Longhaul flight with 5 Month old!

the goon

Hi, I really need some advice. My wife and I will be visiting her family when our baby will be 5 months old. The problem is this involves a two hour hop to Amsterdam followed by a ten hour long haul flight! I am a bit nervous about the prospect of this and would greatly appreciate any tips and advice. For example what is the situation with bottles and formula in relation to air travel regulation. Also how do you make the flight comfortable for the baby. Beginning to panic about it all!!

crazy cat lady

I flew to the Uk alone with my 1yr old last month. Not exactly long haul but it was flying all the same!

Firstly, it wasn't as bad as I had imagined! Once the case was checked in, it was great having the pushchair to hang the hand luggage on! I was able to bring the pram to the steps of the aircraft, and from there they put it into the luggage bay. It was taken off and waiting for me at the bottom of the steps when we landed.

It was only an hours flight so there wasn't much entertaining to be done. She sat on my lap and played with a few toys that I had brought on board for her.

I had brought bottles of cooled boiled water for her. I was asked to take a sip from each of them at security. I think I had a yoghurt for her too. I just had to put all baby food items into a tray for scanning.

Make sure you have plenty of nappies/clothes for the long haul flight in your hand luggage, and a few toys etc...

We drove to the UK when our litle lady was 5 months old. It was a really long car journey (about 7 hours) and I would have to say that she was as good as gold. You'll be able to walk around the plane with her if she gets a bit restless, but I would imagine that the vibrations might actually help her to sleep a good bit of the journey.

You'll be fine anyway! 5 month old babies are still fairly easy to mind and entertain. It'll be alot harder when he/she is a bit older!

Kimono-Girl

i flew with a 1 year old on a four hour flight so not quite the same, but, flying from Cork airport we as far as i can remember were allowed bring on her already made bottles (i don't think they even asked us to taste it) but under no circumstances could we bring her yogurt on we had to throw it out,


it was a bit of a struggle with two cases and a buggy and on plane bags...etc but once the cases were checked in i found it easy enough to get around with the buggy (they let you bring it right up to the steps of the plane and its right there at the end of the steps waiting for you when you get off, it might be worth your while checking if you get a baggage allowance for your baby with your flight, we didn't and her stuff took up almost all of her dads case and she had a bit in mine too.

oh and it's always important to remember where you are going will have babies too so nappies can be bought abroad, just take note some baby foods are different abroad.


as for comfort a few toys should entertain the baby and to be fair he/she will probably sleep alot, you'll obviously have a better idea of the situation when the baby is there the week before and you can always get last minute anything you'll need.

trevorku

We flew with our son to Poland when he was 4 months, its better when they are younger than when they are toddlers, trust me. Just bring lots of milk, something to distract the baby. At that age, the baby will mostly be drinking bottle, pooping and sleeping. Maybe bring some colourful teddy to distract the baby or some toy with music on it. Flying with baby is not the most enjoyable experience, probably will be alot of crying but just take turns with your partner and try not to get embarrassed if the baby screams the whole way on the plane, the stewartesses normally will do what they can to help.

theblueirish

When I was travelling with my girls I was given a great bit of advise, get them to take the bottle at take off and landing it helps their ears to pop.

If possible don't let them sleep on the first leg to Amsterdam, if your lucky they will sleep best part of the long haul.

Theblueirish

the goon

Thanks for all the advice, its very much appreciated. Just wondering what the story is with buggies? We have a Quinny Buzz. Will we be able to take it on the flight do you think?

crazy cat lady

the goon wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice, its very much appreciated. Just wondering what the story is with buggies? We have a Quinny Buzz. Will we be able to take it on the flight do you think?

Brought my Buzz on the flight! Well to the steps and then it was put in the luggage compartment

Rubiee

We travelled to China via Paris (so similar flight times) when my little one was 6 months old and it was fine. She slept for most of the long flight. I agree with the other posters who say to try to keep baby awake for shorter flight if at all possible and try give a bottle or soother for take off and landing. I'd also bring some calpol/nurofen just in case baby's ears hurt. I got sachets of this which were great for travelling. I didn't need them for the plane but nice to know you have them just in case. I also brought cartons of readymade formula which made making bottles much handier. Security at Dublin airport had no problem with this but it was put under scrutiny at Beijing when we went for our connecting flight. HTH enjoy your trip

the goon

Thanks again for all the advice. Unfortunately flight to Amsterdam is very early so no much chance of keeping baby awake for that one!

BrianBlessed

We flew from Ireland to Japan when miniBlessed was 6 months old. The thing to do is not to get too stressed. People fly with babies all the time and in our experience airlines are well prepared for this.

The first thing we did was figure out the amount of milk, nappies and changes of clothes the boy would likely need over the whole journey. We packed all of these and a few toys into a piece of hand luggage and so it was all readily available on the floor next to us on the flight

We brought those prefilled bottles of his baby formula (his was Sma, I think others sell them too) and had no problem getting them through security.

You can bring your buggy with you all the way to the gate, where it will be tagged and put in the hold. You get it back either as you disembark or at the baggage reclaim area, depending on the airport.

Be aware that your buggy may be damaged as the throwers are not always too careful when handling them so be sure fasten everything securely.

In some airlines there are a limited number of child cots at the front row of the cabin. If they have them on your flight you should request one as soon as possible because they can get snapped up pretty quickly. The extra legroom there is handy.

There's no evidence that having the baby drink on takeoff will stop their ears from popping, if you want to then go ahead but if the little bugger is asleep I wouldn't wake them up.

As the others say, your baby probably won't want to do too much, just eat and sleep and play a little.

It's when they want to crawl and explore when it becomes interesting...

littlemissfixit

Hi! Im just back this week from Canada alone with my 5 months old so I understand the apprehension.

First of all, it went way better than I expected, my little darling behaved really well, so maybe dont worry too much, be very organized, the rest is really up to the little one.
I went with a sling rather than a pram, more for fear of having it damaged as for many flights it is sent in the luggage compartment even if you keep it until boarding. The sling is great because my daughter is always quiet looking around her or sleeping in it. Having nobody with me made it a bit tricky popping her in and out at custom and in/out of plane but i got very handy at it.
She is still nursing so that was very easy, but I still brought a couple milk cartons with me just in case. Had not check, but I think its aloud, I had no trouble with it anyway.
She doesn't take the dummy much, so was trying to force it on her at take off because I was worried she would get earache, but she kept spitting it back at me, and she didn't seem to notice any take off/landing.
A few change of clothes is obvious, at our stopover in Paris had to do a complete change since the sling was not adjusted properly and moved the nappy around a bit too much. Was happy I thought of plastic bags too!!!

On the outbound flight, I was lucky enough to have a seat with a little bassinet in front, unfortunately didn't get that chance on the way back which is the night flight. Phone the airline if you can, I found it would have been great on the night flight much more so than on the day one.

Most people were very nice and helpful, then again, it might have been different had she cried for 7 hours straight :rolleyes:

I didn't worry about time zone/jetlag until I got there. I tried to get her to sleep as much as possible on the way because the more rested she is, the less likely she is to throw one. We landed at what would have been around 2 hours before her bedtime here (5h30pm there so 10h30pm here), so kept her awake for a while, time to get through customs, baggages, etc. And then let her go to sleep 7h30pm (which would be around normal bedtime here). She had a good night, woke up for a feed and went to 6am next morning. Same when we came back. In fact, I found it much harder than her to get over the jetlag I think!

I think at that age they are so nosy, you just walk around a bit and they will keep busy looking at all the new faces and things.

Best of luck!

the goon

Thnaks so much for all the help. I have booked the bassinet for both ways so hopefully that will help. Will probably bring milk cartons as it seems like alot less hassle than trying to mix formula! Plenty clothes,nappies and away we go!

useless

Only thing I have to add to the good advice above is to check what the situation is with buggies in the airport in Amsterdam...

The short version- airlines don't always know their own rules in relation to buggies.

The long version below-
We flew from Dublin to Paris to connect to another flight recently. Air France both legs. In Dublin, we were allowed to bring the buggy to the gate, but the checkin woman put a luggage tag on it (security in Dublin made us take the baby out and had a quick look at the buggy without us having to collapse it and put it through the scanner).

In Paris, we picked up the buggy at the steps of the plane- then the fun started:D
Air France had a staff member at the start of the security queue directing people which queue to get into. He told us we couldnt take the buggy with us, and we'd have to go back to the check-in desk with it. Lots of arguing ensued, then he let us go through eventually. (Tick tock... when is that second flight leaving? )

Security insisted that if it didnt go through the scanner, it had to be checked in... fair enough, so I took the buggy apart (not collapsed it, disassembled it) and put it through, then put it back together again while trying to keep an eye on my 2y.o. and my carryon & my wife tried to get the baby to stop crying... (tick tock, I wonder if they make final calls here)

Finally made it to the gate, where the Air France guy said categorically there was no way we could bring the buggy on the plane, and we needed to go all the way back to check in. Lots more arguing, then he agreed we could go ahead with it. this time there was a jetway so the AF chap took the buggy from us and walked down the steps on the outside of the jetway and handed it over to the baggage handlers as they were loading the plane.

Total pain in the backside. Completely avoidable by the checkin people in Dublin telling us that no, we wouldnt be able to bring the buggy through the airport in Paris, and that we should check it through from Dublin.
We'll know the next time