flying to oz with 5month old - advice needed!

[skirmish]

i'm flying to sydney (via bahrain for an hour) on sunday and just wondered about other peoples experiences...

if you lo decides to sleep most of the way, as i've heard some do, do you just ket them and go with the flow, or wake them every now and again to try and keep some kind of routine?

having said that, i'll probably have the screaming child from hell so all this will be out the window!

thanks

go with the flow, go with the flow, go with the flow.

repeat this mantra to yourself 1 million times and you will be ok.

don't bother trying to stick to any sort of routine en-route.

once you get there, try, if possible over the first few days to stick to your normal (bath/feed/bed routine) routine and it'll be a doddle.

I flew 18 times (7 long-haul) last year with my two, so believe me, I know

thanks dejags, thats exactly what i wanted to hear!!

have you flown lately? do you know anything of new rules regarding liguid into oz? website says that airports cannot sell any liquid to passengers going to oz but dont know if this just means booze or what?

and...what are changing facilities really like on the plane?!

Just did this in January on my own with 5 month old. She slept most of the way especially on the night flight out of London. I did give her milk or dummy on each take off and landing and her ears were ok with this. She is in a pretty strict routine at home but on the plane I just let her do what she wanted. I didn't wake her at all just let her sleep as much as she needed. The hum of the engines were like a sedative to her. It's really tiring, I was like the walking dead arriving in Sydney. Does your airline offer the bassinet? They are brilliant if so. Singapore Airlines were excellent, always checking did we need anything, food service first etc. It turned out to be much better than I thought it would.

Good luck

thankfully am guaranteed a sky cot, and am flying with gulf air as they have 'sky nannies' to help out. hope they are ok!

Changing facilities are crapola, cramped and not very pleasant after 10+ hours of use by mildly drunk men.

TBH at 5 months - I'd just use the skycot for nappy changes (unless it was a really grim nappy).

We last flew long-haul in Nov last year.

If you pack any non-essential liquids into your checked baggage you will be fine. Baby products are fine on-board (so if you are FF'ing you won't have a problem), ditto medicines (but may be wise to take copy of your prescription with you).

TBH we never had any problems on this front.

I was ff and couldn't take the little cartons through security at heathrow even though I had phoned twice to check. Really annoyed me so I had to re-buy in Boots airside.

oh bugger rislip...will take them out then!!

I flew with my 4 month old to Australia and it was in every sense easier than i had anticipated. I had a bassinet but mostly let her sleep on my lap which she did for almost the whole way. In fact she didn't cry or grizzle once the whole trip including changing planes etc. I have just taken her again as a 2 and a half year old and had the same experience but with less sleep. I think most of them seem to find the sound and slight movement really soothing - although there are always horror stories around, eveyone I know who has done it has found it fine. But go with the flow for sure - it's such an unreal environment that normal rules just can't apply. Oh, and I didn't have problems with changing in the loos either - they are small and it's a bit cramped but not difficult or worth worrying about. Enjoy your trip!

Skirmish,
I am in Oz now, having flown with my 5 month old from London 2.5 weeks ago.
I was dreading it as dd has never been a great sleeper but it was fine. Had a night flight out of Heathrow and she zonked as soon as we got on the plane. We just let her sleep and eat as she wanted, the whole difference in time zones is going to throw the routine out anyway. It took her about 4 days to sort her night sleeping out once we got here.

The liquids rule at Heathrow has been relaxed (check the BAA website). I could take formula in those pre-mix cartons through no problem.

Are you flying to Sydney? The only nightmare part of the journey was getting through customs at Sydney airport. It was horrendously disorganised with hundreds of people jumbled up everywhere trying to get through.

thanks mellin...yep, flying into sydney and have been pre-warned about what a nightmare the whole customs thing is...it was like that 5yrs ago when i last flew in.

i was checking out the baa website when i came across the new rule, that says they wont sell liquid cos it won't be allowed in at sydney...very

Skirmish, my advice would be to let lo sleep whenever he/she wants.

With the skycots, if your LO can sit up, be careful because there is nothing straping them to the bottom of the cot - just some straps over the top to stop them flying towards teh ceiling in turbulance.

I woke up to discover DS (8 months) climbing through the straps out of the cot - fair drop to the floor. He ended up sleeping on my lap/shoulder a lot.

If you are FF you can take a tin of formula with you through customs.

Nappies in UK are much cheaper than Aus - if you have room, take some.

I had one unopened carton of formula when we got to Sydney but they have big disposal bins for food/liquids etc when you get off the plane (before customs) so we chucked it in there.

The woman next to me on the plane had taken a thermos of boiled water and dry formula, I had premix and neither of us had any problems at Heathrow.

My only other tip is take a large muslim or light sheet that you can drape over the skycot to block out the lights/action.

Have a great trip!

LOL at take a large muslim.

You don't have to throw away the formula when you get to OZ. As long as you declare it it's usually fine (and if you have said you have it and you are not supposed to, you will simply have it taken off you).

oops, not very politically correct am I! typo, the m & n are too close together!