All content of this blog (c) Shelly Rivoli 2007 – 2011

The post Last chance to enter to win the Brica Fold ‘N Go travel bassinet for yourself or a friend! appeared first on Travels With Baby.

Win a set of Travels with Baby guidebooks to help plan travel before you go, and to ease every step of the way.

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This Q2U (question to you) giveaway was sparked by a post I wrote two months ago, discussing the possibility of the FAA no longer allowing children younger than 2 years to fly as lap children—what is currently a “free ride” on domestic flights and generally 10% of the adult’s fare for international and overseas flights (exceptions—including those airlines that will not allow you to purchase seats for children under 2 years—noted in the “Choosing the Airline” section of Travels with Baby).

There are many ways you can look at this issue, and I hear from people on all sides frequently—from parents trying to squeeze in one more trip before their child turns two to advocates urging me to take a public stand against flying with lap children. Everyone has very valid points to make that I think are worth addressing here. And while most airlines now charge for every checked suitcase and every sandwich onboard, it’s clear that the potential new revenue to help airlines stay aloft is worth noting as well.

While I have flown with babies and toddlers on my lap, flown with infants in seats, and flown with a toddler who had completely had it with the car seat and screamed mercilessly for the pleasure of all passengers each time he was forced back into it (granted we’ve had plenty of good flights in the car seat and CARES harness, too, thank goodness), I think it’s important to recognize that even when parents purchase seats for their infants and toddlers, there are going to be times those children end up on laps regardless—especially on long flights, and especially if a baby is breastfed.

As I point out in my post with “Tips to help keep your lap child safer in flight,” I find it more alarming that years ago the FAA banned the one measure of safety for lap children that some other airlines insist upon, known as a lap child safety belt or “belly belt.” If you fly British Airways, for example, flight attendants will make certain your lap child is properly secured with the lap child safety belt they provide (much like the seatbelt extensions airlines already provide but with an extra loop) before take off and again before landing, and they encourage you to keep it on your child throughout the flight to protect against the leading cause of injuries in flight: unexpected turbulence (more reason to fly British Airways here).

Safety for the lap child: Must it really be all or nothing?
In the USA, however, it seems to be all or nothing—unless you use your own purchased Baby B’Air flight safety vest to protect your infant or toddler against turbulence. However, the FAA for some reason still prohibits you from using the Baby B’Air during taxiing, take-off and landing. On the bright side, at least you do have the option of purchasing a seat for your infant if you like within the U.S.—and often at a 50% discount (see the New Parents’ Guide to Airlines in Chapter 14). If you’re flying Alitalia, or other airlines noted in Travels with Baby, you still have no choice but to fly with your child under 24 months on your lap at this time.

Let’s hear from you: Do you think airlines should force parents to purchase seats for their babies and toddlers?
Do you think a 50% discount is incentive enough to book a paid seat for an infant? Do you think airlines should provide lap child safety belts—or provide them for rent—before forcing parents to purchase seats? In your own experience, have you flown with a child on your lap? Did you choose to purchase a seat for your infant—for safety’s sake or for convenience?

Enter to win:
Enter your comment below (subscribers only – use the box above) before midnight June 7, 2011, and you could be the winner of both Travels with Baby guidebooks.

• Use the award-winning Travels with Baby “Ultimate Guide” for help planning all your family’s travels from birth to five, by plane, train, car or cruise ship, to Grandma’s House and to the farthest corners of the globe.
• When you’re ready to go, use the new Take-Along Travels with Baby (current finalist in ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Awards) for hundreds of tips to help along the way, from keeping tots entertained at the airport and in the back seat, managing toddlers on airplanes and in restaurants, dealing with illness far from home, childproofing your accommodations, and you guessed it… much more.

I’ll announce the winner Wednesday, June 8 right here in the blog and on the Travels with Baby facebook page , and you’ll have 3 days to email me using your subscriber email address to claim your prize.

NOTE: International entries welcome! In recognition of our international audience here, I will personally ship the books to a winner abroad.

Want an extra chance to win?
You’ve got it. Just enter your comment a second time on the Travels with Baby facebook page , then leave a second comment below this post telling me you’ve done so.

Related posts and pages:
Ask Shelly: Top 5 tips for flying with a newborn baby
Tips to help keep your lap child safer in flight
Great Products and Gear: Car seat alternatives
Q2U: Would you give your child Benadrly to help him sleep on an airplane?

Safe journeys,

Shelly Rivoli
Author of Travels with Baby and the new Take-Along Travels with Baby
https://travelswithbaby.com/   Travels with Baby on Facebook

All content of this blog (c) Shelly Rivoli

The post Guidebook giveaway Q2U: Should airlines require parents to purchase seats for infants? appeared first on Travels With Baby.

4% said they already have, and they will again
2% said they have – and they won’t again!

Congratulations to “beth,”

Update on Amazon’s new book availabity –
Take-Along Travels with Baby has temporarily sold out from Amazon’s standard stock, but additional copies are still available from Amazon.com with an extra discount from “Travels with Baby Books.” Go to “More Buying Choices” and select Travels with Baby Books to get the discount and qualify for FREE Super Saver Shipping (Amazon Prime also available) – or just click here. You can also download it immediately in the Kindle edition with apps for “take-along gadgets.”

Safe journeys,

Shelly Rivoli
Author of Travels with Baby and the new Take-Along Travels with Baby
https://travelswithbaby.com/   Travels with Baby on Facebook

The post Announcing Q2U winner + Benadryl poll results appeared first on Travels With Baby.

So, my first Q2U: Would you give your child Benadryl to help him sleep on an airplane? Just click your answer on the poll appearing in the upper right of the blogspot page, and share a comment below. If you are a blogger with a post or article related to this topic, feel free to include the link in your comment.

As for me… I have a lot of sympathy for anyone—fellow passengers and flight crew included—trapped on a flight with an overtired baby or toddler who for whatever reason cannot seem to settle in to sleep. And guess what? I have been there myself, early in my days as a traveling parent, negotiating a wild-eyed exhausted toddler who was supposed to be taking her nap (thereby helping us pass part of the time during a long flight with her) during our strategically scheduled flight.

Unfortunately, the airport and the airplane were far too exciting for her this time around, and the in-flight nap backfired. She could only grow more agitated by her exhaustion and, I’m sure, our mounting levels of stress. It was not pretty. One flight attendant asked me exasperatedly if I couldn’t just PLEASE give her some Children’s Benadryl or something to make her sleep? I explained, feeling awkward that I’d somehow failed to work “drugging my child” into my travel planning, that I didn’t have any with me. By the time we landed after the 5.5 hour flight, an older woman deplaning with us scoffed for everyone to hear, “Who in her right mind travels with a baby?!”

And that was the outbound flight.

It was a learning experience for us to be sure, but not nearly as colorful as the one to follow when, on our return flight with yet again a nap-less crankster, I pulled out the fluorescent pink liquid antihistamine I’d picked up during our vacation… just in case. I’d never given my daughter Children’s Benadryl before. And I haven’t given it to her since. In case you haven’t been warned before, it actually has the opposite effect in some children. Mine included.

Obviously we survived that flight and went on to undertake several more as a family, which has since grown to include two additional, younger travelers. I can’t say that nothing fazes me now if and when we hit a bump in the road during travel, but I can say I have a much better sense of humor about it—and a heck of a lot more tools in my toolbox.

As for you… How would you or will you help your cranky child get rest on your next flight? Would you consider giving Benadryl or some other “sleep aid” such as the homeopathic Calms Forte for Kids? (As always, confirm appropriateness and proper dosing with your child’s doctor before using any new drug–and unless you like living on the wild side, consider trying it at home first.) Click your answer in the poll above and share your comment or tip with the rest of us!

Win a book! One subscriber who comments to this post will get more tools in his or her toolbox, too, with a free copy of Take-Along Travels with Baby, my new guid packed with hundreds of tips to help your family while traveling and on vacation (this one’s open to my friends overseas as well–where the book’s not yet available!). You can bet I’ve included tips to help soothe fussy babies on airplanes, manage toddlers on airplanes, and of course help children sleep on airplanes, too—all without Benadryl.
Thanks for playing!

Safe journeys,

Shelly Rivoli
Author of Travels with Baby and the new Take-Along Travels with Baby
https://travelswithbaby.com/    Travels with Baby on Facebook

The post Q2U – Would you give your child Benadryl to help him sleep on an airplane? (a poll and giveaway) appeared first on Travels With Baby.

I just finished up my review of the Safety 1st Go Hybrid travel car seat at TravelswithBaby.com, and now it’s your turn to weigh in on how you think this car seat might help a traveling family such as yours with a chance to win your own (a $199 value)!

To enter to win, just read the review then add a comment below this post completing this phrase:

“The Go Hybrid Portable Car Seat would make travel for my family oh-so-much easier when we… [your answer].”

Contest rules:
Travels with Baby subscribers only (use the subscribe box above if you’re new), and U.S. residents only, please. Leave your comment below before 11:59 p.m. PST on Wednesday 8/11/10. The winner will be announced the following day, with 3 days to claim the prize, so make sure you check back! (Anonymous entries will not be considered, so make sure your nickname or OpenID is on your comment.)

You can also get up to 2 extra entries per subscriber:

1) Facebook: Post your comment to the Travels with Baby fan page, then add a second comment below this post telling me you did so.

2) Twitter: Tweet “I want to win a portable car seat from @travelswithbaby,” then add a third comment below this post telling me you did so.

Thanks to our sponsors, Safety 1st and Dorel Juvenile Group, for this great giveaway!

Related posts and pages:
Review of the RideSafer travel vest
Review of the Sit N Stroll car seat 
Best toddler car seats and boosters for travel
Car seat travel bags and carriers
Car seat alternatives
Car seat travel questions

Safe journey,

Shelly Rivoli, author of the award-winning guide Travels with Baby
travelswithbaby.com   facebook   twitter

The post Win a “Go Hybrid” portable travel car seat from Safety 1st! ($199 value) appeared first on Travels With Baby.

Any of you who have tried to juggle a toddler on your hip plus a flashlight while finding your way to the campground potty in the dark—or have held the hands of two very young kids simultaneously while one points a flashlight into the trees and you try not to trip on rocks, will know why I jumped at the chance to test out the new LED models of the Hands-Free Beam N Read lights during our recent stay at Curry Village in Yosemite National Park.

While I expected the lights would be quite useful for us on this trip and others to come, they could not have traveled with us at a better time. Arriving hours behind schedule, in the dark, among puddles of snow melt… we were obliged to empty our car of anything and everything that has a scent or might look interesting to a bear…and carry it through the parking area to our tent cabin on its happy little row in the inner circle. Add to that our usual bags, a Peapod travel bed, our sleeping bags we brought for extra warmth, and it was quite a project at the end of a long drive (and day).

I’ll remind you, we have a baby and two young kids—the smallest of which was strapped to me. These wearable lights, with adjustable angles that light your path with bright, battery-saving LED light, were exactly what we needed. They’re typically worn around the neck (like a necklace) with an adjustable strap you can shorten when reading, as appropriate.

I also love that they use batteries so much more sparingly than traditional book lights and other flashlights (made to last at least 120 hours with four AA batteries, which are included). And the optional red filter is perfect for tiptoeing around on tooth-fairy detail and at other times when you want a softer light.

Of course, the 3-light model has numerous other helpful travel and childcare applications as well. Here are some of the best as I see them:

• You need to tiptoe around a dark hotel room without waking your child.
• You finally get a chance to read (or perhaps knit) on the airplane, but don’t want to risk turning on that overhead light above you and your sleeping child.
• You need to brush teeth in the campground rest room, but have nowhere to set a flashlight.
• You are orientationally challenged on a road trip and need to consult the map.
• You want to find your way around the campground without blinding everyone in your path—a common problem with the “head lamps.”

I also like how it’s small and packs flat right in the side pocket of my favorite carry-on.

Win Your Own!

Could you use one of these handy lights, with batteries and red filter included ($19.95 value)? I am giving one away to one lucky reader who leaves a comment below completing this sentence:

“The Beam N Read LED 3 would help me…[your answer]”

I can’t wait to read your comments! Leave your comment by Wednesday, June 23, midnight Pacific Time, and I’ll announce the winner the following day. U.S. only, please.

Thanks to ASF Lightware Solutions for sponsoring our Beam N Read LED lights and this giveaway. You may also want to check out the Beam N Read LED 6 Extra Wide & Bright, which has 3 additional lights, and comes with an optional orange filter and magnifying lens (great for doing detail work and in case of emergency–and dare I say could make an excellent Father’s Day gift for the fly-tying enthusiast in your life?).

Get more chances to win when you also:

1. Facebook – Leave your comment on the Travels with Baby Facebook page, then leave an additional comment below this post telling me you’ve done so.
2. Twitter – Tweet “I wanna win the ultimate travel light from @travelswithbaby” with a link to this post then leave an additional comment below this post telling me you’ve done so.

I have another giveaway just around the corner, so keep watching — plus your chance to chat with me live on the air…

Safe journey,

Shelly Rivoli, author of the award-winning guidebook Travels with Baby
The Ultimate Guide for Planning Trips with Babies, Toddlers, and Preschool-Age Children
https://travelswithbaby.com/

The post Review and giveaway of the hands-free Beam N Read LED 3 appeared first on Travels With Baby.