Diaper changes on the plane

[golden1]

Last night as I was drifting off, a thought occurred to me. I have never flown with kids before. Where do you change a poopy diaper on a plane? I would think it would be difficult if not impossible to do it in the miniscule bathrooms they provide on the plane. I would hate to stink up the whole cabin by doing it in the airplane seat.

So how do you do it?

 

[The Disney Bunch]

Last night as I was drifting off, a thought occurred to me. I have never flown with kids before. Where do you change a poopy diaper on a plane? I would think it would be difficult if not impossible to do it in the miniscule bathrooms they provide on the plane. I would hate to stink up the whole cabin by doing it in the airplane seat.

So how do you do it?

In the bathrooms (which I know are tiny but it is manageable) there is a baby changer over the toilet. You pull it down & you can change the baby - it is a lot esier than trying to change the baby in your seat!

 

[wrighter]

I feel your pain! We have traveled with our young children MANY times and this is one thing that is never easy. With little babies it isn't as difficult because they're smaller and take up less space in those tiny bathrooms. But from the looks of it, your kids are older and it will be a bit trickier.

Not all airplanes have the pulldowns, even if your children could fit on them. It's worth asking one of the flight attendants, though. I also ask the flight attendants if any of the bathrooms are bigger than the others (even a few extra inches is helpful!)

Bring your own changing pad - Lord only knows what germs are lurking in those airplane bathrooms! And a huge stash of antibacterial wipes. You don't want to start your vacation with a sick child! Or sick Mommy.

It isn't easy, but it is doable. And you can always hope that your child won't do a #2 while in flight. Good luck!

 

[katytrott]

I was so pleased that my DS did a #2 just before getting on the plane both for the outbound and homebound flight, and nothing while onboard (quite amazing considering it was a nine hour flight). However I did change his nappy onboard and noticed for our airline (excell) there was a toilet at the back that had a changing table that pulled down over the toilet. I had read somewhere that most airlines have at least one baby changing toilet on board so you just have to ask the staff. My DS was also a wriggly 23 month old, but I didn't think it was that dificult to manage. There wasn't a great deal of room in the toilet, but considering I wasn't planning on dancing the foxtrot or anything, this also wasn't a major problem. The table that was brought down was plenty big enough, even for my DS who is as tall as most 3 year olds. The only problem was when he was laid down, he was quite scared of part of the plane that was looming quite low over the top of him.
All in all, I don't think it was any more difficult then doing it at any other public baby change (I hate changing nappies when the child is at my arms height). Hope this helps.

 

[all4fun]

How long will your flights be? We fly from the west coast and always have at least one layover. If your flight is only a couple of hours you might very well make it w/out having to do a change. I always try to change ds just before boarding starts (or at least make sure his diaper is dry) and sometimes we can make it to our layover w/out having to do a change. Of course, that's easier said when it's just #1. You can't really ignore #2.

One thing you might do is see if you can change your ds standing up. I've actually changed ds that way in the plane lavatory (standing on the closed toilet) because he's way too big to lay down on the fold out table (which the prev poster is correct - not all planes even have those). If he must lay down, the FA's *might be* nice and let you use the floor in the galley - I'd bring a blanket or changing pad to lay under him. I'd hate to count on the generosity of the FA's though as that is there work area.

 

[NotUrsula]

Just don't change the baby at your seat unless the FA's absolutely refuse to let you get up and go to the lav. It is really one of those flight etiquette no-no's. (If you have no choice, use the seat w/ a large changing pad -- never the tray table.)

Changing tables are more common now than they used to be (but they are still so tiny that they are useless a lot of the time). In the pre-table days, I used to change babies on the floor directly outside the lav, with the door open and blocking the view; that also put me within arm's reach of the toilet.

One thing it is good to do for flights is to carry a few CHUX, those paper pads that hospitals use on top of the sheets for bedpan patients. They are large, leakproof, and disposable, so cleanup is instant. You can also use the airsickness bags to seal up diapers in order to contain the smell. Be aware that FA's are not allowed to ever dispose of a diaper for you -- they can't because they handle food. The best they can do is hold out a trash bag at arm's length and let you toss it in.

 

[liznboys]

We've only flown twice with our little ones so far. Thankfully no #2 occurred during our flights! phew. I'm just praying we don't encounter it! From what I've read, Southwest (who we fly) doesn't have the changing table thingies in their bathrooms...so for us it would be on the seat or on the floor.

 

[carissanboys]

I have flown on so many flights with my children...including flights from Baltimore, MD to Australia and back. We've rarely encountered poopy diapers and tend to do most of the diaper changes in the airports. It looks like your youngest is 2 (my youngest's bday is May 23, 2004 )? My suggestion would be to use a pull up on the plane. If he pooped, you could always change him standing up in the bathroom. Pull ups make that much easier.

 

[dismom301930]

I plan to use a pull-up for my DD2.5 when we go in a few weeks. She's almost fully potty trained, but I plan to put her in a pull-up just in case. If I have to change her, I can do it with her standing up in the bathroom.

 

[princesspwrhr]

There was an article in our Sunday paper just this weekend about how the airlines have declined in cleanliness for cost cutting factors and one of the things mentioned was part of an interveiw with a flight attendent. She said something along the lines of "You learn to have a keen eye for things that can cause a potential problem like a parent taking an infant to the restroom. A soiled diaper can really make it's apperance known 9 cities later if it's just tossed in the trash. Most experianced travelers know to give it to me in a ziploc or grocery sack so it gets disposed of at the next stop but you learn to look for those who don't know."

 

[WDWorBUST]

We also have been fortunate on our 3 (12 segments) trips flying with DD not to have needed a diaper change mid-flight. But we did buy the "first steps" or something like that - they're like pull-ups but they are for smaller babies. We used them when DD was 13 months so I could do standing changes - it made life much easier and put my mind at ease on the whole airplane issue.

 

[Zoemakes5]

At close to 2.5, even if your plane does have a changing table, you won't be able to use it with a child that old. They really are meant/made for smaller babies, not toddlers, even young ones.
My kids at that age had fairly regular bm cycles. You may be able miss a bm entirely if you're not flying during those times.
Here's a suggestion from a mom who has flown with 2 in diapers at the same time. Put DS in a pull up for the flight. If he is in potty training mode, you may get lucky and the lure of a new potty experience may encourage him to go in the big potty. If not, and he has a bm, find the biggest bathroom. Once in there, have him stand on the toilet seat with the lid down. Take off his pants. Tear the pull up off at the seams (some have velcro, makes it a bit easier, but it's pretty easy, anyway.) Bring a plastic bag of some sort with you, toss the poopy pull up into the bag. Then, have DS bend over and put his arms on the wash stand/counter and it should make it easier to get the poopy cleaned off and also make it so you don't have to find a way to lay him down and/or bend down onto the non-existant floor!

 

[golden1]

Thanks for the tips everyone!

I will probably go with the pull up method, even though we aren't potty training yet, and I don't plan on starting until after Disney. Thanks for the trip on bringing a ziploc bag - will do!