Yellowknife (Aug 18/06) - It wasn't quite like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but it was close.

Nearly all of Brent and Katey Simmons' 10-month-old son Harrison's supplies had to be discarded before the Yellowknife family was allowed to board their flight home from Newfoundland, Sunday.

As of Aug. 11, solid cosmetic and personal items, such as deodorant, are now permitted as part of carry on luggage. Still banned are liquids or gels, other than baby formula or breast milk and prescription medicine labelled with a name that matches the passenger's boarding pass. Insulin and other essential non-prescription medication are permissible. According to the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, baby wipes are OK for travel while baby food is not.

"When (security) took the baby wipes, that was inconvenient but also a little weird," recalled Katey of airport confiscations that included little Harrison's teething medication, cream and baby food.

The ban on all liquids, gels and paste-like items went into effect in airports across Europe and North America after British authorities thwarted an alleged terrorist plot to blow up 10 transatlantic flights to the United States Thursday.

According to British intelligence, the suspects were planning to smuggle bomb-making liquids, disguised as common household items, on to planes as part of their carry-on luggage.

If it hadn't been for Katey's protest for common sense, Harrison would have been without food and formula for the family's entire three-flight, cross-Canada journey.

"We didn't make a big hoopla of it," she said. "It was more out of concern for (Harrison) as we wanted to make it comfortable for him."

Both Katey and Brent thought that a happy baby means happy passengers. Eventually security personnel at the airport in St. John's allowed the family two food containers and three bottles of formula.

"I really questioned the wipes and food but I guess security wanted to blanket cover everything to be on the safe side," said Brent.

During their 26-minute layover in Toronto, Katey, Brent and Harrison made perhaps the quickest diaper/flight change in the history of air travel.

"We had just enough time to get into the bathroom and then make our next flight," said Brent.

As of press time, Transport Canada authorities were allowing prescription medication - provided labels match passengers' names - and baby formula. However, all non-essential liquids and gels are still prohibited.

According to Yellowknife airport security manager Lee Stroman, passenger cooperation is helping things run smoothly.

"I think people are very well aware of what the expectations are and they are accommodating them," he said. "So there hasn't really been an excess wait time."

Nils Dolstra, communications officer with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, confirmed to Yellowknifer that baby wipes were permitted as part of carry on luggage while baby food was not.

As for why security at St. John's airport confiscated the former and allowed a portion of the latter, Dolstra said "slight hiccups" can happen when dealing with situations of this magnitude.

"First imagine the scale of these things," said Dolstra. "Each year, 35 million people and 60 million pieces of luggage are screened. With 89 airports to inform (of these banned items), slight hiccups are going to happen but in general (implementing these measures) is going very well."