Thanks ladies! It felt adventurous...though it was the first time that I breastfed in public, took her to a cafe, and changed her on a public change table -- all in airports or during flights! I was a bit sheltered before the trip!!
Beanonorder, enjoy your trip! The little one will probably sleep most of the way; can’t wait to see what it will be like to travel with Rosa once she’s older...the 1 year olds on the flights were active and communicative, to say the least!
A few things that I did that worked really well:
Breastfed from the time we taxied to the time the seatbelt sign went off -- she didn’t really feed that long, but I just let her suck and play away to make sure her ears didn’t pop. A soother could have also done the trick, or a bottle. I had a big muslin with me that I just ducked under with her, so I guess I would have looked like a ghost to the other passengers but I didn’t care. I was able to make sure she was feeding and happy, while not presenting my boob to the rest of the cabin. During the flight I was a bit more blase’ about the whole feeding thing, since everyone around us was asleep. I wore a loose t-shirt that I could pull down to feed her, and a nursing bra.
I had a large muslin with me the entire time, which served as a clean cover for the bassinet (you have to request this with the airline ahead of time), a cover for me when feeding, a wrap for her when it was cold (and it got chilly during the flight; airline blankets are a bit rough normally so I wanted something that she was used to), etc. I also used a sleep bag enroute.
I had the full diaper bag with me -- and packed 2x as many diapers that she would use in case of delays, but that stayed in the overhead bin the entire flight. What I kept with me at the seat was:
-a folding change pad
-a ziploc bag with a small thing of diaper wipes, 2 diapers, a small (lipstick) container of vaseline, a tiny tin of rash cream, a couple burp cloths, and a small (again, lipstick size) container of baby lotion
-another ziploc bag with saline spray (small one) and baby sanitizing wipes, as well as a soother on a ribbon clip with soother wipes
I took just the mini ziploc diaper bag and change pad with me to the washroom when I wanted to change her, which was perfect -- kept things really light and easy. I put lotion on her every time that I changed her, since the cabin was so dry, and used the saline drops during the long second flight to make sure her little nose was okay (mine was dry, so I figured hers was too).
In the diaper bag in the overhead bin, I kept extra sleepers (which I used when she had a blow out in Singapore), a plastic bag (for the blow out sleeper) and an extra t-shirt for me as well as diapers, a thermometer, baby panadol, and more saline drops, as well as adult tylenol for me!!
You’ll be fine; take a few photos of baby on the plane. I did, and the family loved them
I'll certainly be looking into getting one.
