Advice, travelling to Australia with a baby. Post Reply

[Emmalouise]

Can anyone please give me any advice that might help with travelling to Sydney with a 6 month old baby.

I will be travelling on my own and its a long flight, not quite sure about sleeping, baby food, can i take his milk on the plane?

Any helpful hints, anyone done this and can give me some advice on anything at all to help this journey.

Thank you, i am starting to get a bit stressed about it all now and wandering if i have bitten off more than i can chew.

x

[Mimpuca]

Hello there, i have been travelling long distance(12 hours) with my two year old baby since she was 3 months. You can take her food on the plan, airhostess are helpful, they will warm up food for her. You can ask the flight attendant to look after her while you run to the toilet. Please call your airline and book a basinet. With a basinet the baby will have a place to sleep after take off.
We played peekaboo, looked at books. I had some animal muppets to entertain her. If you have an iPad, we had sesame street with lots of songs. I also try feeding her( breastfeeding) during take off and landing helped a lots with pressure in her ears. Don't get nervous when she is crying, stay calm an she will pick up the peace in you. I had people thanking me after the flight because of my daughter being calm:) have a fun trip!!!

[Emmalouise]

Thank you for that.

He has a dummy which i introduced as a baby as i new this time would come to do long flights.

I am a bit worried about jet lag.

[erinisle22]

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

[Emmalouise]

Wow thank you, thats put it all into prospective although not sure if i should panic now or relax.

My son is unfortunatly on solids as he is a reflux baby/or was, so had to get him on solids pretty early, but i am going to take Ella's kitchen supplies, pre made formula i don't think i can get, as he is on diary free milk so not so easy to get hold of, but i will just take to powder with me.

I have a sling which i think i will take with me, it will make it so much easier on arrivals.

Thank you so much for the advice.

[erinisle22]

You'll be fine - don't panic. Just know that you'll have to feed your son in the bassinet seat or strap him onto your seat and kind of squash yourself in the seat well to feed him/her.

And the flight is a night flight to start off with right? So the first leg should be milk and sleep and that is it, with a bit of sitting on your lap after 10 or so hours so should be fine. And you should get some sleep then too.

Take a eyemask - I can't remember if these are standard anymore so you can sleep.

And as the previous poster said, if you are calm, your son will be calm.

Good luck! And it is only 24-odd hours. And the grandparents/family are at the other end, I guess? Although mine were not that helpful with jetlag...I tried to get my son in natural light as much as possible to effect the change and fed him on English time on the way out but switched to Aussie time when I got there.

[txmum]

I've don't this flight too and anbout at the same age. the above are all good suggestions. Like you, we had to take nutramigen with us - we had to pack 12 cans as australian chemists won't necessarily fill a ik prescription. Beware if you're opening a new can mid flight. The pressure change means that the powder explodes out of the can when you open it! Highly suggest bringing preloaded bottles that you only have at add water to, as you will more likely be juggling a baby in your lap and measuring out formula will be impossible!
Also, the bassinets are small and I struggled to get mine to stay in his.
I kept to the London schedule on the flight to make things easier and brought pj's" sleep sack, all of it. I also recommend a heavy music to cover him as the plane doesn't get dark enough. It's also quite cold.
The time difference worked out that sleep and nap times coincided with nap and sleep times back home, so the major adjustment was to shorter naps and longer sleeps.
Bring a long shoestring to tie toys to so you don't have to go fishing when he drops them or be grossed out after they hit the floor.
I've also done some transatlantic flights with him and my strategy has always been to stuff his face every time he makes a peep or gets unsettled. In the early days it was a boob, and now it's Ella's pouches. Long flights are not the time to be strict about any regimes - they're about survival!
Best of luck!.

[ekf]

I've done this flight on my own when my son was 10 months old. It's not as bad as you think. I am however dreading the next one now that he walks and is into everything!
My advice would be to take ready made cartons of formula. Take more than you would normally need in 24 hours. I found my son wanted at least 2 more bottles than he would normally have in 24 hours and so when he was screaming for a bottle I could simply open the formula carton and pour it straight into a bottle (he used drink it at room temperature). I took single use disposable bottles which were great but the flight attendants were happy to rinse bottles and dummies in very hot water if required.

Take more Ella's pouches than you need. I had to open and taste half of everything, formula and pouches when going through security so had to throw out anything than couldn't be used immediately.

If the plane is not full and you can get a spare seat next to you it is definitely helpful. I had one on the London to Singapore leg and it meant I could sit my son in it and he could play withh is toys and I could eat my dinner in peace. On the Singapore to Melbourne leg the flight was full and I didn't eat the whole time as there was nowhere I could put him (they're not allowed to sit in the bassinets).
If you are stopping in Singapore there are baby care rooms and free pushchairs dotted around the terminal that you can use whilst in transit.
In regards to jet lag, I got my son out in the daylight as soon as we got there and it didn't seem to affect him at all. I was the one up and pacing around at 4am!

[BoysX2]

I have done this flight with both my boys, I would suggest taking a load of spare dummies, it is easier to grab a new one than searching around on the cabin floor in the dark.

Also if you own ba ba blackouts and have the space in your carry on bag, you can create a little dark cave for them to sleep in.

Good luck!

[raremum]

Hi i did the journey from Uk to Melbourne with my little boy on my own about a month ago. It was definitely hard but doable, the first flight was fine as its overnight so hopefully your bub will sleep. I dont know where you are stopping over but the second leg was harder for us as he didnt sleep at all, my little one was 16mths at the time. I downloaded lots of childrens progs onto my Ipad and apps like The Giggle Gang, The little Fox , Peekaboo Farm, Peekaboo Vehicles were really good and kept him entertained a bit. Depending who you fly with they sometimes give you toys for the flight as well. Best to check with your airline before travel.
I would advise making them aware that you are travelling on your own before you travel as they will usually help you a bit more on the flight and at the airport. I used a backcarrier on my jourmey instead of a pram and found it much easier, so if your little one is just 6 months a sling would be perfect.
I took loads of ellas kitchen stuff and they let you through with it no problem. If you have any left when you arrive in oz make sure you declare it and then they will let you through with it. If you have asked for assistance aswell it means you shouldnt have to queue at customs and they are a bit more leniant as long as youve declared it.
I found with jet lag, it took me longer to get over than baby! I put him straight into oz night and day routine and it only took a few days to get back to sleeping properly.
Best of luck, it will be hard but make use of the stewards, i found they were willing to help if you asked, you just need to tell them exactly what you need them to do, even if it is just to hold baby for a few mins.
Hope all goes well.
Goodluck!