Travel: Airplane travel with baby

Recently we did international travel with our daughter, she was 1 year at that time. I did some homework on how to prepare while travelling on a long plane ride.

Following checklist will give an idea of what to take

1. Before you start your journey make sure to call the Airline and book front seat with bassinet. If there are more babies on the plane they can run out of these front seats and bassinets
2. Don't forget to take the stroller which will be very useful if you have to wait in the airport. You can also use the stroller for feeding. One important point is if you are changing planes then make sure to collect stroller after deboarding plane. We forgot to collect it one time which they had kept just outside the plane. We thought they will give it us in the Airport gate. Because we forgot they checked it in to the destination and we were without stroller in the airport. Don't make this mistake and ask airplane crew where is your stroller before getting off the plane.
3. Reserve 1 carry on bag to carry all the baby needs while on the plane
4. Carry diapers to be enough for 1 for every 2 hours, so 10 hour ride at least 5 diapers and enough wipes
5. Baby skin could get dry in plane so take some skin lotion such as Cetaphil
6. Take a towel or some other material for spreading before changing diaper
7. Couple of extra dresses depending on your hours of journey in case you need to change dress, also take some bibs to use during feeding
8. Take few grocery plastic bags for trash/garbage collection or vomiting etc.
9. Take some paper towels or 1 small roll for any cleaning purposes. You can also get these in planes but having some in carry on bag is handy
10. Any Medications prescription or non-prescription like pain killers etc.
11. If you are still bottle feeding, take enough bottles to last the trip. Because it will be difficult to wash bottles in warm or hot water and sterilize them while travelling
12. Take any other foods you baby likes ex: cheerios, any other finger foods
13. Take 1 or 2 small toys you baby likes that way you can give them to play when they become too impatient
14. During take off and landing cabin pressure changes significantly and that causes pain in the ear drums. I have seen some babies cry non-stop. Trick here is to make baby swallow anything during that time. Best technique is to feed baby water or milk or formula. You can also use candies or lolipops.
15. Make sure baby drinks plenty of fluids, because they get dehydrated a lot while travelling in plane. If they don't have enough fluids in their body it will be very difficult to go for stools because their stools will be very hard

This list should give you what are the things you need to carry. There may be several other things you may have to depending upon your individual needs. Make sure to prepare a checklist and check off things as you pack them for the plane ride.

Bon voyage