by erinisle22 » Wed Aug 29, 2012 1:39 pm
Hi there
I have traveled to Oz/Sydney with our son twice. Once around 3 months - he pretty much slept the whole time - and my husband was with me. We watched movies and slept - much like it used to be.
The other time was with him about 10/11 months (we stayed about 3 weeks) - on my own at near Christmas. This trip was much much harder.
Jetlag is a problem - at both times but it kind of resolved itself after about 4 days. At 10/11 months, he did sleep a bit on the flight but not the whole time.
The flight can really depend on the crew - on the way out on my own the crews were great. On the way back, not so great. And as I travelled on my own (with BA) I was put with a bassinet on the left hand side of the plane and my allocated seat was the window seat which was really difficult - every time I had to change a nappy etc, I had to get past two people with the bassinet down. The crew and bookings say there is nothing that can be done about that. And one of the crews insisted that it was rules that my son had to have his head at the window and feet to the aisle - and I couldn't see him in his seat in that position. And the distraction of the aisle was difficult too. However, 3 of the crews didn't insist that.
It gets harder when you have to feed them food, rather than just give them a bfeed or a bottle - so you won't have that worry. Definitely feed on take off and landing and the dummy will be helpful too.
If the flight isn't too full, then walking up and down and being able to be out in the aisle at the back is useful. My Christmas flights were overbooked so someone was sitting on the crew seats so I was disturbing someone if I was there.
And I found, the more people paid for their flight, the less accommodating they were of you and your child.
I won't be flying with my son again on my own until he has a good attention span and can watch the screen!
But it isn't all bad - positives - the plane is so noisy that beeping toys/books are hardly heard and the white noise is really soothing for sleeping.
You will be asked to taste formula at security - so if you like you can order ahead from boots at the airport and pick it up on that side or take enough that it won't matter. I took premade formula when I wasn't breastfeeding the second time.
And if there is turbulence you have to take the child out of the bassinet right away and put them in the seatbelt on your lap, whether they are sleeping or not...
Also I found a really short transit (in Thailand) surprisingly difficult on my own. There were only 45 mins before reboarding. In that time I was last off the plane with all my stuff, had to change a nappy, go to the loo and freshen myself up and go through security twice. All without a buggy as it was taken at the gate. So take a sling/baby bjorn as a back up so you can carry everything.
Hope that is helpful. I'm afraid it is coloured by my difficult experience last time. However, it is only 24 hours! I survived!
Cheers
Erin
Hi there
I have traveled to Oz/Sydney with our son twice. Once around 3 months - he pretty much slept the whole time - and my husband was with me. We watched movies and slept - much like it used to be.
The other time was with him about 10/11 months (we stayed about 3 weeks) - on my own at near Christmas. This trip was much much harder.
Jetlag is a problem - at both times but it kind of resolved itself after about 4 days. At 10/11 months, he did sleep a bit on the flight but not the whole time.
The flight can really depend on the crew - on the way out on my own the crews were great. On the way back, not so great. And as I travelled on my own (with BA) I was put with a bassinet on the left hand side of the plane and my allocated seat was the window seat which was really difficult - every time I had to change a nappy etc, I had to get past two people with the bassinet down. The crew and bookings say there is nothing that can be done about that. And one of the crews insisted that it was rules that my son had to have his head at the window and feet to the aisle - and I couldn't see him in his seat in that position. And the distraction of the aisle was difficult too. However, 3 of the crews didn't insist that.
It gets harder when you have to feed them food, rather than just give them a bfeed or a bottle - so you won't have that worry. Definitely feed on take off and landing and the dummy will be helpful too.
If the flight isn't too full, then walking up and down and being able to be out in the aisle at the back is useful. My Christmas flights were overbooked so someone was sitting on the crew seats so I was disturbing someone if I was there.
And I found, the more people paid for their flight, the less accommodating they were of you and your child.
I won't be flying with my son again on my own until he has a good attention span and can watch the screen!
But it isn't all bad - positives - the plane is so noisy that beeping toys/books are hardly heard and the white noise is really soothing for sleeping.
You will be asked to taste formula at security - so if you like you can order ahead from boots at the airport and pick it up on that side or take enough that it won't matter. I took premade formula when I wasn't breastfeeding the second time.
And if there is turbulence you have to take the child out of the bassinet right away and put them in the seatbelt on your lap, whether they are sleeping or not...
Also I found a really short transit (in Thailand) surprisingly difficult on my own. There were only 45 mins before reboarding. In that time I was last off the plane with all my stuff, had to change a nappy, go to the loo and freshen myself up and go through security twice. All without a buggy as it was taken at the gate. So take a sling/baby bjorn as a back up so you can carry everything.
Hope that is helpful. I'm afraid it is coloured by my difficult experience last time. However, it is only 24 hours! I survived!
Cheers
Erin