Long haul flight with 9 month old

[user1471383602]

Hi,
We're planning a trip to Australia with our daughter who will be around 9 months at the time.
We were wondering if anyone has any tips? We're debating what the best flight time would be - is it best to go for a morning flight which means we'd land in the evening local time, or an evening flight meaning we'd land in the morning local time?
Any other tips or suggestions would be much appreciated!
Thanks

Are you flying from the UK; if so where would the plane stopover before moving on?. I think that most flights to the Far East and Australia (via Dubai) leave in late evening although some do depart earlier. You'll be in the air a fair number of hours regardless of the time you depart anyway.

I would seriously consider buying your child a seat if at all possible otherwise she could well be on your laps for the duration. She will likely be too big for a bassinet. Would also take her favourite foodstuffs; do not rely on the airline to fully provide.

I travelled to Oz from UK this year with 18m old but did a few flights last year at a similar age to yours. We left UK at lunch time so DS had his afternoon nap then was awake for about 4 hrs during first 6 hour leg (to Doha). When we arrived at Doha it was coming into his bed time so he slept at the airport and most of the 6 hr leg to Perth. We arrived 9pm Perth time. All stayed up to 1am then went to bed. DS slept until 8am and to be honest that was him in sync!
And....if you can afford a seat for baby get one...makes life lots easier,

We're not long back from our first long haul with a baby (5 months). Not Oz so I don't have any specific tips but what I found was:

• morning flight on the way out was fine but he struggled to nap as it was so exciting and was totally under slept when we got there. He was the most tired I've ever seen him, and was so quiet and still I was a bit scared! It did mean he slept when we got to the house (evening) and his body clock adjusted well
• night flight coming back. Again he struggled to get to sleep but once down, he slept the whole way and it was amazing. Slightly harder adjusting his body clock but that was on home turf so was fine.
• we were in business class so had lots of space. We could put him on the floor to play on a blanket. We put the beds out to lie flat and put him on one of them, there were spare seats so DH gave the baby his bed and moved across the aisle.

If you can book business, or an extra seat that would be the ideal. If that's not an option try to look for a less busy flight, or book seats leaving a gap in-between you, you might be lucky and have a space you could use for the baby.

Someone told me to take a brand new toy they had never seen before and only bring it out on the flight. Mine was a bit young for this but at 9 months it might work to buy you some time. DS just chewed the safety card for much of the way! (It was laminated so was fine!)

We had bought baby headphones and downloaded some baby TV songs and things onto an iPad but didn't need it. I suspect this would work a lot better with older babies and children but it could give you a 5 minutes of calm time if your baby is interested in In the Night Garden or similar. Someone on here recommended Cosmic Top app for the iPhone as well, I have it and it is fascinating for me at least the baby isn't too fussed though.

Finally, my DS tolerated a sleep mask surprisingly well and I think the darkness helped. We have some incredibly cute photos of him on the plane wearing it.

It won't be too bad - I was really worried and it was actually fine. I hope you enjoy your holiday.

I think a morning to evening flight because if they sleep on the flight then brilliant and if not then they're adjusted to the time zone. Definitely bring your own food and changes of clothes (for you as well) incase of vomiting. We went to New Zealand with an 18 month old and we were in business class as it was for DH's work which made it thousands of times better and easier. We could spread out and had our own little cordoned off kind of room. Had to go out when she started crying as the other passengers were getting arsey. Even premium economy is not too much extra but a lot more room and it's layout it 2.2.2 so just you and your DH with baby so you can spread out. Hope that helps sweetie x

If you fly BA they have a bigger baby seat which goes on the bassinet 'shelf' and would comfortably fit a 9 month old (our 14 month old went in one and slept all the way). You can't reserve them but I've not really heard of them running out. BA aren't always the cheapest but may be cheaper than buying an extra seat.

Kitchenditherer, we were on BA and used the baby seat on the shelf, we had reserved the seats in front of the bassinet when he was one day old because we were so paranoid about not getting it! Unfortunately it didn't really work for us and we wouldn't use it again. The layout meant we were trapped into our seats when the shelf was down and had to crawl on the floor to get to the toilet DS was also upset at not being able to see us.

Regarding noise made by the baby I was worried about this but when I stood up with him to take him out of the area, I noticed that every single other passenger had earphones on and no one had noticed his grumbling so that was reassuring.

It really does depended on your first leg! If you are 12 hours to Asia then go a night flight out of the U.K.