We were lucky enough to have our first baby last fall. She is the most adorable baby in the whole world! (But I guess every new parent says that, right?) But really, she is so good and is such a fantastic traveler! In her short 6 months of life she has already been on 1 LONG road trip, 1 camping trip and two week long vacations that required 3-5 hours flights. Basically, she’s a champ at traveling 🙂

For our Travel Tips post this month, I’m going to give you my 5 best tips for flying with a baby who is 0-6 months old.

1. Fly During Sleepy Times

For our first flight with Lucy, we took a red eye from Salt Lake to Orlando. She was 3 months old at the time and slept basically the entire flight out there. On our return flight, we flew in the later evening and she also slept through most of that flight. If you can schedule your flight around a time when your baby will already be asleep it will make your life SO. MUCH. EASIER.

2. Ask To Change Your Seat

On the last flight Lucy was on, I was flying solo with her. When we got to our gate, I went up and asked if there were any seats that were an aisle seat or a seat with no one next to them. I was lucky enough to get both! Airlines want to please their customers. And some customers don’t want to sit next to a baby who could potentially scream for the entire flight. I’ve found that airlines have been so helpful and accommodating when I’m flying with a baby.

Having an aisle seat is wonderful because it gives you the opportunity to quickly stand up and walk your baby if they are sad and crying. It also give you the ability to quickly get up and head to the bathroom to change their diaper before disaster happens.

And having an open seat next to you gives you more space to get situated before you fly and while you’re up in the air. During the flight when Lucy was awake, I was able to lay her down on the seat and she could play and wiggle without being in my arms which made both of us quite happy.

3. Have the Essentials Easily Accessible

Once you sit down and are getting yourself situated, make sure to pull out the essentials and place them in the seat pocket in front of you. I’ve talked about this before with MY essentials here, but now I also have a BABY’S essentials to take care of too.

I like to have a RuMe Baggie All Bag for Lucy’s things too. I have a couple of her small toys (some of Lucy’s favorites are here, here and here), a burp cloth and a small book that I keep in there for here. Then I put it in the seat pocket and everything is ready to go when we are up in the air.

(I recommend the RuME Baggie All Bag to EVERYONE I talk to, almost as much as I recommend packing cubes. If you want to get one for yourself, go to their website here. And you can use the code RRYellowVan514 for 20% off your purchase!)

4. Board Early

Use the priority boarding! Most airlines will call for families with small children to board ahead of most of the other passengers. Take advantage of this! It is so much easier to board when you’re not worried about hitting every single person with your bags as you get on the airplane or worrying about holding up the entire plane while you get things taken care of. The flight attendants are also less busy at this time and are so, so willing to help you out.

5. Know That It Will End

This is one of the best pieces of advice I ever got. Luckily Lucy has been a fantastic flyer and hasn’t really cried very much during flights. (Waiting to deplane is another story…) But if your baby is having a hard time, just remember that the flight will end. There is probably someone that will want to help you out or at least understands what you’re going through. Most people are understanding. And if they’re not or they’re grumpy about your crying child, they probably aren’t even going to say anything to you about it. And if they do, who cares!

**This post contains affiliate links**