Am I crazy to consider Oz with a 7 month old?

[frangipani13]

Would love to hear from anyone who has done this with a 7 month old baby as im trying to figure out if I am completely mad for even considering it. The pros are that she won't yet be mobile and fairly portable in a sling/will sleep in a bassinet. There are many cons I am aware...

I have good friends there who can lend us equipment such as car seats, pram, sterilizer etc.

Would like to hear your experiences please.

She is currently on prescription formula so would the crew be able to provide boiled water? Assuming I can't take a flask of it through security...

In answer to your last point, we are going away in March. I'm planning to take an empty flask and get somewhere in Departures to fill it with boiling water for me just before we go to the gate. That wouldn't last the whole flight to Oz though admittedly!

If you're as confident as you can be that she'll sleep at least some of the time in the bassinet, why not? Much easier before they're mobile and start kicking off because they want to go exploring.

Is it just the flight you're worried about?

We took DS to New York at 7 months old.

Ok not as long a flight as Aus but he was absolutely fine.

We ordered extra legroom seats and a skycot. DS slept through a lot of it. Cabin crew were brilliant, they honestly couldn't have been more helpful, even reserving us a space in the queue for the loo, and having a cuddle of DS while we wolfed down some food. Yes they provided us with plenty of boiled water. I was dreading the flight from hell and it was absolutely fine.

It was once he turned 2 that flying was a fricken nightmare!

We took an 8 month old and a 2 year old...

BUT - we went for a month, and flew Upper Class, so there was no pressure to get over jet lag asap as we had some time in Sydney to relax when we got there, and we all had fairly relaxing flights.

We had a great time though, and I'm very glad we did it. Everywhere we went was very family friendly, even some slightly posher restaurants, they were welcome wherever we went, and even tiny villages all seemed to have lovely outdoor areas to play/crawl around in.

7 months is a great age for the flight. Mine slept loads on the flight at that age, and it gets harder once they are mobile! You can get boiled water from one of the coffee shops through departures but it should be exempt from the 100ml rule anyway. It will be a tiring flight, but worth it!

I think its the perfect age. Wish I'd done it when ds was too young to run up and down the isle.

Thank you. All super useful comments I hadn't thought about post security getting hot water flasks filled up. Would love to fly Upper Class sadly dont think our budget will allow that!

Book a night flight. No to day time flights.

does your formula come pre-made at all? If so ask boots airside to order it for you. The cartons are much easier. Otherwise don't worry about a flask just ask Crewe for boiling water. Be prepared in advance of feeds because the water is boiling hot and will need plenty time to cool.

I've flown from Aus back home to the UK with babies at various ages. 7mths is easy 😀 Book night flights where possible, pre-book a bassinet seat and you're good to go. They'll sleep a bit, feed on take off and landing, they might cry a bit but it's okay. Bassinet seats are at the bulkheads and it's generally all families so everyone is quite understanding. You'll get pre-boarded which helps a bit too.

Emirates is good for flights, and Dubai has loads of strollers in the terminal which is a bonus.

The rules on liquids are different for babies. You can take enough bottles, pre filled with boiled water, to last the flight through security.

Take enough nappies, wipes, changes of clothes, food etc for the flight and incase of delay.

Travel as much as you can before they are mobile speaking from bitter experience

Take spare clothes for you too sick poo incidents yay
You can buy pre steralise disposable tommee tippee bottles which are handy
Remember any break in flight means liquid rule again
Carry prescription and letter of prescription from GP to allow travel of milk

Thank you - disposable bottles might be a good investment. Sadly the formula doesn't come premade so I'd take a few tins in my hand luggage along with a letter...
Scotinoz how did the jet lag affect your LO?

I agree its a good time to take a DC long-haul. Once they're walking its hell, but until that point its actually pretty easy. I did back and forth between NY and London a bunch of times when DS1 was little. That's not as long a flight, but you could break it up in the Middle or Far East if you wanted to. With regard to jet lag, your DC is going to be on the same time zone as you. So s/he will be jet lagged, but you will be too and chances are that you'll adjust in about the same amount of time. Small DC are a lot less affected than older DC though as they're not aware of the time in either place!

Much better than travelling with a baby who just wants to toddle but can't walk unaided !

Can you actually bring the powdered formula into Aus/buy it locally?

Do it!!. It'll be an amazing holiday. I've traveled to NZ from the UK with DS at 8 months, 23 months, then also with DS when they were 3.5 and 7 months - 1 way without DH each time.

If you plan well and stay super relaxed it's fine. If you're stressed, babies become more tense and difficult as I found out on my first flight. At 7 months planning involved extras of everything (for parents and baby) incase of sick/poo accidents or a delay. Take new toys for distraction. Allow plenty of time at the airport and if baby is fractious in the airport just go to the front of the queue, staff have always been super helpful. Weaning makes things a bit tricky at that age, mine were never good on purees so I had loads of finger foods for them to pick at. And yes I looked like a packhorse!

Choose your airline carefully - lots won't guarantee you a bulkhead/bassinet seat at 8 months - they'll give them only if they're are no younger babies in the flight and you find out at the airport. They all have different policies, some let you pay extra to guarantee one. Definitely find out before booking.

I always fly right through with just a couple of hours somewhere. A night stop over just adds more logistics and doesn't help in my opinion. Also fyi I find jetlag much harder coming back to the UK.

frangipani13 my children have been mixed on jet lagged. Once horrendous, once no jet lag and a couple of times incredibly normal and sorted in a couple of days. My mother's group is full of expats flying back to Europe/the U.S. and there seems to be no 'typical' jet lag.

What is your baby's personality generally speaking? My DD wasn't keen on any male that wasn't her Dad at that age and could sometimes be a bit clingy... the flight to NZ with her at 7mths were the worst 25hrs of my life!!! She was a terrible flyer, slept about five hours over the 25hrs in 15/20 min bursts and would wake up screaming, she screamed if people looked at her and OMG if they tried to chat to her it was melt down city, if I needed the loo and my parents had hold her (were seated in diff section of plane) she screeeeeeeeamed. It. Was. Hell.

But we made it... and I bought some over the counter sleep inducing medicine in NZ for the return journey as I was completely on my own with her and it was much better, regular decent stretches of sleep and she coped so much better.

Ive done the flight with all ages from 7mths thru to 7.5yrs x 2 children and that was the worst, on the up side everything since has seemed so easy... now they are 4.5yrs and 7.5yrs long distance is a breeze!!

We did several trip to oz with DS when he was small. Yes Crewe will give boiled water but be aware, it's boiling boiling so you need to time things for it it cool down enough.