Lap Infant

[Porphyro]

We will be flying down to MCO soon - a 2.5 hour trip from Cincinnati. We were fortunate enough to book a non-stop flight. My youngest is not even a year old yet and hence we decided to take her as a lap infant.

Our thought process was that she probably will need to eat during the flight because it is smack dab in the middle of her feeding - and even if she doesn't she'll probably need reassurance due to the "foreignness" of the flight experience.

I was feeling fine about this...and then I was talking to an ex-flight attendant friend. "Oh that's a HORRIBLE idea...what if you hit wind shear and the plane drops twenty feet and your little girl flies out of your arms and hits the roof of the plane." "What if..."

You get the picture. I think she's a little overboard, but...

My question: how horrible of an idea is this really? There are only six seats available on our flight down to Orlando, so if I'm going to act, I need to act ASAP.

 

[DebbieB]

We will be flying down to MCO soon - a 2.5 hour trip from Cincinnati. We were fortunate enough to book a non-stop flight. My youngest is not even a year old yet and hence we decided to take her as a lap infant.

Our thought process was that she probably will need to eat during the flight because it is smack dab in the middle of her feeding - and even if she doesn't she'll probably need reassurance due to the "foreignness" of the flight experience.

I was feeling fine about this...and then I was talking to an ex-flight attendant friend. "Oh that's a HORRIBLE idea...what if you hit wind shear and the plane drops twenty feet and your little girl flies out of your arms and hits the roof of the plane." "What if..."

You get the picture. I think she's a little overboard, but...

My question: how horrible of an idea is this really? There are only six seats available on our flight down to Orlando, so if I'm going to act, I need to act ASAP.

This is a very controversial topic. The safest place is in a carseat.

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/airplanetravel.aspx
http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/travel/28pracsafetyseats.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-501083_162-6564141.html
http://jetwithkids.com/book_freeChapter.html

 

[Lisa71]

The safest place is a car seat hands down. We did do one trip with our DD from LA to Vegas and had her as a lap infant. The flight is only an hour gate to gate. I would never recommend a lap infant, just like a lap child in a car...but it can be done. We have bigger kids now, and even though a car seat would still be safer, we feel ok with the seatbelts as getting their monster car seats in the plane is not easy. If you can afford it do a seat and have the extra room.

 

[Annie78]

Safety considerations aside, I was very glad to have my baby in a car seat the first time we flew (around 11 mos, 3 hour flight). Having him secured in his own seat made feeding, entertaining, etc, a lot easier than having to constantly pass him back and forth with DH. Unless your kid is a car seat hater, being in the car seat usually is familiar and comforting.
However, I realize buying an extra seat can be tough, and I certainly see lots of lap infants (even lap toddlers) when I fly.

 

[vicki_c]

I think your friend has seen a lot of the bad things that can happen during bad turbulence, which may be rare, but does happen (overhead bins popping open, stuff falling, unseat belted people hitting their heads, etc.). I've been on a flight with extreme turbulence and was scared with my seatbelt on.

As a PP said - it is a hotly debated topic. When we flew with my DS (he was almost 2), we bought him a seat and took his car seat. Much more comfortable for us and him, and safer. And he was used to his seat, so it seemed totally normal to him.

What you do is up to you - but no matter how tight you think you could hold your child in an emergency, you may not be able to, and the car seat would be the safest choice.

 

[Jestocost]

The safest thing is to never leave your home; as long as you stay away from stairs and bathtubs. And forget about putting them in a car.

We've flown dozens of times with our kids (now 14 and 18), including several times with lap babies. It's more dangerous than putting them in a car seat (which requires paying for a seat in most cases), but less dangerous than things you probably do with them every day.

 

[DisneyClown]

I flip flopped on this same thing when I took my 1 year old, but mostly because of the cost of buying another ticket. I ultimately decided that if I could afford to go on vacation, I could afford to buy my daughter a seat on the plane.

I have seen a harness where you can strap the child to yourself on your lap. Maybe that would help ease your fears about her not having her own seat. I'm sorry I don't remember where I saw it but I think it was One Step Ahead.

 

[bumbershoot]

Safety considerations aside (b/c that's been covered), go out to your car, sit in the back seat of the car with her for 2.5 hours, along with boarding and disembarking time, never once putting her down, keeping her in a *very* small and tight space, don't allow her to touch the seatback in front of you or kick out or push on the seat.

Find a portapotty, and try to do your business in that space without letting her touch anything (portapotties in my experience are *bigger* than plane bathrooms). You might say "but I have my spouse", but I think we all know that sometimes children can be VERY unhappy, noisily so, when their favored-for-the-moment parent tries to pass them off, and in a plane of course you're not going to insist on the pass-off if there is screaming involved, so you might not be able to pass the baby off if you need to use the restroom.

It's just....really hard to hold a child for that long, with all the other factors about being on an airplane being thrown in.


Is it *likely* that you'll hit such turbulence that she would become a flying object (horrible for her, and also dangerous to those in her flight path)? No, probably not. But IF it happened, do you think it's likely that you would be vigilant enough at that moment, with a very tight grip on her just sitting there, to the extent that you can hold her without hurting her during the turbulence?


Darnit, I said "safety considerations aside"... so back to physical/pain/annoyance considerations...

My son was definitely older than yours on his first flight (so he was heavier and more capable of moving and all of that), but I still regret having him as a lap baby. I was EXHAUSTED by the end of the flight, and we had budgeted so tightly we couldn't get him a seat for the way home, so the last few days of our trip were just a bummer for me, thinking of doing it all over again. He was a squirmy and curious dude, and none of us were happy about keeping him in that small space!

 

[Hannathy]

I flew thousands of miles with both my kids as lap babies and never had a problem. In all sizes of planes from puddle jumpers to big ones. I even had to get into a brace position for a landing in bad weather and didn't have a problem and I'm a very small person.

I never once cam close to having them fly out of my arms. Actually on one fllight that we had terrible turbulence and the FA's had to strap in and a few people were getting sick my DD was on my lap saying weeee and laughing every time we dropped.

It isn't that bad to hold them, I'm sure you have held her for long periods at a show or event.
I wouldn't buy a seat for a baby that could fly for free.

 

[ltl engine]

We have taken 2 of our DS as lap children from Chicago to Orlando. I would do it again in a heartbeat but just as with other parenting things you have to do what you are comfortable with. You know your child and their limitations. I know my DS would not sit in his carseat for the entire ride and end up on my lap anyway. If you have a plan it can work well. We would get up early on the day of the flight. Try not to let them sleep in the car on the way to the airport then into the stroller until we got to security. The airport is full of great things to keep a baby interested--people watching, moving sidewalks, carts, etc. If you baby can walk have them burn some energy at an empty gate before boarding. Our kids have fallen asleep right after take off and woke up right before (or after) landing each time. We are lucky I know but we have had good experiences. Again you have gotten all the safety advice, do what is best for your family. Enjoy your trip!

 

[aubriee]

I used to coach a little girl in soccer, whose dad is a pilot for Southwest. At one game we got to talking about lap kids on planes. He said he hated it and it was not safe, as there was no way a parent could hold onto a child during rough turbulence and that child then becomes a projectile hurting not only himself, but others. I asked him why airlines allowed it then. He gave me a disgusted look and said "why do you think. They want to make money and know alot of parents don't want to pay for the baby a seat. It still doesn't make it safe though and the airlines know it".

May 5th I was flying out of Orlando to Dallas and right after we boarded the pilot made the announcement that due to some pretty bad turbulence we were going to have to fly over Atlanta, then Memphis, Tennessee, then he'd take us back south over Little Rock, AR, and finally on to Dallas. My first thought was 'drat it, we were going to be late getting in', but then I thought, 'I wonder how many lap kids are on this flight and if those poor moms were going to have any trouble holding them'. Sure enough we hit alot of turbulence and the seat belt lights stayed on for almost the entire flight. There were not any major drops or anything, but it was still a pretty rough flight for awhile. I was sitting in the very front of the plane in Row 2, so don't know what was going on in the back of the plane, but we heard several kids screaming (maybe parents were having to hold them too tight or maybe they were just restless and wanted out of their seats). The FA kept coming on, telling everyone to please stay in their seats. Even they were staying buckled in. The pilot came on and made some joke about giving us a free roller coaster ride that was not quite as good as Big Thunder Mountain, but still pretty good. I feel sorry for any parent that had a lap child during the first hour or so of that flight.

 

[goofy4tink]

This is a heated topic...and it's nice to see that posters here are discussing it nicely.
The thing to keep in mind is this...no one expects there to be a sudden drop..but it happens. I think it's called 'white air'....no one sees it coming, unless a pilot in a plane ahead of you alerts your pilot to it. Otherwise, that plane will drop thousands of feet with no warning...and that's when you see people becoming projectile objects!! Not a pretty sight.
BUT...this doesn't happen very often. So, it's up to each family to decide how they want to fly with their family. For me...there is no way I would fly with a child in my lap for more than a very short time. Even then I would really have to think hard about it.
Many people have had good experiences with lap babies...others, not so much. Is it safe?? Probably.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

My husband was a passenger on UA flight 967 from IAD to LAX in July 2010, which hit severe turbulence and had to make an emergency landing in Denver (Google it for more info). Despite this, he and I would not hesitate to fly with a lap child for a domestic flight. The chances of very bad turbulence happening are extremely small, much smaller than your chances of being in an automobile accident if you drove on your trip.