Short haul flight with 9 week old

[lmev]

Hi everyone,

We're planning on joining DH's family on a week's holiday at a private villa in south of France 9 weeks after our due date. Feel it's too far to drive, so we're looking at flying but I can't work out how to easily do this while also taking everything we'll need with us (car seat? Uppababy Cruz with carrycot for sleeping? etc) What options are there if we left our carrycot/buggy at home - there's a travel cot at the villa, but presumably we'd need somewhere to 'put' DD during daytime naps? Lots of questions, sorry! Has anyone done something similar in the past or have any ideas of how to minimise complications?

Thanks so much!

We flew LGW-Rome when oldest was 12weeks,

take buggy for day time naps, you dont need a travel cot

Thanks OnceUponATimeAgain - did you put your buggy (I assume with carrycot) in to the plane as checked luggage then?

We just took our fold up buggy - mclaren techno - for naps, no carrycot. Also took a sling though I was never a huge fan.

I've been flying shorthaul regularly with my now 9 month old, since she was only 8 weeks. Check in carseat, label both parts of uppababy and you can fold it at the gate. Now my little girl is bigger I carry her in a sling and use a cheap fold up buggy at my family home but when very small a carrycot is more suitable in my opinion. Definitely recommend having a sling in your hand luggage though, as the lights and sounds can be a little overwhelming for a newborn. If you are meeting family ask them to buy in nappies/wipes before you go over to save space in luggage. I breastfeed and it really makes things much easier flying so if possible would recommend that! You can reserve formula in the airport either and carry in hand luggage. Feed at take off and landing either way. It's actually much easier to fly with smaller babies- at that age she would just feed and sleep on plane; now she wants to stand, crawl, pull the hair of the passenger in front...

Who are you flying with?
Most airlines allow 2 pieces of children's equipment eg buggy, travel cot, car seat etc either onboard (the cabin crew take it) or as checked hold luggage free of charge.

Don't forget your baby may be late (we were supposed to take our ten week old on holiday, we ended up taking an eight week old...) - you need to consider getting a passport. Which you can't send off for until you've registered the birth and got a birth certificate.

I'd suggest it's worth having a plan in place for how you're going to get the passport asap after the birth - who will counter-sign the photos, have the form filled in already, how long does it take to get a first passport (ours came through fairly quickly, but this was nearly nine years ago...).

Also, have you considered going by train? That's what we did. It worked very well cos you can walk around, change the baby, feed the baby etc without needing to be belted in.

I would just take car seat and check in with luggage. And take baby in sling.

At 9 weeks they aren't rolling anywhere! So in the house they can sleep in travel cot that's there ( move around to rooms where you are or outside if needed). And can lay baby on a blanket on floor or sofa or sunbed next to you if they fall asleep during the day.

One medium suitcase for yours , dh and babies main stuff. Then handluggage rucksack each ( hands free to carry baby in sling or arms).