food for long plane travel with 7 mo

[yuyee]

We will soon travel with our 7 mo dd on long flights. She has just started solid a month ago. She doesn't eat much solid yet but we'd like to have something available on the plane for her anyway. Tried baby food from the jar, tastes so terrible that we didn't even want to give any to her.

Does anyone know how long we can keep cooked food (like sweet potato) at room temperature?

Since she still needs pretty smooth texture, the only thing I can think of is banana. Any other suggestions are appreciated!!

Avacado is good one.Did long haul when dd2 was 8m and she loved mashed banana and avocado together. Good Luck!!

Have you thought about getting a little "freezer or keep cool" bag to put the food in? It will keep it for that little bit longer, also, if you ask nicely the hostesses will refrigerate things for you........

Yuyee we are doing a long haul with our eight month old and someone suggested we freeze pureed food for her. You could just try baby rice which you can mix with milk and that way it is just the powder you need to take. Our little one is not fond of some brands of jar/tinned food but we recently tried the organix range ( not sure whether you are in the UK or not) and that is excellent. This stuff tastes good - she loves it and I have tried it - it even smells like 'real' food. They also do a range of cereals like banana porridge and apple and raspberry cereal which my little dd has taken a liking too. What about Heinz - they also do a range called simply fruit or simply vegetables which is just pureed veges or fruit - my dd loevs them. I just started dd with a little amount - and at almost 7 months she just has half a jar of whatever it is.

Hope that has been a help!

Our ds is 17 months now, but he's been flying with us since he was about 3 months old. Although he's always been very catholic in his tastes for food (he likes chilli, curry & pesto!) even when he was smaller he used to like the Heinz "simply fruit" range (which come in plastic pots so are better for travelling with than glass jars anyway) and the heinz "pure fruit" cans, which are cheaper (and the apple & apricot one in particular actually tastes rather nice). We still take those with us today, along with a pot or two of yoghurt or fromage frais, which has been another perpetual favourite since he was your dd's age.

One other tip - invest in some disposible bibs, then you can use them and throw them away rather than having messy bibs to deal with on the journey.

Oh and don't write off jars of baby food totally - they vary a lot from place to place - ds really loved the French ones in flavours I'd never have thought of, like artichoke!

oh yes - disposable bibs - very cheap from Boots - very good quality too. It is better I figure to use things you can jettison along the way - cans, pots of food.

I have also purchased those steri bottles. have used them before when out and about with baby. They are single use - disposable bottles - come in two sizes and three flow speeds. Great for bottle fed babies. We are also taking the little cartons of premixed formula - we have 24 hours of flying to cater for. I figure it will be all right to be a pack horse and then off load all our bits during the flight.

yuyee, cooked food like sweet potato or any similar vegetable will be fine at room temp. for a long plane ride. How about some other fruits like pear, apple (put the slices in the microwave for 30 secs before mushing them). Be careful with too much banana as it can cause constipation something that may happen anyway when you travel. I traveled a lot with my ds and at 7 mo. I think I just bfed him on the long flights and didn't even bother with carrying solids. Maybe a breadstick or biscuit to suck on. Don't forget to take a change of clothes for yourself as well as her. My ds threw up all over me 1/2 and hour into an 11 hour flight around that age and I had brought clothes for him but not me. Yuck! And don't forget enough nappies for the waiting at the airports at both ends of your trip.

Thanks all for the great tips, especially the mom's clothes and disposable bibs. Haven't thought about those.

We're in the US. Should have no problem finding Heinz and will try that. Honestly we haven't tried much of the jar food. Tried an organic one that is supposed to be sweet potato. But it tastes just weird.

I can bring some "keep cool" bags. The question is, how can I reheat the food on the plane? Do they usually have a microwave oven up there?

SofiaAmes, when you talk about fruit, is it okay that I pureed them at home and bring it along? I guess my question is, is it okay to keep pureed fruit at room temperature?

Fortunately I'm still breastfeeding her, so no need to bring formula/bottles/etc.

I'm fairly certain if you ask the cabin crew, they'll heat the food for you - not sure how they do it. I made sure my DSs were happy to eat food at jar temperature right from the start though, I'm a cruel mother Don't go by what the food tastes like to you, let your DD try it. Both my DSs ate things I can't bear (like sweet potato!) and a lot of baby food will taste more bland as it has no salt.

When we were in the US with DS2 aged 7 months, he liked Gerbers Tender Harvest (I think) Pasta Primavera in a jar. He did also like the sweet potato ones and one that was Papaya based. I must say I found the organic choice didn't seem as broad as in the UK but this was 18 months ago.

If you puree food in advance & freeze it it will keep fresh for the flight and can be defrosted & heated when necessary. It will also help keep the cool bag cool. You can freeze it in babyfood jars if you use a flexible cellophane lid like for home made jams. This stops the jar cracking.

Have fun!

yuyee, just a tip, make sure baby drinks lots of cooled boiled water on the flight. First time when I flew dd was 7 months old and was really constipated. Dr said that it was due to the flight and the pressure