Anyone flown very soon (1-2 weeks) after giving birth?

[ChesterBelloc]

I've done plenty of reading about the baby's side of things, but would be interested in anyone's personal experiences of flying (5 hr flight, in my case, to a hot country, for 10 days) very soon after birth.

This is not my first child, and I tend to have quick, straightforward births without excessive bleeding afterwards - I'm aware that doesn't give me any guarantees this time around though!

So, any tips which might make my life easier would be appreciated. I'll be breastfeeding, so at least I won't have to faff around with bottles/sterilising etc.

Also, experiences as to how quickly you received your baby's passport! We'll have to use the 1 week Fast Track appointment service, but I've read several anecdotes about them arriving in fewer than 7 days... which would be helpful!

I think your mad, but I didn't have a straight forward birth. It's worth pointing out though that it took 2 weeks to get an appointment to register DD.

I hate to point out the obvious, but what happens if you're overdue?

Beware the risk of DVT and wear stockings on the plane. Also discuss with health professional.
I would not do this as struggled after delivery both times.

I think you’re a bit mad, but I’m not a frequent flier at all so it would be that part that would stress me out more than the just having given birth part. We have just been on holiday (similar flight length too) and DDs passport took less than a week to come without using the fast track so I’d say you’ll be fine on that front. I think so long as you can get baby registered and passported you’ll be fine. At least at two weeks old baby is more likely to sleep a lot (unlike my sleep avoided who has been up for 3 hours already 😬😬)

I tend to be more or less on time, give or take a couple of days either side... obviously won't know for definite till baby actually arrives, but need to have all my ducks in a a row in case.

Similarly, we'll have to wait and see when/where the soonest passport appointment is available; if necessary DH will have to get on a train to Liverpool or Cardiff!

YY to DVT etc; I'll have a sling on the plane, so will be doing plenty of walking up and down the aisles.

(I'm not going into detail here, but - this is not a holiday, it's a long-awaited, once-in-a-lifetime trip with a large group of people, and the dates can't be adjusted around my newly-discovered pregnancy - unfortunately! I know it's going to be very difficult, but if I can go then I will.)

I flew 11 hours with my 4 week old. We registered him two days after his birth and passport took about 5 days. Flight was easy but he proved afterwards to be an easy baby and was my second so I was more relaxed.

Good to hear about these passports arriving quickly... this will probably be the biggest hurdle. I'm due mid-August, so hopefully the pre-summer rush will have abated by then.

I didn’t fly so soon after my section (6 weeks) but we got babies passport back within a week of her being born. The hardest part was getting the passport photos, then my husband had an appointment at the passport office and it came in the post a couple of days later.

Have a lovely holiday.

It is obviously your body and your baby so ultimately your decision but please think very carefully about putting yourself through this

You could be feeling exhausted, hormonal and there is a no guarantee you will have an 'easy baby'

Will the purpose of the trip be lost with you in this state?

Once in a lifetime or not you are absolutely mad to consider taking your baby before any vaccinations on a reasonably long plane flight to a foreign country. The germs and bugs and risks are just too high. Don't be selfish.

Forgot to say. In our area we couldn’t get an appointment booked to register the birth before the day of the birth (so made an appointment shortly after midnight on the day of the section online) but could book with the passport office in advance so we did that to get a quick appointment. We also had all the forms filled in way before birth and just needed the photo and signatures from a friend.

You will need the birth cert before you can get the passport.
Make sure you've got all the other info you need - your birth /marriage certs. Poss your parents details if you are young enough. Counter signature lined up.
If baby is less than 2 weeks old, check the airline will take them.
Most babies I know who fly are older, because we need visas to get in/out of this country. So typically 1-2 months. They are all fine tho.

As someone else said, I’d be more worried about the bugs on the plane! I got chicken pox aged 27 from being on a flight, it wasn’t nice!

I will definitely** be feeling exhausted and hormonal! I'm resigned to that, but will have a lot of help and support around me. I would rather make the attempt, even at only 50% 'capacity', IYSWIM, than not attempt it at all and then regret it forever after.

My first two were pretty much on time, my third 13 days overdue...

Good points: I will have a folder all ready to go with all required forms/fees etc for both birth registration and passport application. Luckily we live 5 mins walk from a couple of places that do passport photos, and I'll have a couple of counter-signatories on standby.

Well, I was overdue each time, and bleed a huge amount for the first couple of weeks, so it wouldn't work for me. But I don't see that it's particularly different to say driving to visit relatives, which I bet loads of people do. I fly quite a bit, so I'd only say, pay for premium stuff - business if you can, all the priority boarding if you can't because the last thing you want when you're with a baby, and at 50% is to be scrumming to get on the plane. Much better to have attentive flight attendants making sure you have everything you need, plenty of overhead luggage space and foot space.

Paspic.com for photos. Lie baby on white sheet. Take photo from above with phone. Back within 2 days usually.

MummyShark - did you have to put in a made-up (I.e. earlier) birth date when you pre-booked the passport appointment then? The website won't let me put in any date later than today's as the birth date. If so, I guess they ignore that date when making the passport itself, and refer only to the details on the application form..?

I’m sure I watched some airline programme once where the baby was 11 days old but wasn’t allowed to fly until he was 12 days. I think different airlines have different rules so definitely check before booking.

I think you would be very unwise. Baby won't have had any vaccinations. You will need to recover from birth. It all sounds a bit mad really.

you are absolutely mad to consider taking your baby before any vaccinations

That's a good point

Chester. Yes we did (I don’t know if it is advisable) but we did it closer to the birth - maybe a month before.

We flew with an 11 day old but only Gatwick to Jersey, so very short flight. It was fine. We got put on and settled first and the baby fed all the way. We didn’t need a passport for that.

There’s no way in hell I’d take an unvaccinated newborn on a plane. Just this week it’s been reported that two kids with measles were on a flight into Australia and there are fears that it’s spread. You are being unreasonable and —selfish— naive