I thought upgrading to first class would give me and my baby better sleep. I was wrong.

I had one question before I booked my first trip as a new mother: Is it worth the cost to upgrade to first-class with seats that lie flat or stick with coach when you travel with an infant?

I could not find a straight answer online, so in the end, I did both.

I booked our outgoing red-eye flight in lie-flat seats for my husband, 8-month-old daughter, and me, and our return flight in the coach bulkhead.

Turns out, the three bulkhead coach seats were both better and cheaper than the two first-class seats for multiple reasons.

We didn’t get the sleep quality I expected in first class

What made me really want first class was those lie-flat seats. I thought that lying flat would allow us better sleep, especially since we were able to put our daughter in her own bassinet.

I was wrong.

Before we flew, I didn’t know that our airline required babies to be out of the bassinet anytime the seatbelt sign was on. Even though the bassinet had a security belt.

That meant, every time there was turbulence, one of us had to wake up, get up, and wake her up. Doing that even once was too much.

Plus, this plane’s lights didn’t go all the way dark, so it was harder for us and our baby to get back to sleep, especially when the seat belt sign remained on and we had to try and have her sleep on our laps. We don’t co-sleep, so that was a difficult adjustment for all of us.

First class had more disruptions

While one of the advantages of first class is that it provides more attentive service with delicious food, this also means carts were coming through the aisle multiple times for multiple courses on multiple meals.

Plus, on this particular airplane, the first-class bathrooms were just on the other side of the bassinet. It was convenient for diaper changes, but there were a lot of disruptions for our infant, which meant a lot of waking up crying.

Babies always cry, but it caused us some stress. As a generally courteous person, I don’t want to be the reason someone can’t sleep on their flight.

For the record, no one on either flight said a single word to us about our crying baby, and the staff was very helpful and supportive. And to be fair, we all enjoyed first class before we needed to actually sleep. The more attentive service, lavish food, and ability to put our feet up in a recliner were great.

When I fly again with my infant, I’ll choose coach

On the return flight, in coach, we could afford for our baby to have her own middle seat.

We chose our seats in the bulkhead of the plane, which gave us extra legroom and also provided a bassinet that we booked ahead of time.

We didn’t even need the bassinet, though, because we put her car seat (backward) in her plane seat. She had plenty of room to wiggle around and, if she’d been walking, could have explored back and forth in our part of the bulkhead without bothering other passengers.

There was also less service in coach, which meant fewer disruptions. And I liked having her in the middle seat because it provided a buffer of protection between her and the aisle where people put up and take down luggage.

Best of all, none of us had to co-sleep, and our baby was able to nap when she got tired, so she cried much less. Yes, sitting upright made sleep more challenging, but we all actually got to sleep and stayed asleep for a restful period and arrived in a better state of mind.

All in all, it’s not worth upgrading to first class just for your infant. In my experience, though, it was definitely worth the price to sit in the bulkhead, and definitely worth it to get the baby her own seat.

Next time we fly overnight, I will book three seats in the bulkhead again. For a shorter flight where sleep is not a priority, I may not purchase her own seat, but I will still book the bulkhead for the extra space.

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