by Becky Vieira posted in Parenting

My biggest concern about flying with my baby ? besides his wellbeing ? was other passengers. I imagined every worst case scenario. He?d cry. I?d get dirty looks or maybe someone would lose their marbles and scream.
Guess what" All of that happened.
And I survived. In fact, it turned out to be one of the most supportive experiences of my life. Even though a fellow passenger yelled and mom shamed me.

We tried to do everything right by our son and the other passengers. He had his own seat and we secured an entire row in the back of the airplane. My mom came along to help. We had an FAA-approved carseat, toys, snacks, everything we could think of.
Like all good intentions, things went awry. The flight was delayed by hours. He was tired and disoriented, though we felt a sense of solidarity when we saw a family with three kids behind us. After takeoff both my son and the baby behind us were crying and fussing. It was nothing excessive and it was only around 3 p.m. We did our best to keep him calm and happy. The woman in front of us turned around and gave me a dirty look. I thought I imagined it, obviously I was hyper-sensitive. After the third glare my husband said, ?we?d be dead if looks could kill? and nodded her way. It was clear a problem was brewing.
Over the next hour she continued to whip her ahead around anytime my son made any sound ? a giggle, a babble, a burp. At one point the flight attendants offered to move her because ...