Air Time

I am THAT mother.

I am the mother who drugs her child on the plane.

Let me explain.

We went on vacation last week to North Carolina. Our layover was in Cincinnati. This is a 4hr + flight on the way east, and over 5hr + on the way back.

The first flight, which left SFO around noon was a NIGHTMARE. Isaac slept for about 20 minutes. My husband forgot his headphones, so he couldn't watch his DVDs. Yes, I put headphones on my child and let him watch Baby Einstein or Handy Manny on a small DVD player for the flight. It worked well in the past. (And yes, this is Isaac's third trip that involves flights. He's a seasoned little traveler).

Wrangling a 10 month old child who loves to jump and crawl in a tight space is not fun.

God bless the flight agents who had the foresight to give us an entire row to oursleves. Putting Isaac in the seat inbetween Ben and I gave him much amusement and our arms and legs a much needed break. Traveling tip for mothers with infants: When you check in, specify you will have an "infant in lap." The agent saw this and switched our seats to an empty row. If I could, I would give that woman a hug and a million dollars. BLESS YOU.

Despite the extra room, Isaac was not happy. He wanted to crawl around. And he is not the teeny infant he was on our first plane trip, nor was he crawling on our second. THE 4 HOURS ABOUT KILLED ME. I almost left the plane bald, from Isaac tearing at my scalp and me excusing my self to the lavatory to scream silently and yank out my hair.

Now, I was never one of those people who scoffed and glared and huffed at mothers with their crying and screaming children on planes. I get it. Babies CRY. And they have like a 20 second attention span. Several, "knowledgable" mothers said "ooohhh, I wish I could help you." One woman even said "I am glad that is not my child." Thank you. Thank you all.

The flight time was not during one of Isaac's nap times, especially after he just napped for the hour or so we were in the car to drive to the airport. We did the best we could. And he slept for the second leg of our flight out, but maybe because it was on a tiny plane that flew lower aka MORE BUMPY and more white noise. Or maybe he was just tired from all screaming.

Did I mention he was sniffy and drippy nosed and cutting 4 teeth? Oops.

Even though we had a whole row to ourselves for the long flight back home, I wasn't taking any chances. Our flight left at 6 am, which is 3 am in California. Isaac's schedule was all out of whack due to the time difference. We normally try to keep him on PST, but lately he decided bedtime was at 10pm, not between 7 and 8. Sorry, I cannot stay up until after 1am with him. And Ben and I were both sick and had been up since 2:30am.

So I drugged him. I gave him a teeny tiny miniscule amount of children's benedryl. It was like 1/8 of the dosage. And relax, I checked with a Dr before I doped him up.

Worked wonders. He slept for 3 of the 5 hours LIKE A ROCK in his middle seat all snuggly in his blankie. I watched Harry Potter. My husband slept. He woke up and ate lunch, then watched some Baby Einstein, then played with his toys. He only fussed for the last 30 minutes. And really, people should be waking up from their flight naps by then, right?

Yes, I am THAT mother that drugs her baby on the plane. And I am not sorry for the simple fact that I returned with all my hair.