flying with baby

[designermv]

I will be flying with a 5-month old lap baby next week. I bought a Baby B'Air harness to use for our flight. It can't be used during taxi, takeoff, or landing, but it can be used in-flight which means it will secure her to me in the event of turbulence.

I am aware that this isn't as safe as having her in her own seat in a carseat, but for us it's a reasonable compromise. I got my Baby B'Air on eBay for a few bucks.

 

[frtchr]

We have always bought seats for our kids. It's selfish on my part, though. DH is 6'5" and barely has room to fit in a seat, so I would have been on baby duty the whole time. I didn't want to hold either one the entire flight!

 

[wscottsawka]

We took one of our sons as a lap baby one time. Never ever again!! He was 6mo at the time and what a horrible experience. If you can afford the extra seat, trust me by all means put the baby in a car seat and relax. You and they will have a much better flight if you do.

 

[syudelson]

Hmmm if there was a "accident" God Forbid. Would it be easier to be holding baby or trying to get baby out of car seat?

I can see cases where being IN a carseat would be good and I can see cases where it might be bad (i.e.) a water landing and I couldn't get baby out of carseat.

It's impossible to hold onto a lap child in the event of an emergency landing -- the force is too great. Lap children are required to be put on the floor in between your feet during an emergency landing, which gives them a better chance of survival. Otherwise they can be crushed between parent and the seat back or become a projectile in the cabin.

 

[Suellen]

It's impossible to hold onto a lap child in the event of an emergency landing -- the force is too great. Lap children are required to be put on the floor in between your feet during an emergency landing, which gives them a better chance of survival. Otherwise they can be crushed between parent and the seat back or become a projectile in the cabin.

Wow ~ literal much.

I am thinking would things be easier for me to help the child if they were a LAP child or in a carseat.

 

[Miss Mo]

Well we flew twice last year when our son was 1. He was a lap baby on our flight from Scotland to Orlando - no issue whatsoever. Then later in the year we flew from Scotland to Seattle and we booked him a seat. KLM/Delta did not allow us to take a carseat on board and he had to sit on my lap for take off/landing or if the seat belt signs were on - he also had to have a seat belt on which linked through mine at these times. So clearly every airline is different.

In terms of convenience it was good having the extra seat but it didn't make THAT much difference - gave him a bit more room to play but that's it really.

mo x

 

[anotherdisneygal]

I think it depends on the personality of your child - we flew with my older son hundreds of times before he was 2 and never bought him a seat - if there was an empty seat, great, if not, he happily sat on our laps.

My younger son has only been a lap baby once (when he was 5 months old and we went to Disney). He just never wanted sit on our laps and was much easier/happier with a seat.

 

[Zeebs]

Well we flew twice last year when our son was 1. He was a lap baby on our flight from Scotland to Orlando - no issue whatsoever. Then later in the year we flew from Scotland to Seattle and we booked him a seat. KLM/Delta did not allow us to take a carseat on board and he had to sit on my lap for take off/landing or if the seat belt signs were on - he also had to have a seat belt on which linked through mine at these times. So clearly every airline is different.

In terms of convenience it was good having the extra seat but it didn't make THAT much difference - gave him a bit more room to play but that's it really.

mo x

International have different rules, The FAA don't allow the use of lap belts however, all the international flights I have been on use them.

Internal travel within America they don't use them.

We had the same problem though when we flew with Seth was 17 months a quite big, he was in his seat ASLEEP before takeoff and I had to get him out and put him on my lap Luckily he went back into his seat I belted him in and he went back to sleep. Luckily as we were on a 12 hour flight.

Kirsten