There is nothing that instills panic in the minds of parents — as well as other passengers and flight attendants — as the thought of a baby's first airplane trip. It can be rough. Actually, it can be horrible. Your baby may scream for hours, throw up all over you, and leak through her last dry set of clothes. Or your baby may sleep the whole way and wake only as the plane is coming in for a landing.

While traveling with an infant may be rough on parents, it isn't, under normal circumstances, hazardous to the baby. There is no clear medical reason to forego air travel until an infant is a certain age, although some airlines have restrictions on travel for infants only a few days old. Unless a trip is critical, you might consider holding off until your baby is more than two months old. Airplanes tend to be germ-rich places, and it is a concern when a baby under two months old gets a fever for any reason.

To some extent, whether you spend your flight reading a novel or passing out earplugs is a matter of your baby's temperament and luck, but you can tilt the odds.

When you make your reservations, think about your child's temperament at different times of the day. If she fusses every evening and needs to be walked for hours, a late-day flight is probably not a good idea. If she typically falls asleep easily and sleeps all night, maybe you're a candidate for a red-eye. (This is a risky move, though; fellow passengers who will grin and bear it when a baby is crying on a daytime flight can get downright nasty when their sleep is interrupted by a crying baby.)

A Seat of One's Own

Purchase a seat for your baby. Unfortunately, many airlines have eliminated the reduced-priced tickets for children under two, but your baby might be severely injured if the plane hits turbulence or is in an accident and she isn't strapped in to her car seat. Yes, she can fly free (or for a small fee on international flights) if she sits on your lap, but having a guaranteed spot for your baby's car seat can make the difference between a merely stressful flight and torture. (You can put her down if she falls asleep, for one, and be able to lower your tray table and eat something yourself.)

Make sure that your car seat is FAA-approved and “certified for use in motor vehicles and aircraft.”

If you do purchase a seat, make sure to reserve the window for your baby; you won't be allowed to use the car seat in any other seat, as it may block access to the aisle. You can also request a baby meal. Most airlines offer this option, which usually consists of a few jars of baby food.

Know What to Ask For

If you aren't purchasing an extra seat and are traveling with another adult or child, ask for an aisle and a window seat when you make your reservations. If you're lucky, the center seat will remain unoccupied. If not, whoever is assigned that seat will be happy to switch for your aisle or window and may, if your baby starts fussing before takeoff, look for a seat far away. (Hint: Boarding is not the time to worry about quieting your baby; you want to clear your row.) You may have been advised to ask for a bulkhead row. This tip makes sense, but you can forget about it unless you or your traveling companion is a high-mileage flier. Most airlines award bulkhead seats to good customers, not families with kids.

Try to get a seat in the front third of the airplane. Some airplanes have been remodeled to give front passengers extra leg room, and those few inches may make the difference between whether you can wriggle down to pick up a dropped rattle or not. If the front third is booked, try for one of the last few rows. You'll be close to the bathroom and at least have some floor space to pace with your baby.

Travel Tips

• Gate-check your stroller. Tell the person checking boarding passes that you want a gate-check; he'll give you a special tag. Then you can push your baby all the way down the boarding ramp and unload your stroller just outside the door to the airplane. Put on the tag and leave the stroller there. It will be returned to you as you leave the airplane at your destination and will make it a lot easier to get your baby and her gear to the baggage area.

• Bring a car seat aboard. (Make sure that it's no wider than fifteen inches — that means it will fit in most coach seats.) You may also have to prove that your car seat is FAA-approved; if it doesn't say so on the label, it may in the instruction manual. Some infant seats will fit in the overhead compartment; if yours does and you don't have a seat reserved for your baby, stash it there as soon as you get it on the plane. You can get it down later if it turns out you have an extra seat. If it doesn't fit, and the plane is full, you'll have to ask the flight attendant to check it for you. If you are using a convertible car seat (the kind that can be strapped in the rear-facing position for infants and switched to front-facing for older children), you may have to strap it in the front-facing position to fit it on the airplane. This isn't ideal, but it's safer than your lap.

• Bring plenty of extra formula. Plane travel is dehydrating, and sucking will help protect your baby's ears from pressure problems. Bring plenty of water if you're using powdered formula. Since 9/11, security rules forbid liquids in sizes over 3 ounces, but formula, breast milk, and juice can be brought onboard if you're with a baby. As for water, current security rules don't allow you to bring a bottle of water through the security gates, but you can buy water once you've passed them and then add it to your baby's bottle or sippy cup.

• Preboarding. It's easier to get yourself and your gear stowed, strapped in, and settled before hordes of anxious passengers are trying to cram past you. Unfortunately, this courtesy is offered less and less often. If there isn't an announcement, ask if you can preboard, because some airlines will respond to individual requests. If you're traveling as a solo parent with a baby, beg. Groveling is better than being trampled by impatient passengers as you are trying to stow your gear without dropping your baby.

• Nurse or feed your baby during takeoff and landing. The sucking and swallowing helps prevent discomfort in her ears from the changes in air pressure. Let her sleep if she's sleeping during takeoff, but wake her up if she's sleeping during landing, as that's when the pressure problems are the worst. If she's not interested in eating, use an eyedropper to put drops of water, juice, or milk in her mouth. She'll swallow them, and the swallowing will clear her ears. (Screaming will clear her ears too, of course.)

• Drink plenty of fluids yourself. Bring a sport water bottle, and get it refilled. This will be easier to manage while wrestling a baby than a plastic glass or soda can. This is critical if you are nursing. Again, air travel is extremely dehydrating. If you're not careful your milk supply can be depleted for a day or two.

• Bring extra clothes. Your baby is not the only one who is going to get messy if she throws up or has a diaper blow-out. Keep a change of clothes (for yourself) and plastic grocery bags (for the mess) in your carry-on.

• Bring a favorite toy or two. Be on the lookout for found toys too. (The laminated card with the picture of emergency exits somehow fascinates babies; you can make puppets out of barf bags or play stacking games with paper cups from the bathroom.)

• Bring a package of disposable earplugs. If your baby's screaming is getting you a lot of nasty looks from nearby passengers, stand up and offer the ear plugs around. You'll at least get a laugh, which may win a few people over to your side.

Other Travel Challenges

One fiction that you need to drop is the idea that the flight attendant is your friend. She may have been your friend when you were traveling on business, carrying a jacket and a briefcase, and quietly sitting in your aisle seat tapping away on your computer. She is probably not your friend when you are pacing the aisle, trying to calm your screaming baby while simultaneously dodging the drink cart. Once in a while, you'll get a wonderful flight attendant who has — or remembers what it is like to have — young children. If the flight isn't too crowded, the attendant may volunteer to hold your baby while you go to the bathroom. (Those of us who have met those flight attendants remember them forever.) Odds are, however, that you won't and you'll be on your own.

Finding a place to change a diaper on an airplane is a challenge. Forget about the bathrooms. Only rarely will you get a plane with a fold-down changing table, and the ones that exist are so small as to be practically useless. The bathrooms themselves have no counter space and the floors are typically wet and sticky.

If you have a row to yourself, change your baby on your seats. Smile apologetically to nearby passengers if it's a smelly diaper and whisk it into the airsick bag as quickly as possible. Speed is important here.

If you don't have a row to yourself, your best bet is to change your baby on the floor at the back of the plane. Try to crouch out of the path of anyone who might walk by, and put a blanket or two on the floor before you spread out your changing pad (again, the floor is likely to be pretty yucky). Or you can punt on the issue by slathering your baby's bottom with diaper cream and putting a superabsorbent diaper or double-diapers on her just before boarding and hope she doesn't poop before landing.

If you're switching planes as a solo parent and can't figure out how you are going to race with your baby, car seat, and diaper bag from gate to gate, try calling the airline. You may be able to arrange for help in the form of a chauffeured electric cart.