I keep seeing the same commercial over and over again. It features a mom who declares that her toddler will be potty trained in time for an upcoming family camping trip. The mother claims that the trip was the impetus for getting her tot on the potty-training bandwagon.
The commercial never reveals how the potty training goes or whether the family makes it to the campgrounds sans a box of diapers, but I digress. The point is I’ve known many a mother who has vowed that her child would be out of diapers in time for an important trip.
For some it was wishful thinking. Others lucked out and were able to travel without toting along 10 pounds worth of diaper supplies.
As a mother, I do not fault any parent who tries to wean their toddler from diapers in time for a long trip. After all, no parent takes pleasure from having to change a messy (not to mention smelly) diaper on board a crowded airplane filled with strangers. Still, the alternative would be much more unpleasant. Imagine having to deal with a putrid smelling odor and the uncontrollable wails of an uncomfortable tot. Talk about flying the unfriendly skies.
The issue of mid-air diaper changing etiquette is one that gets tossed around quite liberally on Internet parent forums. Personally, I have never hesitated to change my child’s diaper on a plane. In fact, I changed my now preschool age daughter’s diaper multiple times when she was an infant (then toddler) during our semi-annual 10-hour flights to and from Chicago and Hawaii, but I did so discreetly.
We always sit near the back of the plane and since I can change a diaper quicker than a NASCAR pit crew can change a flat, exposure was never a factor. In addition, I was careful to place a changing pad and a disposable, plastic changing mat on the seat cushion to provide extra protection for the seat and my daughter. When the change was compelete, I deposited the soiled diaper in a specially designed scented plastic bag and threw it away in the plane’s restroom.
I don’t change diapers in the airplane’s lavatory. If you have ever spent any time in an airplane’s lavatory you know why. Airplane lavatories simply don’t have a surface large enough to change a baby, and there is no way I would ever put my child (or suggest others put theirs) on the floor of an airplane or on a closed toilet seat.
I have flown more than 60,000 miles with my child and I make no apologies for changing a single one of her diapers on an airplane seat. Granted, I’m not saying you should ignore the feelings of your fellow passengers. I simply maintain that a diaper change can be done so discreetly, without “grossing out” other seatmates.
How do you handle diaper changes at 30,000 feet?
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