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Home › Articles › Newborn and Infant Months › On an Airplane with a Newborn

On an Airplane with a Newborn

Air Travel with Babies up to 3 Months Old

By Alex Powell

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Carla Caccavale Reynolds from Scarsdale, N.Y., just returned from Aruba. She's pleased to report that her flight went well. While she is an experienced traveler, this was her travel companion's first time on a plane. Caccavale Reynolds' 3-month-old daughter, Georgianna Jean, spent her flight contentedly napping and nursing.

Flying with a newborn to 3-month-old can seem daunting, but it is surprisingly doable. If you and your little one are taking to the air anytime soon, keep reading.

Airplane Safety

First, the big question: Is it safe? Most newborns are physiologically fit to fly, says Dr. Robert Wheeler, medical director for On Call International, a global travel and medical assistance provider. The main concern is exposure to illness.

"The safe age is pretty young – 1 to 2 weeks old is OK if the trip is really necessary," says Dr. James Sears, a pediatrician, co-author of The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Little, Brown and Co., 2003) and member of the Lansinoh Breastfeeding Advisory Board. However, he usually tells parents to wait until after 6 months if they can. "A harmless cold virus in an older child can cause a severe respiratory infection in a young baby," he says.

Aircraft air is not as detrimental as it used to be, Dr. Wheeler says. Only 50 percent of the air inside a plane is filtered and recirculated air, mixed with 50 percent fresh air pulled in from the outside. And the air is exchanged frequently. For instance, in a normal home about half the air inside is exchanged per hour. Aircraft air is fully exchanged about 20 times per hour. "Filtered air is actually pretty clean compared to walking around in a mall," Dr. Wheeler says.


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