long haul flight and bottle feeding.. urgh!

[suhfyera]

Hi,
I'm really confused about the sterilising bit; our flight's going to be about 13hours, should i bring ALL my bottles sterilised and ready to go, or can i re-use a bottle twice by rinsing in hot water...? or something? Baby will be 7.5months when we fly, my gosh, I can't imagine the bulk we will be carrying!
Also, i say bottles, but we use those tommee tippee sippy cups, he never took to the bottle cos i breastfed him for 5months straight.
any ideas?

OH! and do you think it's a better idea to start the journey at night, or in the day? See, if we start at night, we theorise he'd sleep on the flight...right?
THANKS!

Hi,
We went on a 9 hour flight when my DS was 7.5 months and I took enough sterilised bottles and formula for the whole journey. I had to taste the water in the bottles going through security but the airline were really helpful in making sure we had everything we needed and we had access to the kitchen bit.

We flew at night and he did sleep most of the way which was great! Also we then didn't have to worry about solid food which would have been tricky on a plane.

At 7.5 months, I wouldn't worry about sterilising, just wash well with hot water. I'm sure worse things have been in his mouth before now

I can't advise about the bottles but have flown from Singapore to London last month with a 6-1/2 month old and would definitely go for the night flight.

I think the night flight is a good idea too. I have travelled to Australia from London three times with dd (at 10 weeks, 14 months, and then 2 years) and she did sleep quite well on the night flights. Took her a while to nod off because they do food service and all the lights are on etc. but if it is already your baby's natural sleep time they are more likely to sleep - or pass out with exhaustion!

I second the re-using of a bottle or two. I was breastfeeding but giving formula as the bedtime feed and I bought the ready made stuff in the cartons in the Boots once I was through security. Made it really easy.

Thanks everyone, would love to hear more stories if you have any! I'm going to singapore too, next month and have no idea what to expect on the flight. Plus there's so much varying information on sterilisation, i wonder if it's all too clean because now i realise that i've been doing it all wrong anyway! and then i read that i don't have to sterilise any of the feeding bowls/spoons/etc... joy!

is it cow n gate that's in the boots in the terminal? but if it's a night flight maybe i can wrangle in some breastfeeding, too.

i hope he doesn't freak out on the plane!

omg, i just thought of something, do i have to bring cow & gate powder with me for the time we're in singapore?? singapore doesn't have cow & gate... or does the brand at all matter? holy guacamole!

Hi Suhfyera. Again, I am breastfeeding but formula is advertised in every evening ad break and Singapore has these main brands (no Cow & Gate as far as I am aware)

NAN (Nestle)
Similac (Abbot Labs) and Enfelac
SMA

But I don't think the brand matters terribly.

If you can still breastfeed I would. I spent 13 hours with my tit in her mouth but at least she was quiet.

Lots of turbulence so had to hold her the whole time.

I took my four month old to New York and though it wasn't too long a flight (7hrs ish) it was really easy. I guess it was kind of like his normal day, sleep a bit, play a bit, sit on my knee a bit, look around a bit, etc etc... but i guess the older they are the more entertainment they need.

In terms of formula, I read that US formulas were different to UK ones, just in as much as say, SMA is different to Aptamil, not hugely so but might cause your baby to be a bit stomach upset/windy/less happy, so I took enough with me for the whole time. I got through one big box every 5ish days, so it wasn't too bad.

In terms of buying liquid formula 'airside' in the airport, it's best to call ahead, as they sometimes run out.

I did buy a couple just in case, but you can take through the water and the powder so easily (you just drip a bit onto your hand, they don't mind how many bottles of water you take) that I thought that would be easier. The air hostesses were really nice and happily warmed up bottles of water for me before I mixed in the powder.

One good tip which appeared to work for us (but don't konw whether it would have been different if we hadn't) is to try and feed as you take off and land, as swallowing equalises their ears and so they're less likely to get that pain from the pressure changing.

Have fun!

We travelled with DD at 5.5mo, was still mainly BFing (long haul flights are a GREAT way to boost supply as you find yourself plugging the little monster in every couple of hours to keep her quiet ) but we did take a couple of bottles of water through, and also a bottle of frozen EBM which was in the insulated change bag, so thawed in a reasonable time for a mid-flight feed.
We took a box of Aptamil to NZ with us (having checked customs regs - baby formula is fine if < 2kg box), didn't use it all but left box behind so it wasn't extra baggage on the way home.
Night flights are good. And if you're coming back to the UK, it's nice and light at the moment which will help reset little one's body clock. BAD Idea to come back from NZ in the dead of winter!!

Hi again,

yes belinda, i'm concerned about the formula change and the stomach upsets as well, i'll bring a box with me as you, FenLondon, have done when you went to NZ.. problem is, i'll be in singapore for a month... Doris, you were saying SMA is available, maybe i should slwly switch him to sma while i'm still in london since it's available, then it'd be more seamless come travel time?

yep, we're going to change our flights to a night one, thanks for all the advice on flight times! in theory, it should help the little one stay calm (then i will be calm! O_O)

Don't know if i still have enough breastmilk to go around since i've already cut back, but i suppose i'll have to be content with just being the dummy for a while! Im so going to bring the baby wrap!

Once we're there, we're going to have to contend with the heat n humidity tooooo!! freak out!!