Flying London to Brisbane alone with 9 month old...am I crazy?

[Cith]

I am trying to decide whether i fly to Queensland to visit my family while I am on maternity leave as am nervous about doing that flight on my own with our baby girl. We went home in the summer to introduce her to everyone when she was 10 weeks old and flew with Singapore airlines and they were good so was planning to travel with them again. Anyone else done this journey alone with a baby?

I flew to Queensland by myself on maternity leave with my son when he was 4 months, and then again when he was 15 months. You are obviously pretty busy on the flight with the baby, but you can plan ahead and take what you need, and the flight doesn't last forever. Happy to exchange more tips etc if you find it useful. You don't get many chances for extended trips to see your family - I thought it was worth it.

no you'll have a lovely time.
9 months will be tiring but fine - at least they can sit up on the floor and play, you won't have to carry all the time as if they were 5 months

1:1 - no problem

when you have three kids aged 5, 3 and 9 months you'll look back on that flight as a glorious 24 hours...!

No, you'll be fine. It takes a bit of thought and prep but you will also get help from flight attendants, other mums, grannies, etc. Make sure you take a good, light pram that you can open and shut one-handed.

freshmint funny you should say that - Last time we flew LA-Brisbane we met a woman travelling from New York to Longreach with three boys 5, 3 and 1 - by herself. Amazingly she was as cheerful and relaxed as if they were in their own loungeroom on a Sunday afternoon.

I say go for it! I flew from Brissie to London when my DS was 7 months. It was tiring but so worth it to see my family.

Hats off to you. I am in same situtaion (sort of). About to fly to Chicago with 10 month old on my tod before I have to go back to work. Lot less flight time for me but already I am worrying about the logistics of it all. My main concerns though are all the fecking transfers and security bits at Heathrow the impact of jet lags on DS's excellent routine

It's fine at that age. Take the night flight out of London which helps.

I'm going on Monday night with my 4 year old and my 10month old. Wish me luck!

No, not crazy. My friend flew Brisbane - Singapore - London - Oslo - Tromsø (very far north of Norway) and then embarked on a boat to go further 2 hours out to a different town, when her son was similar age. She was on her own. She was exhausted, but said it was fine.

I flew on my own with 9 mo old dd UK - Auckland, it was a bit easier when I flew over there a couple of months earlier as she wasn't crawling then (and was at 9 mo) but it was fine really, I did the stop off at the Singapore transit hotel to get a shower and some sleep.

I now have a 3 year old and a 7 mo and there's no way I'd do it at the mo! Do it while she's relatively immobile.

9mo should be fiiiine. If she can be a yeller, can I tell you what a woman did on a flight to Tokyo that I was on? She appears with a baby, probably about 9 months. Collective sigh from neighbouring passengers. She stands up and says "apologies in advance for any noise, my son is usually a good traveller, but just in case, I've brought enough earplugs for the rows around us" and pulls out a carrier bag full everyone around her offered to give her a hand at some point, it was lovely. And the baby was an absolute peach and slept most of the way.

@ Heroshrew - I love that idea, I am just about to travel UK-Oz and desperate for tips, as I will be travelling with 2 boys, aged 19 months & 3 years. That idea is a peach, as it is a very thoughtful idea and could prove very useful to some passengers!