Traveling with Small Children

A friend of mine was flying down to San Francisco to run the Nike Half Marathon.  She asked me for some tips for flying with her almost one year old.  After typing up my tips and sending them to her, I realized that these should be shared with everyone, because at some point in our life, we will find ourselves with an infant on our lap riding a silver tube through the air.

These tips are listed only in the order I thought them up, so my apologies if anything seems out of order to you.

1. A car seat won't be counted against you in the baggage department, so it's good to bring it and check it with your luggage. You may plan to take public transportation everywhere, but how will you be getting to your final destination from the airport? If by something on wheels that isn't a city bus, you'll need a car seat. Plus, you never know what kind of plans will crop up and you may need one. Car seats are too expensive to have to purchase once you're there.

2. Take a stroller with you all the way to the gate, but don't put your kid in it. Put the kid in a child carrier and throw your carry on bags on the stroller. It is much easier and less painful to get through the airport that way. The stroller can be gate checked and will be waiting for you when you deboard.

3. If you have assigned seats, wait until the last possible moment to board the plane. This pre-boarding for families with small children is a joke. You don't want to spend any more time on the airplane than you really need to. Also, when the plane lands, wait until everyone else has deboarded before getting your stuff. It will be less stressful, and all of your luggage will have already been pulled off the baggage claim and waiting for you when you get there.

4. Buy a ridiculous amount of snacks, and mostly food that you wouldn't normally feed your child because it's too this or too that, but that you know your kid will love and will probably go insane over. Do the same with toys. In fact, hide some of his or her favorite toys right now so that they are completely forgotten, and pack those. Do not let your child know that you have them, or that they exist, even when you get on the plane. Wait until the last possible second, when you are pretty sure that if you don't do something right this moment, your kid will start losing their mind and all the passengers on the airplane will hate you. That's when you pull one thing out. ONE. THING. Let it entertain your child until you get to the same nearly crazy point, and then pull out another thing, but just one. The idea is that you will get through the flight without going through your stash, because you have another flight home, and if your kid knows what you have in your bag, you'll be up the proverbial creek.

5. Get an aisle seat. (This is especially advantageous on Southwest Flights that are not overbooked).

6. Practice changing a diaper on a thimble, because most airplanes don't have changing tables, and if they do, they are the size of a lunch tray. I did diaper changes on the toilet seat.

7. If you are still nursing, nurse on take-off and landing. If people glare at you, stare them down.  It's intimidating to maintain eye contact with a nursing mother. If they complain, tell them it's better than blood curdling screams, and at least your bosoms are silky smooth. If your kiddo takes a bottle and/or you're uncomfortable nursing with a stranger's elbow in your ribs, give him or her a bottle at take-off and landing. Once, I was lucky to sit next to a young man who had a Mormon upbringing, with a mother who nursed all 7 of them, so when I told him I was going to have to nurse my child, he told me that it not only was OK, he asked if there was anything he could do to help. THAT was unexpected. And then my son proceeded to kick him the entire time he nursed.

8. Ask for extra snacks when they come around, and for your beverages to stay in their original containers, unopened. You may end up wearing them otherwise.

9. I just remembered the whole TSA craziness. You can bring anything you want as far as food goes. They will try to tell you that your applesauce cup is above the 2oz limit, but they can't stop you from bringing it. If it is food for your child, you can bring it. Whatever it is. Plan extra time for the TSA because you will have to claim everything when your time comes, and they will have to swab everything and attempt to shame you for not simply purchasing the overpriced "food for purchase" on board, and cause you to worry that you're going to miss your flight, but trust me on this one. Here is the information from the TSA website. I brought 5 ziplock containers of bone broth through once because "my child has terrible allergies and is on a special diet" and after three minutes of shaming, they let me go. Also, you can't wear your baby through the machine, nor can you push baby in the stroller. But you likely won't have to do the body scan thing because you'll have him or her in your arms.

What are some of your tricks to survive an airplane ride with small children?

Four Months Already?!?!

First of all, I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I journaled.  Secondly, I can't believe E is 4 months old already!  It's gone by so quickly.  I'm just happy that I don't have to go back to work until July, so I get 4 more months to hang out with her and watch her grow.

Some of her newest developments have been sitting, laughing and blowing raspberries.  She seriously hates to be in a reclined position.  If I put her in her swing or bouncy seat, she will try to get herself into an upright position.  We had been putting her in the swing during dinner time, to keep her happy, but had to put a pillow behind her so she could sit upright.  We finally decided it was time to get a high chair to bring her to the table with us.  We looked on Craigslist for a used one, and the least expensive we could find was $25.  We found a new one for $25 at IKEA, and it's pretty simple and doesn't take up much space.  She LOVES it!  We put her in there for dinner, and she plays with her toys and "talks" to us as we enjoy our dinner without any crying or whining.

We've also begun to put her in the Kelty backpack for walks.  Paul likes it better than the sling.  I think it's because of where you carry the weight.  I like the sling better because I can hold her close to my body.  I'm not sure if she has a preference.  She falls asleep quite easily in both.

Long Walks, Sunny Days...

The weather has been beautiful out here in the Pacific Northwest for the past few days.  It's been a little cold, but it's been sunny.  On Friday, I met up with a mom from one of my groups to go for a walk on the Fanno Creek Trail.  I figured we'd walk for about 30 minutes or so, because that's how long most people walk.  Since we were meeting at the library, I decided to walk there.  It turns out that this particular mom just happens to teach some exercise classes at the gym down the street, and we walked almost the entire length of the Fanno Creek Trail (at least to where it hits Hall Blvd. in Beaverton) and back.  I think it might be 4 miles each way.  Needless to say, it was a difficult walk back home from the library.  I was tired and hungry.  So when I got home, I nursed E and then went to Burgerville.  I figured I deserved it.  She didn't sleep as well that night as I thought she would.  She was up every two hours to nurse.  It was no big deal.  She slept 7 hours Saturday night, so I can't complain too much.

It's hard to believe how much she's grown in just 10 weeks.  I have a pair of shoes that Jim (the SLP I used to work with) gave me that were too big for her at 3 weeks.  I found them this weekend and put them on her and they were too small.   Not that she really needs shoes right now, but still.  It's a bummer.  She can still fit into her 0-3 month outfits, but that won't last too long, and she's growing out of her small gdiaper pants.  We now have her in the medium pants with the small liners.  My firend Janet says that worked for her son when he was between sizes.  She hasn't had too many blow outs since then.

The nice thing about her growing up is that she's cooing more, anticipates activities, and doesn't cry too much.  Of course, she never cried too much to begin with.  We have begun a bedtime routine.  I learned that even though she doesn't really fall asleep until 10 or 10:30, we have to start the routine by 9:00 or she'll do nothing but scream.  We change her diaper, I brush my teeth, then we say goodnight to daddy and give him kisses.  Then we go into the bedroom and read a book.  Currently, the book is Playtime Peekaboo.  After the book, I put the book away, say "Goodnight, E" and turn off the light.  Then I crawl into bed with her and nurse her off to sleep.  It's a good routine, and in the time it takes for me to turn off the light and get into bed (about 2 seconds), she has already turned on her side, ready to nurse.

We're starting "Itsy Bitsy Yoga" this week.  There is a class at the SW Community Center in Multnomah Village.  I'm pretty excited about it.  I think it will be yet another good activity that will help her with self regulation.  The downside is that the class starts at 9:00am.  Who thought that was a good idea?  We're going to have to get up at 7 to make it to class on time.

She has started a new sound, too.  It's a hybrid between a laugh and a squeal.  I've tried to get a video of it, but as soon as I turn on the camera, she's silent.  How does she know this already?

Engorgement and Regulation

It was a great idea for Paul to take E for a walk.  They were gone an hour, and she slept most of the time.  When she woke up, she was ready to nurse, but wasn't as fussy as she had been all night and that morning.  She even let Paul take her so that I could take a shower and try to get my engorged left boob to empty.

I took the manual pump into the shower with me.  I've noticed that after a shower, my breasts will start leaking, so I figured it might help if I pumped while I was in the shower.  Maybe the warm water would help.  I'd been massaging my milk ducts and pumping all morning, and could only manage to squeeze out an ounce.  The last thing in the world I want to deal with is mastitis.  I've already had that -- during my first week out of the hospital -- and I don't want to do it again.

I got in the shower, pointed the hot water onto my boob and started pumping.  Within a minute, I had filled up the 5oz bottle attached to the pump.  At first I thought it had gotten so full because water dripping down my boob must have gotten into the pump.  When I felt my breast, it was super soft, so it was all milk.  Needless to say, since I was in the tub, I had to pour all that precious milk down the drain.  I wasn't in the most sterile of conditions.  I continued pumping, letting the milk fall into the tub.  I didn't need to pump, really.  When I took the pump off my breast, milk flowed from my nipple like a faucet had been turned on.  It was the sweet feeling of relief.

My boob still hurts a little, probably from the five hours of deep pressure massage.  I hope that heals up soon.

For the rest of the day, E was the perfect baby, playing with daddy while I took catnaps between feedings.  She got really fussy at 9pm, and until I took her to bed with me at 9:30 and she passed out in 5 minutes, I didn't realize it was because she was so gosh-darn tired.  I decided that we would start our bedtime routine at 9pm from now on.  Of course, I also have to create a bedtime routine...

Yesterday we took a walk to Costco with E in the sling.  It took us about an hour.  We pushed the stroller & car seat with us so we could meet Christopher there and he could drive us and our groceries home with us.  She slept the entire way there.  When she woke up, she was a little disoriented, not knowing exactly where she was, but she soon brightened up and spent the time in the store looking around at all the people and lights.  When we got out to the car, she didn't cry when I put her in the carseat, even though her diaper was so full, her outfit got wet.  She didn't cry when I changed her diaper before I fed her.  She didn't cry when she was hungry at 6:30 and our neighbor was still over chatting away saying 15 times "OK, I'm gonna go so you can feed her."  She cried, but she was easily quieted by Paul and her cries weren't nearly close to the same level and desperation as they sometimes get.

She cried when I took her to bed, but then she farted a bunch and destroyed a diaper, so that's understandable.

I took her on a walk to the library this morning.  I think that she needs walks to help her regulate herself.  She was extremely fussy this morning, and has now been asleep for almost 2 hours.  Walks in the sling are like a morning coffee.  She just doesn't feel like herself without one.

Who would have thought that the daughter to two long-distance hikers would need to take walks outside every day to feel normal?  I'm just glad we figured this out early on.  I've decided to take her on a morning walk every day.