Babs boarded his first flight when he was 5 months old. I say, he is so lucky, I boarded my first flight when I was 25 yrs old, till then aero plane for me was the small dot we see with amazement, moving high above in the sky.
On his first flight Babs was mostly asleep. He cried only when hungry and slept off on being fed. He was only breastfed at that time, hence had to carry only wipes, diapers and an extra dress in my hand bag. But this time I had to be prepared. Now, he being a 14 months old , hyperactive toddler, and having witnessed non stop crying babies in the flights earlier, we carefully planned our trip.
We booked our tickets from Dubai to Calicut, keeping our toddler’s nap time in mind. We booked the early morning (3.30 am ) flight. That would mean we have to report the Airport at 12.30 am, which would mean Babs would be fast asleep on our shoulders throughout the security check and boarding process and in the flight. If we had taken the 1.00 am flight, we usually take, we have to report the airport at 10.00 pm, means Babs would be too excited seeing us preparing to leave and would not sleep at all and it would be difficult to manage him. For the same reason we decided against morning flights. We would land at IST 9.00 am at the Calicut Airport, means Babs can have his morning bottle of milk on the flight itself and would be asleep during the checking out process and would enjoy the sights from the taxi. Be will be home by noon, he can have lunch and sleep. Perfect planning.
But the toddler had other plans. As I mentioned in my previous post, Babs had caught fever which was high the day before the flight. So on 8th, 9th and till 10th evening he was asleep or lying down inactive most of the time. By evening medicines took effect. He regained his energy. I tried to put him to sleep many times before leaving for the airport, but he would not sleep. Finally we had to carry a widely awake and excited Babs to the airport. He has not yet started walking by himself. But he wanted to get down. He would crawl all over the airport.
And he is Usain Bolt when it comes to crawling. We would easily loose him in the airport. He wanted to lay his hand on every thing and everyone he saw around. Only way to control him was to show any other kid in the airport, then he would be smiling ear to ear to the kid for next 5 mins. He kept calling everyone “eyy” and was blabbering non-stop to the attendants. Thankfully he wasn’t crying and so people around were actually amused. All were instantly taken by the sweet smile that he gave away without any hesistation.
Emirates Airlines too had plans to keep us entertained. They kept changing their boarding gates. Thrice, we had to walk, with luggages and over excited Babs to different gates which were so far from each other that we thought we may reach the Calicut airport walking.
Once on the flight, he started crying aloud because of being restricted in one seat. But by the time the flight took off I was able to feed him and put him to sleep. He slept peacefully in the flight and got up again only at the Calicut airport during the check out. Once the flight landed, we waited for the rush to be over before getting down the plane. Many people who passed us were looking at the toddler fast asleep in my arms and talking to each other “look how peacefully the baby is sleeping now” , “he was so cheerful” “poor baby, tired after all the excitement”
Once in the Taxi, from Calicut to Kannur, as we expected, he enjoyed the sight seeings from the car and also took short naps. The bag I had packed for him, with biscuits, bottles, warm water, Formula milk powder, sugar, wipes, diapers, dress, towels etc.. came in handy throughout the trip.
On the return trip too he did not create much problem other than over excitement at the airport. I could hear two babies crying non stop throughout the flight, and thanked God and of course Babs for being a better travel partner.
Image Courtsey : 1
In My Sandals 
Wow! what a journey… I traveled with my son all alone when he was not even one and you can imagine how disheveled I was when I got down. 🙂
yeah, I can really understand now 🙂 and most of the Indians like me have not yet bought the idea of strollers and kangaroo bags, we carry them on our hands and Oh god by the time we reach the destination our hands feel numb. With them constantly trying to get down, even underweight toddlers like my son, put so much weight on our hands, my hands and shoulder muscles ached for next two days.
I had a kangaroo bag and that was my saving grace or it would have been even more difficult.
You are lucky that he slept through most of the flight. I have heard horror stories from a lot of people about kids on flights. 🙂
Yes Amit I was really lucky this time:) Really wonder how our next flight would be, when our son would be running around in the airport!
That pic has some smart advice for parents 😀
Babs slept during the flight, bless him…when I board a flight, a kid is always howling away during the whole journey making me wish I jump off the plane 😐
We hadn’t seen the pictures before our flight, but my kid did follow the advice, he tired himself out at the airport entertaining the people standing in the boring queue and slept on the plane, ensuring our fellow passengers did not jump off the plane 🙂
If hadn’t panned the flight timings ,you would have gone through some very irritating and anxious moments.
That’s right, planning did help to a certain extent. If we had booked morning or evening flights, he wouldn’t have slept even in the flight.
Even I did take lot of precaution when I traveled with Chucky, once I had to travel alone from India on a 36hr flight (with wait time) 3 flight journey. I remember reaching home and then I remember only next day morning..I was dead tired even though she didn’t cry or trouble me..I used to enjoy long flight because I love relaxing and watching movies, but with kids its a pain..
36hrs flight! that too 3 flight journey? Hats off to you LF !
the picture in the last really completes this anecdote..!
Really. Wish I had seen it before travelling 🙂
U definitely fared better than most parents. U knw there are some kids who get a earache as soon as the plane takes off & its terrible to hear them cry piteously. Once upon a time I wdnt have had patience but now when children cry on flights I really feel bad for them.
My daughters first flight was at 45 days and I was really scared but she slept like a log all through and I was so relieved. And u knw with tht flight her sleep pattern changed and after that she began sleeping at nights[earlier she used to go to sleep at 6am and get up correctly at 11pm :-D]
I too feel bad for those babies and their parents. My son,Thankfully didn’t have that problem.
Good that the flight helped change your baby’s sleep pattern.:) My son at 45 days used to sleep between 10 am to 1 pm and then 05 pm to 10pm only:)
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You had a very peaceful journey with the little one. Have seen some non-stop crying or whining in flights which is harrowing for the parents and irritating for the co-passengers!
Yes Shilpa, I have witnessed one or two non-stop crying or whining kids in every flight I have taken. So I was really Thankful to my little one for the peaceful journey.