Traveling this holiday season? Worried you'll get one of those planes with no changing table in the lavatory? Just in time for your diapering-while-flying conundrum, here are some sites with useful tips for dealing with junior's dirty dipe while crusing at 30,000 feet.
From MSNBC's travel writer comes an assortment of ideas from parents who, it turns out, were writing to complain about an earlier column in which she declared all in-air diapering verboten. She graciously issued a mea culpa and shared her column with the experts: parents who have actually flown with little ones. Best information: which planes have changing tables (nearly all widebodied planes, like the Boeing 767 and 777 and Airbus 300). Most pointless factoid: changing a table in an airplane lavatory without a changing table is damn hard work. Most disgusting etiquette "don't": Gary, an airline employee, says he's seen parents change their baby on the tray tables, using all three in the row to stretch out the baby's body. As he points out, these trays are not typically cleaned between flights so, um, that's a good reason right there to bring your wipes even if you don't plan to change the baby.
Another site offers some handy tips, including the a-ha idea of timing any seat- or floor-based diaper change to the bathroom visits your seatmates make. If you finish up quickly, they won't even know you changed your baby within inches of where they're sitting. Another tip? Waving around a diaper wipe to use as an on-the-fly air freshener.
Mostly, the expert advice is the same as what any parent could come up with: try for the biggest plane you can possibly book (any semi-nervous flyer already does this), slap on a fresh diaper at the airport, just before boarding, and hope for the best. Of the 40+ separate flights I've taken so far with my two-year old, he's only had a poo blowout once, and that was on a plane that featured a changing table (yay!) but on a day I had neglected to pack extra pants (boo!). It's all, if you'll pardon the expression, a crapshoot. Got any tips of your own for dealing with diapers while flying? Share them in the comments section!
More by this author:
Death by Peanut: Epidemic or Urban Myth?
Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No
Baby Nearly Starves to Death, Diluted Formula to Blame
Grandmother’s Right? Or Totally Obnoxious?
Health Scam: Crisis Pregnancy Centers
