travelling with baby

[Guest heidi]

Hi there everyone.

New to this site, cant believe I've only just discovered it. What a great site with loads of really useful info I could have done with before now!!Just wondered if anyone has any experience/comments on travelling long haul with a baby (well 1 year old). Any tips? Sedation recommendations?! etc.

Thanks:arghh:

Heidi

[Guest Trakki]

Welcome to PIA, how far are you down the visa process or have you already got it?

 

We will be asking the same question as we will be travelling with 4 children. They will be 7, 5, 2 and 9 months ish!! I think we will be the ones needing sedation though!!

 

Anyway, welcome again

 

Tracey

[Guest Bodie]

My daughter was 11 months old when I first took her on holiday to Australia. I was horrified by the thought of the long plane journey but she was great and there were no problems. The only difficulty I experienced was with her milk; I had put her on cows' milk thinking it would be easier but I couldn't buy milk at any of the airports. Check with your airline to see if they will supply it for you. Our next trip was when she was 4 and my son was 18 months. James is a typical boy and I thought he would struggle in the confined space but again, they were both great ... well until he ate some chocolate cake and then started screaming at the other passengers in a scary, scary voice. Anyway, my point is - it won't be anywhere near as bad as you would expect. Good luck and don't accept the cake.

[Guest everhopeful]

Welcome

 

I travelled three years ago with my son who was then 2 1/2. The night flights were a God send. He fell asleep just after take off from Heathrow and woke up just before landing at Malaysia. The stop over proved a bit of a problem though, as I think others have posted and we were all up in the hotels in the early hours. However back at the airport and another night flight he actually fell asleep before the plane took off and I had to wake him up to get off!

 

It was a different story on the way home when he was awake all the way but the stwards/ess were fantastic. Hopefully this bit of the journey won't apply to us all now!

 

Joanna

[Guest happy-jools]

I dont have a one year old, but I do have a four year old who just doesnt sit still.xx

 

So god help me.

 

 

Fingers crossed to us all.

[The Monaghans]

We travelled with a 3 year old and an 18 month old. To be honest, it was a complete nightmare! They did sleep for a fair bit of the way from Heathrow to Malaysia but then ran riot at KL airport. They were also wide awake for the second leg from KL to Adelaide and the 18 month old kicked the seat of the poor man in front of him for seven straight hours! I was virtually pinning him down in his seat but he still managed to keep kicking! Speaking of seats, Malaysian Airlines let us take the children's car seats onto the plane with us as we knew they'd sleep better in them than in an ordinary seat. It was a bit of a nightmare having to lug them through Heathrow and KL airport but still well worth it. It's also worth pointing out that we bought a seat for the 18 month old, no way were we travelling for 27 hours with him on our lap!!!

 

Good luck!

[Guest louiesmum]

Hi Heidi

When we visited Australia 19 months ago my youngest was 1yr & oldest was 4yrs old. We did it straight no stop over. We chose a night flight & it worked well for us they slept for 8 hrs, after that they were good my youngest did keep on making a dive into 1st class but hey! However we were lucky as we managed to get the bulk head seats! So no one in front. I dont think we'll be so lucky this time though, our youngest is lively to say the least!! Good luck with your journey

[foxychick]

I think you will probably find it better than you anticipate, have done the journey a few times with our little ones, starting at 16mths until last time, 4 & 6. not too bad.

 

Regarding sedation, the only thing I would say is try before you fly - we didn't and sedated our littlest on the first flight we did (age 18mths) he slept for about 45mins then woke up and screamed for 4 hours! FUN never dared try it again, could have been co-incidence, could have been a reaction. Anyhow, have always managed really, don't get much sleep myself as I worry, I will fall asleep and they will be awake and wandering around!

[Guest steve&tracy]

I think you will probably find it better than you anticipate, have done the journey a few times with our little ones, starting at 16mths until last time, 4 & 6. not too bad.

 

Regarding sedation, the only thing I would say is try before you fly - we didn't and sedated our littlest on the first flight we did (age 18mths) he slept for about 45mins then woke up and screamed for 4 hours! FUN never dared try it again, could have been co-incidence, could have been a reaction. Anyhow, have always managed really, don't get much sleep myself as I worry, I will fall asleep and they will be awake and wandering around!

Hi all we flew out with a 2yr old 7yr old and 15yr old and they were all really good. don't worry too much.we found lugging the carseat and buggy around more hassle than it was worth as in the end the little one didn't sit in the car seat and she could move around better.Good luck with your travels it's not as bad as you think.

[richjop]

We have done this trip 3 times now and have always done it non stop. Mine are now 2 and 7 and the only mistake is that when he was 18 months we didn't get Josh a seat, he was fine but my legs ached for days!!!! I use a medicine called Pherergan which is a sedative for travel sickness, gave it to them just before we took off on each leg and both had to be woken on landing. Not sure whether its related but mine have never had any trouble with jet lag because they are very rested when we arrive, unlike me!!!! Remember, its very unlikely that you will ever see your fellow passengers again and when you get here its all worth while, hope it won't be as bad as you think!

[Selah]

Our kids (now 11,9&3 have been doing yearly long haul flights since birth. We recently went to Adelaide and booked both legs overnight - leaving at 10:35pm. I agree with others - sedating with either Benadryl or Phenergan should be tried once at home as they can cause hyperactivity instead. We found out the hard way with the youngest! The real issue for you is to make sure you can get a bassinett seat if your one year old is small enough (mine never were) or seriously consider spending the extra dosh for an extra seat or praying your lucky enough to have an extra seat. If you are selecting seats online and your plane as a 3 seat combination - book the aisle & window for yourself & partner leaving middle free. It will be the last seat someone else will book and trust me as soon as someone sees you have the babe they will ask to move and you might just get that seat for free if it's not a full flight. I bought wrapped tiny presents even for the one year olds at the time. Unwrapping wastes time and as for milk - I used SMA cartons and even with current liquid restrictions - they will make exceptions for baby food. Best of luck and as I've often said before - even if it's horrible - it's only 27 hours of your life and the memory will fade... We promise!!

 

Liz

[duncan-clan]

i have two children jodie 4 and maddie 6month, on my first trip to oz jodie fell asleep just after take off at heathrow and woke up a few hrs later went eco seats and found this to cramped with kids that wouldnt sit still so going first class as there will be more room for kids to play or i might just but a bottle of cloroform (think it spelt correctly) that should knock them out.....if anyone is landing at singapore there is so much space for kids to burn off energy for the next 8hr flight to adeliade

 

alex

[Guest chillyanna]

when it becomes our time to fly over to adelaide we will have a 9 month old girl with us.

not really dreading it but not looking forward to it either! we are new the parenting game so not sure if we would be better taking the car seat with us or just use the skycot on the plane, what do you all think?

 

paul

[duncan-clan]

my advise for taking 9month child is to buy 3 seats so baby can sleep on spare chair or someone will be carrying for a llllooooooonnnnnnggggggg time 12hrs to singapore then another 8hrs to adeliade or if like get the cot but i never used it just dont like the idea of it hanging off the wall with no legs to support it underneath

 

alex

[Guest heidi]

Hi there-

Thanks to all who replied to my message, sorry its been so long but being new to the site and not very computer aware I couldnt find the replies til now! They were helpful thanks. We have now had our police clearance returned :policeman:and medicals are all done and dusted so after that bit of excitment we're back to the waiting game! How long did it take everyone else to get their visa after police clearances came through? Did this come via email or post?

Thanks again,

Heidi, Jamie and Maisie

Bournemouth

[The Monaghans]

Hello Heidi,

 

I can't remember exactly now as it was a while ago, but I think our visas came through 4 to 6 weeks after our police checks and meds went through. Our agent phoned to give us the good news and I remember wanting to rush straight out to book one way tickets!! I managed some restraint though and waited till the weekend!:v_SPIN:

[Guest Lulujim]

Hi,

 

Last year we travelled to Aus with a one year old. She was formula fed so it was pretty easy.. The airline staff were great with washing the bottles and filling up with boiling water. We had a tin of formula in our hand luggage and just made each bottle up as we needed it. We saved up the bottles for take - off where possible which helped with keeping ears from popping I think - and tended to get her to sleep quickly too.

When we didn't have time to let the water cool as she was desperate for it.. the staff filled the bottle with cows milk for us - really helpful.

Our daughter, Maggie, mainly ate plane food - but having LOTS of snacks was great. We took raisins, fruitapura pots, biscuits lots of goodie snacks and bananas.

My other tip would be to try and keep things as 'normal' as possible! Maggie sleeps in a sleeping bag here, so we would zip her into that each flight too.

I hope that's helpful??? Let me know how you get on!!

TC, Alexis

[Guest louiesmum]

Hi there-

Thanks to all who replied to my message, sorry its been so long but being new to the site and not very computer aware I couldnt find the replies til now! They were helpful thanks. We have now had our police clearance returned :policeman:and medicals are all done and dusted so after that bit of excitment we're back to the waiting game! How long did it take everyone else to get their visa after police clearances came through? Did this come via email or post?

Thanks again,

Heidi, Jamie and Maisie

Bournemouth

Hi

Ours took about 8 weeks once meds & PC done, got notification via e-mail.

So not long Good Luck