Flying from UK to Canada with a 4 month old baby - help!

[nomoreheels]

Hi everyone, I am expecting DD at start of June and this is our first DC, so I am completely new to this.

My sister back home in Canada is getting married at the end of September and is desperate for us to come. I really want to try, but it feels quite daunting at the moment (could be my P brain as well of course!)

These are the questions I'm trying to answer before I decide - any answers or thoughts at all would be much appreciated.

Also if you've travelled long(ish) haul (7-8 hours) with a newborn I'd love to hear any extra tips!

• Can I take a pushchair on board? I'll have the Babyjogger City Mini. I was hoping I could avoid checking it as luggage as I don't trust it to not get a bit mangled. It's very easy to collapse and the wheels can come off too.

• If I only take it with the MaxiCosi cabriofix car seat, can I use this car seat onboard for bubs, and then just get them to store the chassis?

• Is there any point in booking tickets now or do we have to wait until she's born? (I'm guessing yes, but sister is pushing to try and get cheaper seats now.)

• We'll be in economy - what are the best seat positions to try and book for a bit more room? Will they let us have the emergency exit seats?

• I have a Canadian passport and DP is british. What's the quickest way of sorting out travel documents? Can she be added to one or does she have to have her own?

• If I end up having a C-section (you never know) would I likely be fit to fly in that length of time?

Thanks :)

Hi Nomoreheels, sounds like you've got it all in hand. Just a couple more thoughts:

• if your DH is tall, bulkhead seats might not be so great. You might get a bassinet but you lose legroom because there's no seat in front to put your legs under. For 7 or 8 hours it's probably not the end of the world though.

• re taxis, if you book the journey there and back with the same firm, they may store your car seat for you while you're away. Last time we flew out it was one way but the lovely taxi driver dropped DSs car seat back at my parent's house afterwards.

Just seen the further replies - I've been caught up in DP's birthday.

Thanks for the tips Scroobius, I'm going to have a chat with Canadian Affair before I book anything and take it from there. As for taxis, our local firm is so big (about 300 cars) that I don't know if it would be a good idea to try the car seat storage idea. We never get the same driver twice, so there's no real personal service. They might have some cars with seats though.

Annie - what a tough time, I admire your dedication to sticking it out! Did you have much family support when you came back initially, e.g. somewhere to stay? I'd have to rely on family support for the first 3-6 months I'm sure. Rents in Toronto have crept up a lot, there's a lack of decent housing and there's no way we could afford to buy. I doubt we'd walk away with more than £5k if we sold our house at the moment. The only plus side is that DP's work is now totally freelance and he works from home, so it would hopefully be fairly transferable with a bit of work building up clients there.