>Peaches’ First Flight

On March 1-12, We will bring Peaches to Marbel. A decent little city down South, where I grew up. We will be visiting my side of the family. And my last visit was years ago and it’s just the perfect time to visit since Nani’s baptism will fall on those days. We were able to purchase very cheap tickets from CEBPAC and these are the things I learned upon researching about traveling with a newborn (domestic travel). (Peaches will be ALMOST 3 months by then):

1. There are some airlines who will charge a minimal amount for an infant. But as per CEBPAC, all are free from 0-12 months.

2. Bring the infant’s birth certificate as this will be needed for verification.

3. Check-in early to avail the first-come-first serve basis on the bassinets and front row seats.

4. Only the umbrella type strollers are allowed on hand carried luggage. As for the bulky ones, pack it with a plastic and be sure to tie it tight to avoid breakage. The airline will not pay for any damages.

5. To avoid cabin pressure on your baby’s ear, let her/him suck (nipple or bottle) during take off and landing. Also, don’t panic because cabin pressure will not make your baby deaf—To explain, the air pressure in the cabin changes on take off. It drops. The pressure of the air inside your head, which is in the ear stays the same. Dapat mag equalize yun. So you release the air in your ear to your mouth by opening your jaw, say by yawning. That’s why covering your ears with cotton buds or ear plugs makes it worse because it blocks the pressure. There’s a tube kasi connecting the ears to your mouth, that’s the eustacian tube. For the baby, he can suck bottle, pacifier or gums for older kids. For adults, if you have no ear problems, you can blow your nose while pressing it so the air will go out of your ear. Worry if you or you child has colds kasi delicado pag barado ilong, mahirap i-release yung pressure. In rare cases, the tube ruptures.

6. Seatbelts – If flying locally, ATO doesn’t require Child Restrain Device (baby seatbelt) so you have to carry the baby on your lap with your arms arond him at ikaw lang ang naka seatbelt. For Int’l airlines,CRD is required. You attach that to your own seatbelt so you don’t need to put your arms around the baby. Take off and landing lang naman po ito kailangan. So I recommend baby slings for safety.

7. Please have the decency of changing your baby’s nappies on the lavatories! (yeah, there are some who change nappies on the food trays! yuckie!)

8. if worse comes to worst, bring earplugs and offer it to the passenger near your seat! lol.

I wish Peaches will enjoy her plane ride as much as I do. And if not, I hope she sleeps through the entire flight.