Taking an infant on holiday with you is always a trial and can be a strain both for the parents and the child in a normal travel situation but travelling by air with a baby can present a hazardous health risk. Once you have booked one of the Gatwick airport hotels and you are getting ready for your flight departure, it’s worth preparing your young child for the trauma.
For the first 6 weeks of a child’s life, the family doctor may not encourage any sort of air travel for a baby due to the volume of reused air that is spread throughout the airline’s cabin. Flu, colds and respiratory diseases that float around freely in the air can be caught in an aircraft far more easily than in the normal environment because totally fresh air is simply unavailable in the aircraft’s cabin. For example, if a person in the first row of seats has a cold, a baby situated faraway in row 50 or even further can become exposed to the virus due to the way air is circulated. A child’s immunity is still fully active for the first few months of life so it is a good idea to follow your doctor’s advice and only travel by aircraft in the early years of your baby’s life, if it is absolutely essential.
Studies have shown that there are periods when breathing in a low oxygen situation breathing becomes irregular. The alteration in the pressure of air in a cabin creates an environment that has low oxygen content. This sort of situation may have a dire effect on a baby who already has respiratory problems. Your doctor could make the suggestion that you travel with additional oxygen to alleviate the problem of heavy breathing. Those young children that have good health are not affected quite so badly when subjected to a low oxygen environment but it should not be for too long.
Changes in the pressure of the cabin throughout a flight may have an effect on the pressure of the middle ear and cause varying degrees of pain. A lot of adults simply chew on gum or try to pop their ears to equalize the pressure. As babies don’t know how to do this, it is essential to feed the baby throughout the takeoff and landing periods to prevent the onset of any pain. The sucking and chewing motion will assist in equalising the pressure in the baby’s ears. If the baby has an inner ear problem or infection or a respiratory infection, the best thing to do is to re time all your air travel.
It is not just the baby who is likely to suffer in flight but the mother too. This is particularly relevant if she gave birth less than 6 weeks prior to the flight. Having to sit in a confined space does not assist with the healing process after the child has been born especially if a caesarian section was performed to allow the birth of the baby. Caring for a baby who is wriggling around can cause problems for the healing process as well.
Therefore, it is advisable to think about the age and maturity of a baby before a holiday is booked that involves a flight.
