Travelling to Thailand 8 month old baby

[Khtchkn]

has anyone experienced travelling a long haul flight with a baby? We booked tickets to Thailand when my son was a few months old thinking when he’s 8 months it’ll be easy as he’s under 1 years old and will sleep, but how naïve we were as he’s now 6 months and so curious and distracted by everything. I have a few questions;

1. how long did it take for jet lag to go away? In Thailand it’s 7hrs ahead 🤦🏻‍♀️ Do u have any tips ?
2. I have just started him on solids. So far it’s purée. I try give him finger food and sometimes he’ll eat, but he has no teeth so will suck. Eg toast, steamed pear etc... I’m worried if I go thailand what I can give him to eat as I haven’t bought any pouch food, I steam the food myself then blend. If anyone has gone to Thailand (Phuket) will they have suitable food at local stores for babies there?
3. I’ve just started giving him one bottle at night or formula and we have a steriliser at home. How do you steralise a bottle in a hotel room? Use the kettle and pour in a sink or something? (sorry for silly question as I’ve been ebf since he turned 6 months so not sure)

Thanks in advance

I just went to Australia and back with a 7 month old. It was tricky! Be prepared not to sleep, or to take it in shifts if you are going with someone else. Weirdly, because she barely slept the entire way (19 hours ) she skipped jetlag! We kept her up til bedtime in Australia on the first day and tried to get into routine. She napped a bit more because of the heat. Coming home was much worse because she was waking up in the middle of the night thinking it was morning. You've just got to ride it out!

By 8 months, your baby will probably be eating more finger foods. There will be loads of fresh fruit they can have. Failing that I would just pack pouches, it won't do them any harm to have them for a holiday and you know they are getting fed. In any restaurants you can get them bread, yoghurt, veggies etc so you should be absolutely fine. Don't forget to stick to bottled water.

We took Milton steriliser tablets with is which are used with cold water. If baby is only having one bottle a day, Milton sell a bottle steriliser for less than a tenner. You just put the bottle inside it with a tablet and it's done really quickly. No faff! If we were out and about we just cleaned with boiling water.

Milton Solo Travel Steriliser (White) www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008PPRAKU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_tetcEbWQ5A1FX steriliser I mentioned.

Tips for the plane. Put a few toys aside now so they have forgotten them and seem new on the plane. We also took baby headphones which I thought were ridiculous but she actually wore them and watched Peppa pig for a few minutes! Something to suck for take off, so dummy or feeding. Mine wouldn't latch on as too distracted so I gave her a dummy to help her ears. If you have a wrap, might be worth taking so you can have baby on your lap asleep and you can sleep without worrying about dropping. My DD rejected bassinet!

Someone said to me there is no point getting stressed because you cannot get off the plane so whatever happens happens, I found this helpful!

Have a lovely holiday!

Food wise - I would suggest if not staying with family that you buy pouches / formula from the UK (Ellas for example don’t require refrigeration and can be eaten after a quick dunk in hot water).

Take a thermos and when there buy big bottles of mineral water for her, boil it in the hotel kettle (some Thai hotels put tap water into branded bottles!) and then once cooled pack it into the thermos.

Make sure baby stays away from all hotel / restaurant rice dishes.

These posts actually bring back the trauma of being a passenger on a plane with babies that, between them, cried for the whole 9 hour overnight flight from Thailand to Sydney.
The next day we could have died on the drive home as my husband nodded off while driving. Of course, he didn’t realise that would happen. He’s never done it in his life. Two kids in the back of the car. You can blame us for that but we never anticipated that we would have literally no sleep as we’d always slept well on that flight before.
We did pull over and try to sleep but it was 45 degrees and we couldn’t risk the car overheating as we’re 5 hours from the airport.
Earplugs don’t work for crying babies.
I think it’s very selfish to take babies on planes unless it’s an actual emergency. Why inflict that on a couple of hundred people?
We will never book an overnight flight again.

Have you ever been anywhere like Thailand? I can't think of a worse 'holiday' that this with a small baby! The baby will need jabs before you go, the heat and humidity can be unbearable, and the flights are a nightmare.

Thailand has shops just like everywhere else. I’m sure buying baby food won’t be a problem. They have Boots, you can probably buy it there.
Jet lag is very unpredictable and I imagine your baby will make it hard for you to catch up on sleep. Generally I find l get less jet lag if I arrive in Asia in the evening and can go straight to bed. But it really varies.
I think you need to consider whether the hassle of taking a young baby all the way to Thailand is worth it though.

Can't help regarding the flight but regarding food, getting baby used to pouches is probably the best thing, plus some fresh fruit when there. If you email ellas kitchen I'm sure they could tell you if you can get it there. We failed to find almost anything similar in Portugal though. Our son was 1 at the time and anyway somehow we muddled through.

Ps if you have access to a microwave there you can get self sterilising bottles which are very handy. If not Milton tablets left in sink with bottled or boiled water.

@Soon to be
I Don’t believe you need any special jabs for Thailand as long as you're not going deep in the jungle or anything.

Do check though OP! Any obviously make sure baby is up to date with regular vaccinations

@PenelopeFlintstone Because people's lives don't stop when they have children? Babies are a normal part of life. Yes, they make noise and it can be annoying, but that's life. People still need/want to travel, see relatives, go on holiday. Your husband shouldn't have been driving if he wasn't fit. It was incredibly dangerous and nothing to do with babies being on the flight. If he can't drive without falling asleep after missing one night's sleep then he shouldn't have been driving in the first place. You're just lucky he didn't kill you all and/or someone else.

@PenelopeFlintstone I've had more issues with inconsiderate adults on planes than I've ever had with babies.

If your husband was so tired he was falling asleep at the wheel, you should have stopped at a hotel like a responsible person. To blame someone else because they had a baby with them is ridiculous. There will always be people who make different choices to you and it's not their job to make sure you are comfortable or safe.

There are earplugs that work perfectly well for any noise, but you have to actually do some research if you are sensitive to noise.

OP, ignore the naysayers, there are plenty of things you can do in Thailand with a baby. And you are fine to take the baby on the plane. If it was an issue, they wouldn't allow it.

8 months...so won't even have had MMR jabs yet...wasn't Thailand having a significant measles outbreak a few months back?

I took mine to thailand for 2 months when she was 9 months old. We took a travel kettle to sterilize bottles, a tin of milk powder and I was also breast feeding. I fed on takeoff and landing so no crying at all on the flights.
For food we had started baby lead weaning so she was eating solids and as I never pureed goid we didnt need to. She'd eat bananas and other fruits, brocolli, fish, noodles with no sauces, yoghurts etc..
We also had a large backpack carry thing for her.
I didn't find it tricky at all

Forgot to say, we used the milton tablets too, take them with you

@penelopeflintstone
I've driven a fair few times with no sleep the night before, as I'm sure have many people.

If your husband wasn't safe to drive that is absolutely 100% on him and not the responsibility of anyone on the flight!?

We took DS to Thailand at 11 months, sorry OP but the jet lag was a nightmare- we didn't sleep for 12 days.

I took my 5 month old to Australia. He liked the flight, I fed him loads and walked about when he was awake. He rarely cried. He slept lots. Just be really prepared for the flight and it's fine.

I’ve travelled long haul a lot with DD and can honestly can say 8 months was the worst age. She wanted to crawl up and down the plane constantly, nothing held her attention for more than a few minutes, she didn’t fit in the bassinet. There’s no way I’d do this trip unless it was pretty much obligatory e.g. family live there or a wedding. Over 18 months is so much easier. But if you do it- I’d take a stash of pouches, ready made formula and plan to cold water sterilise with Milton. Jet lag I’ve always found weirdly ok actually but mine is pretty adaptable, sleeping in transit is always more napping and then we aim to time our arrival so it’s bedtime and then all have a proper sleep and wake up just about on the right time zone.

Your husband shouldn't have been driving if he wasn't fit. Agreed, but we had no idea until it happened.
It was incredibly dangerous and nothing to do with babies being on the flight. It was very dangerous but it was everything to do with the babies on the flight.

@penelopeflintstone I've driven a fair few times with no sleep the night before, as I'm sure have many people.
I’m shocked that you think this is fine. It’s just as immoral a choice as drink driving.

@PenelopeFlintstone I've had more issues with inconsiderate adults on planes than I've ever had with babies.
I’ve never been on a flight with unruly adults. Smelly feet was the worst thing I’ve encountered.

@PenelopeFlintstone Because people's lives don't stop when they have children? Babies are a normal part of life. Yes, they make noise and it can be annoying, but that's life. People still need/want to travel, see relatives, go on holiday.
This is easier to type than endure for 9 hours. I wouldn’t even want to listen to my own kids crying for hours. I just think it’s selfish to do that to so many people, and also awful for the poor baby. That’s the thing: it’s not just the noise. The cry of a baby is meant to distress us so that we attend to the baby. That’s why it’s not just noise; it’s a distressing situation.

@PenelooeFlinstone

"I've driven a fair few times with no sleep the night before, as I'm sure have many people.
I’m shocked that you think this is fine. It’s just as immoral a choice as drink driving."

And yet you were fine with your husband doing it?

Yeah, I knew you'd say that. We weren't seated together and I was half-delirious from no sleep. We didn't realise but now we do. That's why I said we'd never get another night flight...and I meant if we have to drive after. Although it had never happened before, we'll plan for it to never happen again. You should too, I think.
To the other PP, we definitely did pull over immediately and try to sleep. I had already been asleep while DH was driving. It's not a densely populated place and there aren't hotels everywhere. Plus it was school holidays and places get fully booked. When we set off again later, I drove as I'd had a bit of sleep. Then when I felt sleepy we swapped as he'd then had some sleep.
Anyway, people have to do all kinds of things when they get off planes and I don't think it's unreasonable to assume you might get some sleep on a night flight when you always have before.
And, don't get me wrong, of course our hearts went out to the parents too but clearly longhaul flights are not great for a lot of babies.

Perhaps your DH shouldn't do long haul flights if he's not fit to drive afterwards.