By Knight Ridder Newspapers

Traveling with an infant? Here’s some advice from the book “How to Survive Your Baby’s First Year” (Hundreds of Heads Books, www.hundredsofheads.com, $12.95), straight from people who’ve done it:

“My baby hated being confined to her car seat, and she would become so hysterical that I would have to pull over many times to get out and comfort her. I learned that when traveling a long distance, I should plan for someone to come with me to sit with her and distract her. Lots of snacks and toys help too.”

– Paula Fox, Gorham, Maine, mother of a 2-year-old daughter

“We’ve taken our 3-year-old on at least 20 round trip flights, and our 1-year-old on about eight. We’ve hardly found it worthwhile to buy an extra seat for the kid, since they hardly napped and won’t stay there when they can be on your lap or eating peanuts off the floor.

Also, you can just bring a car seat on the plane and hope you get lucky with an extra seat; even if there are not continuous seats, people will be more than happy to get out of your way so they don’t end up next to a baby. For entertainment, kids are absolutely fascinated by the barf bag, flight safety card, and plastic cups (ask for an extra one). If that fails to amuse them, try bribery – our 3-year-old gets M&Ms if she’s good on the flight.”

– Mark Kaplan, Foster City, Calif., father of a 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son

“When we take car trips, the key is to listen to Sesame Street CDs on the ride. It calms and entertains my daughter and she doesn’t scream the whole way.”

– Russell Lissau, Arlington Heights, Ill., father of a 2-year-old daughter

“It’s easier to take a road trip with a baby if you put them in the car at their bedtime and drive through the night. That way, he or she can sleep during the ride and you can concentrate on driving. We did this on a trip from Philadelphia to Iowa and it worked perfectly. The next time, we drove during the day and it was a rough ride.”

– Rick, Narberth, Pa., father of a 4-month-old daughter

“The worst trip I ever took was a visit to my sister’s with my 8-month-old daughter. I’d just flown in with her from across the country. My parent’s picked us up, but they had failed to get the carseat properly installed. It took us over an hour to fix it. By the time we were driving, it was exactly the wrong time for my daughter, who’d been trapped on various moving vehicles all day. She screamed her head off for the whole two hours.”

– Jenny W., New York City, mother of a 4-year-old daughter