We are on our dream Europe vacation and holiday stories with our baby will follow. Right now, I will only focus on the flight segment.
We were booked on the Delhi-Munich direct flight - that is seven hours of travel time - something that I thought would be easy to manage with our little one. In the run up to the travel date, I prepared by reading blogs, watched YouTube videos for tips and advise. I called up the airlines a few days in advance to book a bassinet for the baby and checked her baggage allowance (the airlines allows an extra 23 kgs for check-in luggage plus a pram for the baby!). I packed formula, feeding bottles and drinking water to last us through our trip and also to cater for any delays. This was good because once we landed in Munich and reached our hotel we were not allotted a room till noon - had I not carried all the extra feed, there would have been some serious trouble!
I also carried an extra large piece of muslin cloth in the hand luggage - this serves multiple purposes - if the baby is active prior to flight, one can spread this out on the floor of the airport and let the baby dispense some energy by crawling around, one may want to line the flight bassinet with this (I found the one on the flight quite clean - so did not end up using the cloth), can be used to make a loose breast feeding pillow (by wrapping up pillows in this cloth and laying baby on it) etc.
I carried her favorite toy and a book to distract her. Before leaving home, I changed her into a night suit and did the nightly ritual of changing her diapers and applying Cetaphil lotion on her body. She was asleep by the time we left home around 10 PM, waking only briefly in the taxi. But soon, the noise and the excited cries of other little kids in the queue (special queue for families traveling with little children) at immigration woke her up. Security check was easy and surprisingly no one questioned the number of bottles filled with sterilized water from home in our diaper bag.
Next, I was pleasantly surprised by the cheerful and clean diaper rooms at terminal 3 of IGI airport. Moreover these are conveniently located next to the boarding gates. I decided to do a quick diaper change before boarding, since my baby was awake anyway.
The airlines allowed passengers with babies to board first. This is where things started going downhill. The stuffy air of the economy section, the many people milling around, the bright lights, tight seats and then the sound of the aircraft pulling out and getting into the runway was too much for the poor baby at this time of the night. She began to howl and nothing we did comforted her. I had prepared feed for her to take during takeoff but she refused to take that. I tried to make her suckle but even that did not work. Her toys and books did not comfort her. She screamed and wailed - and I was desperate. Add to that the discomfort of all the passengers around who were witness to this meltdown. Finally, my husband took her in his arms and started crooning a lullaby - something familiar to calm her in the midst of this strange experience, he explained to me, something to assure her that her family was still around, that home was in his arms. And that did soothe her! She stopped howling and gasping and slowly fell into a deep slumber. And that's it! The next 6 hours 55 minutes were quiet and calm. She did not wake up when we placed her on the bassinet set up for the purpose and only awoke when the steward had to remove it prior to landing. That is when I took her in my arms to feed her, bracing myself for another meltdown that surprisingly did not come!
Although 98% of the flight went smoothly for my baby, the trauma of the first 5 minutes when my baby seemed so inconsolable is vivid. I felt really bad - I apologized to her in my heart and mind for putting her through this. I panicked and prayed. And had my husband not managed to calm her, I am not sure I would have been able to do so single handedly.
What could I have done differently? Nothing, I feel. I had prepared as well as I could for the flight. I researched, I did dry-runs in my head of the entire process and catered for all kinds of emergencies. I left for the airport as I would leave to take an examination.
But I realise that at all times it is important to remember that we are dealing with babies here. Each baby's and each parent's experience will be different. No matter how well one prepares, there can still be trouble. It still means covering your bases as far as things are under your control. For the rest, it is about being attuned to your baby, understanding his/her needs and take it easy. Just shut out the world around you and focus on the baby. Keeping calm is paramount. When the parent is calm, it communicates to the baby and in turn calms her/him down. At this stage, the parents embrace is the source of all sustenance for the baby. Other than the feed itself, all the nourishment and nurture comes from the love and affection of the parent. It's primal and simple and easy to forget!
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