Mom details 3-hour hell flight with screaming baby: ‘More and more defeated’
“We just got to the airport, I’m travelling alone with my four-month-old!” a sing-songy mom begins her now-viral video.
The clip, posted by Jess Spaulding, has now had over 26 million views, so you just know something is about to going to down.
Sure enough, the mom’s chirpiness soon turns to distress as soon as she boards the plane and her daughter begins “screaming her head off” (her words, not ours).
But, after watching just five seconds of the one-and-a-half-minute clip, we soon realise she’s not being dramatic and her little girl, Charlotte, is seriously restless.
Jess eventually ends up crying with her baby, defeated by her attempts to calm her down and embarrassed by the judgy onlookers.
The 3-hour cry
“We’re never going to see these people again, it’s going to be okay,” Jess whispers to her baby, as she explains to her followers that she’s sure that everyone on the flight hates her.
Throughout the video, which is marked with timestamps, her baby lets out a continuous, piercing scream while Jess attempts to soothe her by bouncing her, patting her back and kissing her forehead.
In the caption of the post, Jess added extra context: “I just got progressively more and more defeated :(.
“This post isn’t meant to scare anyone from flying with your baby. It’s just to show that sometimes you have genuinely NO CONTROL over your baby crying.
“So many people on here know Charlotte is a happy baby who doesn’t cry which is often the case. That said, sometimes there are times where you can try EVERYTHING and they just don’t stop. I wanted to post this to remind the moms that go through this that it is not you. You did nothing wrong and you are not a bad mom.
“Stay strong mamas!! It’ll continue to get better so I hear.”
“This is why you don’t take your baby on a plane”
Despite the mom’s caption, pleading for more understanding and empathy for parents and bubs on planes, her commenters weren’t so kind.
“Flying with a baby is crazy,” said one.
Another wrote: “This is my nightmare as a passenger.”
“She needs a dummy to comfort her,” a third said, while others took jabs over the fact Jess was filming instead of spending all her energy trying to calm down her baby.
“Step 1, put the phone down!” someone wrote.
Another user asked, “I don’t understand why people don’t wait until the kids are at least 10-12 months old to travel.”
“I will never judge”
However, not everyone was so critical and many rushed to support the solo mom.
“I WILL NEVER BE ANNOYED OF A CRYING BABY ON A FLIGHT AGAIN. I’m so sorry! This must be so stressful. You’re doing great,” one woman said.
“Ugh your tears made me sad… You’re a great mama. So much grace,” a second supported.
“I may be annoyed, but I will never ever judge unless it’s obvious the parent isn’t trying. You’re doing your best! It happens,” another admitted.
“Whenever I hear a baby crying and feel annoyed I remember that the mom is probably feeling even worse,” someone else revealed.
Meanwhile, another TikToker said that other passengers need to learn how to deal with this sort of scenario, and the onus isn’t on the mom.
“You don’t need to worry about others! Most everyone has earbuds. They can be mildly inconvenienced for a few hours. You just focus on you and your baby!” one insisted.
“That’s the worst feeling in the world! Not being able to stop your baby crying! I hope the passengers were kind,” replied another.
Jess responded: “It was so hard!! Happy to be home.”
