Changing diapers on airplanes... without a changing table?

December 1, 10:25 AMTravels with Baby ExaminerShelly Rivoli

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Time for a change? Baby Angelina's first cross-country flight, 8 months. 

It’s not a pretty picture. Your infant has been strapped into his car seat far longer than expected thanks to unexpected turbulence. You begin to fear that the grumblings you heard between your own “shooshes” as you held his binky in place were not coming from the airplane engines but rather from the car seat.

At long last, the fasten seatbelt lights finally turn off and you make way with sullied baby and diaper kit to the nearest lavatory. There’s just one problem: You’ve no place to set your baby.

You step back out into the corridor to ask a flight attendant, “Is there a changing table on this airplane?” The answer aboard most small airplanes that have fewer than three lavatories is often “No,” which leaves parents to commit brazen acts of diaper-changery such as using their own seats while standing in the aisle or while balancing babies on lavatory toilet lids or even on their own laps. Clearly, none of these methods is desirable.

Nevertheless, if you're going to be flying with a baby, you may not always have the advantage of a diaper changing table in the lavatory. Here are some tips to help make it more manageable.

1. Bring full a yard of flannel-backed vinyl, which you can purchase at most fabric stores, to use as your changing pad. It creates a much larger “safety zone” than the usual diaper-bag-size changing pads, which you’ll be especially glad to have if you’re using airplane seats, the floor, lavatory seating area, or even on some restroom changing tables you’ll encounter along the way.

2. If you feel it’s safest to go for it on the seats, rather than in the lavatory, try to time your change with your neighbor’s visit to the lavatory if possible. You won’t risk offending them and you might have more room to maneuver. If baby or diaper can’t wait any longer, give your nearest neighbors a friendly warning and apologize that there’s nowhere to do so in the lavatory, then offer them a chance to excuse themselves during the process if they prefer.

3. If you have seats on the bulkhead row, consider using the floor space. Although you’ll have very little privacy, you’ll have more room to work and less risk of baby rolling off of the seats or a lavatory toilet.

4. Remember to bring antibacterial hand wipes. Not only can you use them to clean your hands after at-seat diaper changes, they also double as an air freshener which may be appreciated in some situations (you might even offer one to your neighbor).