I dared to take my first plane trip with my two-month-old Ben. Call it naivety or stupidity, but I decided to take this trip on my own. My husband needed to stay home for work and I wanted to go visit my parents and friends to show off this little boy. The trip started well. My husband was able to get an escort pass to help us get through security. (This was a lifesaver as I had NO idea how I would be able to remove my shoes, jacket, my laptop, the bottle, my baggie of liquids . . . all while holding a baby.) I usually carry my son in a Moby wrap, which is like magic in fabric form. Unfortunately, the TSA finds it necessary for you to practically strip naked before going through security, so there was no way I could wear it through the screening process.

I managed to put my shoes and jacket back on and return my laptop to my bag. I then had to open up my bottle so that they could hold a magical strip above it to make sure I wasn't going to feed explosive material to my son. Oh that bottle.

I had it all planned out perfectly. Ben's tummy started to grumble and so, being the innovative mother that I am, I decided to get a cup of hot water from the Starbucks kiosk to warm the bottle. Everything was going perfectly. The milk was warm. The baby was hungry. I took off the lid . . . there was no hole in the nipple. I breastfeed my son, and so we use bottles very rarely. I thought taking a brand new bottle on our trip would be great fun. The night before, I sanitized and washed the new bottle, somehow never realizing the liquid had no means of escape.

So there I sat with a screaming child futilely trying to suck milk from a bottle with no hole. In the process, I attracted a great deal of attention. And with the attention came the well-meaning advice of those sitting around me. In my son's frustration he kicked his socks off (which I now held in my hands while I was trying to placate him). One woman informed me that my son was crying because his feet were cold and that I needed to put socks on him right away. I am usually a very non-confrontational person, but at that point I wanted to cry just about as much as my son. I politely responded, "No ma'am, my son is crying because he's hungry. His feet are fine." I then proceeded to gather my belongings and moved to another part of the terminal.

So, surrounded by businessmen on cell phones and laptops, I nursed my son, a situation I was hoping to avoid. Our trip had not begun quite the way I had planned, but in the end, Ben's hunger was satisfied, a crisis was averted, and we arrived safe and sound.

What did I learn on the trip?

#1 Moms should have at least two extra pairs of arms at all times

#2 Never take a new, untested bottle on a trip

#3 Unsolicited advice is seldom appreciated.

#4 Even if everything goes awry, getting there safely is what really matters.