Everything You Need to Know About Travel with a Newborn…
If travel was a big part of your life before you became a parent, chances are you fully expect to travel with your baby. This is great! But once baby actually gets here you may have doubts about how easy or fun or fulfilling it may be to travel with a baby.
Some families have no choice but to start traveling young. I know of a few instances where parents were adopting from out of state or their surrogate lived a few provinces away. In another instance, a mom friend was attending a family member’s destination wedding. And, in some sad cases, illness or a death in the family necessitates unexpected travel with a baby in tow.
But let’s pretend you’re champing at the bit to make the most of your maternity leave, so traveling with a newborn is something you’re choosing to do straight away. As with all aspects of baby travel , you have four main considerations of Eating , Sleeping , Playing, and Getting Around .
How Soon Can You Travel with a Newborn?
Unless you have a home birth, technically you travel home from the hospital with your baby. So the actual answer is: pretty much right away. Unless the travel is absolutely essential, instead of asking how soon can you travel with a newborn, the real question should be how soon should a new parent travel or how long do you need to wait to travel after giving birth?
Probably the real meaning behind this question is when can a newborn fly or how old does a baby have to be to fly. The answer truly depends on you and the airline. Most airlines have policies that require a physician’s note for infants younger than seven (7) days, and that age can vary anywhere between three days and three weeks. If you know you’ll be flying with a newborn that young, it is best to consult with the airline directly.
If you’re traveling purely for pleasure, there seems to be a lot of thinking around waiting until your baby has had their first round of vaccinations . Probably because travel exposes you to a lot of germs. If you’re breastfeeding, you are passing along a certain amount of immunity to your infant. Also, a newborn can be bundled and protected from germs much more easily than an older baby who’s always grabbing everything and sticking their hands in their mouth.
So long as you’re all feeling up to it, there’s really no reason to wait.
Where to Travel with a Newborn
As with any trip with a baby, choose somewhere that’s safe, that’s clean, and has good access to healthcare. When my son was 10-weeks-old, we went to Quebec City and it was a great choice. The flight was short, the weather was mild (it was summer), and we could walk a lot but it wasn’t so big that it was overwhelming.
At 10-weeks postpartum, I wasn’t exactly keen to wear a bathing suit nor deal with sand and sunscreen, so a beach trip was out. A city trip with a newborn is pretty easy. They are usually content to be worn and they’re still small enough to not be overly heavy. They are also usually pretty content to be carted about in their infant carrier car seat.
City trips with lots of sightseeing and/or museums get harder when your babies become toddlers (ie. mobile). Keep that in mind if there’s somewhere nearby you’ve always wanted to visit. Some great options (depending on where you are located) are the aforementioned Quebec City , plus New York City , or even Raleigh, North Carolina .
The International Breastfeeding Symbol on a Quebec City restaurant door
Traveling with a Newborn: Eating
In terms of feeding, this is truly the easiest time to travel with a baby. Traveling with a newborn means no messy snacks or finger foods, and you can eliminate bibs and feeding implements from your packing list .
Breastfeeding
If there was every an argument for breast being best, it should be around traveling with a baby. No bottles, no sterilizing , no formula, no mixing, and no heating. So long as baby is nursing well (and you are nursing well!) an exclusively breastfed baby is truly the easiest to travel with.
I have nursed in airports and on planes (and in restaurants and museums) and I can report that I have never been on the receiving end of stink eye or shade. I never used a cover, either. I’m the type of big mouth that would have unleashed if anyone said anything, anyway.
My biggest annoyance about nursing in public was showing off my back fat, so I came up with a good clothing system. Travel can be tiring so make sure you stay rested and well-hydrated to keep your milk production up. If you’re traveling with a newborn you’re likely not in any kind of fixed routine or schedule for feeding yet. Enjoy this flexible time, however inflexible it may feel
