]

You are allowed to bring a reasonable amount of pre-mixed formula through security, as much powder as you want, and no water. It seems to be up to the TSA to determine what is "reasonable", but certainly a few bottles would be fine. Dry cereal is OK. From what I've heard, baby food is also OK.

Strollers and carseats do not count as carry ons. Depending on the airline, if you decide to check them they may count toward your checked baggage limit.

DS has flown more than 20 legs now and it's really not bad. My DS won't sleep on flights, so it's a lot of effort to keep him entertained, but he's always behaved for the most part and I haven't gotten any grief from other passengers. I hope your baby sleeps for you! If he likes slings or front carriers, you may want to bring that on the plane, too. I have seen many babies sleeping in those. Good luck!

 

[cel_disney]

This is from the tsa website:

Medications, baby formula and food, breast milk, and juice are allowed in reasonable quantities exceeding three ounces and are not required to be in the zip-top bag. Declare these items for inspection at the checkpoint

I flew last week from boston. I pre-filled my 2 baby bottles with water, gas drops, and motrin in one. I had enough powdered formula for 32 ounces (1 day), 3 jars of baby food, 2 sippy cups with water, and 1 container of juice on each leg.

When I declared the items in Boston, they tried to tell me 'no water'. I told them that it was part of his formula and it had medicine in it. I offered to pre-mix there so that I could keep it, and they told me not to worry, it wouldnt be a problem to go through as it was for baby/baby formula which was allowed per the guidelines on their page (which I had printed - also, check out the medical disability guidelines, they actually allow water). The other items were not even questioned.

When I declared the items in Orlando, they replied "Oh - dont worry, we dont take candy from babies, just put it on through". I replied and said "Thank you, I was just trying to be a good doobie and declare it", to which he said not a problem but not to worry, they werent picky at all if its for baby anything goes.

We were traveling with a convertable carseat not an infant seat, so this tip probably wont apply to you - but I had my DH board the plane first and get the carseat installed etc. I didnt board with my DS (11m) until final boarding call!

My dr's advice was to give motrin in his 'take off' bottle to stem off any ear pain and to make sure that he had a bottle (water, juice, or formula) for landing. I started manipulating his bottle routine starting 1 week before our trip so that I could do that!!

Enjoy! Its really not that bad!!

 

[blessedby3]

I thought you could have bottled water as long as it was bought after the scanner area
You could pack the powder formula and buy a couple of bottles of water after passing the security checkpoint.

 

[Minniemouse07]

Dd flew five round trip flights before she was 3.5yo. Here are some of the things we did/didn't do:

• Always purchased a seat for her and used her car seat. The white noise of the plane put her right to sleep, usually before we even took off! Here is a great pair of links about using car seats on planes!
• We only had dh preboard...he went on and installed the seat and we let her run around and burn off her energy until the end of boarding. Then when we got on her seat was all ready and we weren't blocking the aisles.
• There is something to be said about choosing seats ahead of time, but this trip we are taking SW ...and ds is 2yo. I'm just going to make sure we are in group A and we should be fine.
• The stroller was gate checked each trip. Dd rode or pushed it down the jetway right to the door. I made sure it was collapsed...didn't want anyone to break anything trying to figure it out. It was always there upon arrival and in great condition.
• Dd had a small backpack (kid sized) w/ only her toys in it. Toys depended on age...when she was younger it was Little People, small figures and board books. I travel Magna Doodles (now called Doodle Pros), nothing to chase around on the floor once it is dropped! Colorforms are great as well.
• Dh and I each carried a backpack, mine was a diaper bag (Land's End ROCKS!) and his was a regular one.
• Dh either carried dd's car seat, pulled it on our Samsonite Micro Mover collapsible luggage cart (folds up to fit in the backpack), or once she was older we put it on the stroller and dd walked!
• We never did anything special for ears or pressure issues. Dd did just fine. I would caution you about using Benedryl..this backfired for a friend of mine. Her dd became hyper while on it instead of drowsy so she had a bouncing, hyper 15mo on her 3hr flight!
• Packing familiar snacks is a great idea. Lots of small crunchy things worked well for us.

Good Luck and have fun!

 

[Disney Ron]

Our DS flew his first trip at five months, he slept the whole time on both flights. We recommend getting a seat. I did make sure he had a bottle to sip on at all times for his ears.

I used premade formula for that trip. We are going again in 6 days. I plan on taking powder formula sticks with us, and a couple of bottles of baby food. I bought a bottle of water at a store once we passed security. DS does not mind cold formula so I can even get one from the flight attendants.


Mrs. Disney Ron

 

[Princess Roo]

I thought you could have bottled water as long as it was bought after the scanner area
You could pack the powder formula and buy a couple of bottles of water after passing the security checkpoint.

That is correct. You can buy and board with whatever you can find once you're past security, including water.

 

[Not so Dumbo]

when we flew with DD6mo:
we gate checked the stroller which didn't count as a checked item
brought powdered formula and water in a bottle. In Detroit they didn't have a problem with the water, but in Orlando they did and we either had to dump it out or mix it infront of the TSA agent
We brought DD's front carrier. She was in this from the time we boarded until we landed. Some DIS'ers have said that they will make you take them out during take off and landing but we were never asked to. DD slept the whole time in there.
I brought her pacifier and bottle to help with ear pressure but it didn't really bother her.
We also brought her diaper bag on board and that also didn't count as carry on luggage.

 

[aprincess@mail.com]

When we flew in June, we gate checked our stroller and the car seat. There were no extra seats, so DD sat on our laps. She fell asleep as soon as we hit the runway. Oh and your infant can have one checked bag and one carry-on bag.

 

[mrstomrice]

We flew with our 10 mo and 3 yo. I wasn't going to buy a seat...we bought a window and an eisle towards the back of the plane, hoping to have that seat left empty for our use. I checked the seat availabilty daily and we ended up purchasing our empty seat for him because I did not want to have to held him the entire trip. THe flight was booked solid. He fell asleep on take off and woke up on landing on both flights. It was perfect, minus 1 thing...I never considered him having a BM as we waited to take off but we weren't allowed to get up since we were in line to take off. The plane we were on only had the toilet seat areato change him on, so I waited to change him until we landed...poor guy...luckily he fell asleep. Be sure to check what the changing areas are before you get too settled in. We had him in the convetible car seat, which was great because he could stay in there in the stoller until we gate checked it. Good luck!

 

[thepeach80]

We took several bottles of water w/ us and KC didn't have a problem, but in Savannah they did have a problem and I had to mix it in w/ formula and dump the rest. Baby food was never a problem or the tons of snacks/juice I had for my older kids or the 3 cans of formula I brought (she's on rx formula and if the luggage got lost we'd have been screwed so I took some on the plane). We took all their carseats on the plane plus 4 carryons and gate checked the stroller for no extra charge.