advice needed on taking 7 month old baby to Oz

[dorkus]

Hi,

I'm expecting my first baby on the 22nd of August and would like some advice on taking said baby to Oz in March 2007. Is it safe? Should we travel non-stop or is it better to break the flight up by stopping off for a couple of days somewhere?
I wouldn't have considered travelling with such a young baby before but my cousin is getting married in Melbourne and I would really like to be there for that.

Thanks!

dorkus, we did a trip to NZ when dd was 18 months so a bit older. Then again during the flight we were wishing she was younger and not able to run off . Thankfully the stewards/esses were ever so sweet and didn't mind.

We did the lot in one stretch with 4h in Singapore (or was it HOngkong). We had a 32h hour journey door to door. DD was happy, we were shattered . Problem was then with the timezones dd decided 0200 would be a brilliant time to be wide awake. Took her about 1 week to readjust. Wasn't too bad though as dh and I took shifts and the good thing was because we were up early we got to see lots

Tip one: book early and put a request in for a seat where you can have a baby cot. And keep bothering the airline/booking office in regular intervalls for about a month before takeoff to make sure that reques is on the system.

Tip two: check in early to make sure there are plenty of seats available so you're chances are higher to get the seat where a cot is possible

Tip three: take things to entertain him/her or alternatively to knock him/her out for a bit though probably a bit young for that at 7 months.

Tip four: if not bf make sure you take enough milk with you! And if they warm it up for you on the plane make sure you tell them how, I've heard of mums getting scalding hot milkbottles back...

Can't think of anything else at the moment but feel free to prompt with questions

HTH

we took our ds at 4 months to NZ. Did a stop over for 3 days en route - bad idea. He adjusted really easily to the first time switch then really struggled with the second.

The flights were ok. Just try to maintain some sort of routine as best you can. Take loads of jars of food and milk with you - ds got hungry at the strangest times for a while.

Thanks for the advice. I feel mightily reassured about taking the baby to Oz now. I am sure I will be back on nearer the time to ask for loads more advice!!