Taking newborn to Europe in November?

[AlmostThere88]

I'm about to have my first baby, any minute now. We're from the UK but live abroad, an 11 hour flight from London. I only get 5 months maternity leave (well, 3 months, but I have some holiday and unpaid time I can add) so I'll have to go back to work mid January.

I want to go home and visit family. Show off my baby to elderly relatives etc. I also miss home so much. Baby would be around 12 weeks old when we would travel but it would be November/December time.

I'm not worried about the flight, but very worried about baby getting sick. So many relatives coming to meet him, at a time when everyone is super sick in the UK! We live in a hot climate here so weather and germs will be a shock for such a small baby.

Am I overly worried? My mum thinks it's stupid and I'm risking baby's health unnecessarily.

Unfortunately I have to use loads of leave to add to my mat leave so I won't be able to go home with baby otherwise until August and it will be very rushed, I won't have more than a week in the UK and families live opposite ends of the country, it would be fucking horrendous. And baby will be 12 months and an absolute nightmare to fly with!

YABU if I should not go, YANBU if you think I should go.

PS. We're moving back to the UK in 2026 so this won't be a problem going forward.

Some 12m old travel well so you could always go later. We haven't flown with ours but she's great in the car, done 2-3h.

I would wait until baby is born and decide then.

I'd go for it too. We took our 16 week old (and 5yo) to Las Vegas on holiday and the worst bit was me getting mastitis on the plane as I kept losing track of which boob she was feeding on!

Like a PP said, it was the opposite to you, i spent most of the time either stripping her off because we were all outside and it was too hot, or wrapping her up because of the air conditioning inside!

But yes, Calpol will be your friend if baby does pick up any colds/viruses. It's normal for babies to get their first cold before 12w anyway from what I remember (at least, here in the UK!). But not everyone is full of germs at that time, even if it's cold.