5 Tips for Comfortable Travel with Your Young Child or Infant
Dr. Harvey Karp, author of Happiest Baby on the Block, gave us the 411 on comfortable travel with your baby.
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Be prepared.
Always bring a kit filled with essentials and medicines just in case to minimize frantic trips to the pharmacy while you’re traveling. Dr. Karp suggests ibuprofen for fevers, cortisone creams for burns, Benadryl for allergies, and anything your child may need specific to his health needs. Other things to bring include your child’s “lovie,” a backup “lovie,” and of course, a Marry Poppins-style bag of tricks. If you’re on a long plane ride, distractions are key, Dr. Karp says. Bring a supply of trinkets and toys you can use to keep the child interested throughout the period including electronic distractions. However, don’t reveal your whole hand at once!
Anticipate pressure changes on a plane.
One of the most difficult parts of taking a baby on a plane are the pressure changes. Think about it: When you experience that painful throbbing in your ears as a result of take-off or landing, you respond by popping your ears by chewing gum, holding your nose, or drinking water. However, babies don’t know what is causing this pain, or how to fix it. The last thing you want is a shrieking baby on a flight, so Dr. Karp suggests giving your baby a bottle 10 minutes into take-off and again 30 minutes before landing to get your baby swallowing and relieving some of that pressure.
Baby-proof your space.
“Be prepared to baby-proof wherever you’re going to stay, which is of-ten a lot easier in a hotel than in another person’s home because you can rearrange whatever you want,” Dr. Karp says. “Bring paper bandage tape to tape electric outlets, cords up against walls, and the toilet and fridge shut. You can also tape cotton balls on sharp corners.” While baby-proofing the hotel room, or whatever space you may be staying in, Dr. Karp suggests creating a sense of familiarity in the space, whether it’s by playing white noise in the hotel room, hanging up your child’s drawings on the wall, or packing your child’s favorite blanket.
