International travel with a little one

Our little stowaway

I've had a number of people ask about how the flight and time change were for Baby K, so I thought I'd share how everything went. Overall, I really could not have asked for anything better. I even traveled by myself back to Switzerland with Baby K and survived! I was relieved for this, seeing as I am traveling by myself with her for all of our trips back to the US from now on.

Like many other things involving Baby K, I read numerous blogs and advice about how to handle international travel with a little one. Despite going on numerous trips within Europe with Baby K, I was a little worried about a 10-hour flight and seven hour time difference.

Here are my big takeaways from our first international flight with her:

• If you can rent or borrow baby things at your destination, do it. We did not take a stroller, pack-and-play or carseat because we knew we would have these things to use in the US. It just makes it a little easier to get through check-in and security.
• Flying from east to west is harder than west to east because it's a daytime flight; people tend to have their window shades open and the lights may or may not be turned off. This makes nap time a little bit more difficult.
• Baby K is not used to being held for hours on end, so we had to figure out a way to let her wiggle a little bit. For us, the solution was making a pallet under the seat (in business class) and letting her roll and kick around (see above). She also ended up sleeping down there, as we could make it dark by hanging a blanket over the area. I think you can also ask for a Moses Basket as well.
• We always put her down for bed/nap time when she's awake, so the pallet worked well for that as well.
• We tried hard to essentially stick to her usual schedule that she knows of eat-play-sleep. We acted like it was Swiss time on the plane the whole way there so she knew how the "day" would go.
• When she was awake, we took turns holding her, so that we could both have a chance to eat and rest some. When I was by myself, I ate before getting on the plane so I didn't have to worry about how that was going to work.
• Traveling from the US to Europe was great! It is a nighttime flight, so I essentially did her nighttime routine, including giving her a baby wipe bath and changing her into her pajamas, fed her, then put her down on her pallet. No joke, she slept the entire flight; I had to wake her 30 minutes before we landed. This also gave me a little bit of time to snooze as well.
• If you can make the diaper bag your only carryon, that's ideal. We have a backpack as a diaper bag, so even when I was by myself, I had my hands free. I wore Baby K on the front and had her diaper bag on my back.
• Most importantly, relax! I know it's hard, but I've decided babies are like dogs, they can smell fear. If you're stressed and frantic, they will be too.

Now...on to dealing with the time change. This one was a little rougher than flying- probably because it lasted more than a month!

• When we arrived in the US, we immediately switched Baby K over to Texas time so she could start to get acclimated. We didn't plan anything the night we arrived, as I had no clue what state Baby K would be in. My family came over, but other than that, we were at home.
• Keeping in mind that it was the middle of the night for her (and us, but you kind of have to forget about that) she was really fussy when I woke her from a nap around 6pm (1am in Switzerland). We kept her awake and did bath and bed time as normal, then put her back down.
• I would suggest bringing a blanket and possibly a sheet with you from home so that things smell and feel a bit familiar, even if they aren't.
• Baby K never slept normally (for her) the entire month we were in the US. She's been sleeping from 7:30pm to 7:00am, without waking, since she was about 12 weeks old. This never happened for us in the US. She pretty much woke at least once per night the entire time we were there. 
• The first few nights, Baby K woke around 1am, 3am and 6am. In the middle of the night we gave her a little snack and put her back down, otherwise we just put her pacifier back in. Many people recommend going ahead and getting up to play with them when this happens, but I just couldn't. We typically kept it dark and put her right back down.
• People also typically recommend not planning anything big the first few days, but that just wasn't possible. Baby K was dedicated at church the Sunday after we got in, so it was full speed ahead pretty much from the time we got in. Besides...you're traveling, what's the fun in taking it easy??

And back to Switzerland...

• It took Baby K a full 14 days to get back to our time zone.. For those of you who are keeping track, that's six weeks of time change stuff.
• When we came back, we switched her back to this time zone immediately, just like when we arrived in Texas.
• For the next week or so, she would wake up a couple of times after we put her down for bed. She initially woke up around midnight or 1am, wanting to play. I got up with her the first few nights, typically staying up for 30 minutes to an hour, but then moved to just putting her pacifier back in and letting her roll around until she went back to sleep.
• She was pretty sleepy, and sometimes cranky, during the day when we first got back. As it was the middle of the night in the US, this was understandable. I think making her stay awake during the day made her sleep better at night and switch back fairly quickly.
• As the nights went on she woke up earlier and earlier, moving to 11pm, then 10pm, then around 8 or 8:30. Finally after about two weeks, she stopped waking up at all. Woohoo...back to normal!

Ok, so now you have my two cents on long-haul traveling with an infant. I'm sure things will change as she becomes more mobile, but hopefully starting her early will help in the long run. We are headed to Prague in a couple of weeks, but then back to the US for Christmas, which means two more long-haul flights for Baby K and me. Here's to hoping everything goes as well!