Tips for travelling long haul with 6 month old?

[Flybab]

Hi all,

Due to be travelling in the next few months about 8 hours with our DS who will be 6 months old at the time. We are lucky enough to be staying with family so need help deciding what’s best to take & any top tips for travelling with little ones? First baby so any advice grateful!

We can check in only one extra item free of charge with the airline (pram, travel cot, car seat). I originally thought about taking our Doona - convenient for the airport and doubles as a car seat at the other end! And also paying extra to check in our main pram as hold luggage.

We are away for 1 week- would DS be ok sleeping in the carry cot part of the pram overnight (I’ve checked online and our pram is suitable for online sleeping but not sure if 1 week is too long to use this)? We would obviously be detaching the carry cot from the chassis and placing it on the floor at night times. Or would it be better to pay extra again and take our own travel cot with us? Or see if my partners family could source us a cheap travel cot at their end ready for our arrival if we paid them to do so- or is this cheeky af to even consider asking?!

Any other advice & tips for travelling welcomed! TIA

Having been away with a 6 month old (short haul) recently, we saw many of the baby items (car seats/pushchairs etc) falling off the baggage belts, pushchair hoods broken off etc so either don't take your good stuff if you can't afford to replace parts or make sure you have something really good protecting and covering it! We saw so many that we were pleased we took a cheap, second hand travel pushchair and not our normal travel system.

If I was you, I'd take your pushchair or a cheap second hand one, use it at the airport and hand it over at the gate to get on the plane (still put it in a labelled, protective bag and make sure the airline sticker goes on the bag). At check in, hand over your travel cot and car seats and pay extra for them. However, I don't like using a car seat as a pushchair because it's not a great angle for baby sleeping. Atleast if you have a cheap, lie flat pushchair then baby can nap in it when out and about.

Unfortunately going away with a baby takes a lot of stuff! We didn't need a travel cot or car seat as we went to a hotel abroad but I still felt like we took so much stuff.

Are you sure you can only take one baby item for free? Most airlines will give you free check-in for 2 baby items, even the real budget airlines like Ryanair.

Try and get a bassinette seat if there's one available, it's so helpful to have someplace where you can lie baby down to sleep. Also, all the other families will be seated in that row so you'll feel less guilty if your baby screams or cries, at least they won't be the only one!

I don't know about having a 6 month old sleeping in a pram carrycot.... I guess this might be baby dependent but mine would have been too busy climbing out of it to even think about going to sleep. If your destination is touristy then there's often companies that rent out baby equipment and you could possibly rent a travel cot? I wouldn't consider it cheeky at all to ask family to get you a travel cot if you send them the money but I guess that depends on the kind of relationship you have.

Also, if you're going quite soon after your babies 6 month birthday then I'd go slowly with the weaning to solids. We went away when our baby was around 6 and a half months and we were just doing one very light meal a day around breakfast time, that meant we didn't have to worry about solids for the rest of the day while we were out and about.

Hi everyone
Need some holiday travel advice please….
Will be taking my baby on her first holiday in a few wks, she will be 3.5 months when we fly, it’s a 4 ish hour flight.
I am building up a list of necessary items to bring (this list is huge!) but my biggest concern is travel equipment. So we’ve purchased a doona especially for this trip and future travelling. I’d hoped this was all I’d need apart from my sling carrier. We don’t really plan on leaving the hotel so this will be used in the airport and for going from the room to pool to restaurant etc and back. The hotel will provide a cot. So a pram and car seat is sorted but I haven’t brought anything for her to lay flat? The doona doesn’t recline and stays in a ‘car seat’ position. So during the day at the pool etc when she sleeps what do you use? I was going to make her a bed up on the lounger in the shade. Will this suffice? And at night when out at the restaurant I can’t use the doona can I?🤦🏻‍♀️ Unless I’m taking her in and out for rest time etc which if she is asleep won’t be ideal. I’m not sure how it’s different to when she sometimes sleeps in my arms or nurses for over an hour in that reclined position but am I right in thinking I need something for her to lie flat when out the room? I wonder if I should return the doona and get a travel pushchair? If so can anyone recommend one or give me their thoughts on keeping the doona?

Secondly, I am getting mixed feedback online, can the doona come on the plane with me as carry on? Or do I have to give it up at the door to go into the hold? This is a Uk to Cyprus flight with jet2.

Thirdly, I am combi feeding and the breast feeding isn’t going so well. For making bottles up during the day if I need to, I’ve brought the powder pots, and 2 flasks one for hot water for the hot shot and 1 for cold. Is this correct? Or is there an easier way? And will I need a cooler and ice packs to store any unused bottles etc? Sorry if these questions seem stupid.
And for sterilising in the room can I not just boil the kettle and use hot water?

Ans finally, I thought while babies were this small they had to be parent facing, yet all these travel pushchairs that say from birth are world facing? Is that ok??

Any other holiday tips very welcome please.🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Sorry for the long post and various questions.

@CLS83

Re bottle feeding out and about:

• we just use a powder pot and room temp water. Perhaps you can see if your baby will drink room temp milk as that will save hassle?
• the pre mixed formula bottles are a nice back-up for when you're in the plane etc and don't want to be rummaging around pouring out water and mixing.
• if you will have a microwave the microwave pouches are great. We've managed with kettle before too.
• don't forget to take a bottle brush for washing the bottles.

Re naps:

• when we travelled with our 3.5 month old baby she had some naps (at restaurants etc) in her mesh baby bjorn bouncer, which we managed to pack in the car seat carriee. So doona might work, except it might be hot if you're going somewhere very warm.

Thanks for your help 🙏🏼….couple of questions,….the formula, she will happily drink cold, but it still needs to be preboiled and cooled right? Also, the formula powder needs a hot shot to kill the bacteria doesn’t it? 🤯

The little life arc 2 is a great travel cot that packs up small and is super light if you want to take one with you but it isn’t cheap.

at 6 months you can take a travel pushchair (bugaboo butterfly, Joolz aer, yoyo etc) that could maybe go on as hand luggage for you and also take a carrier for in the airport/getting on the plane.

In terms of a car seat either check one in or get your family to get a cheap one for you to use at the destination. If you check one in I recommend getting a padded genesis car seat travel bag for it - they will make it to size for you in a short space of time, it’s good quality but fairly cheap.

@CLS83 sorry for late reply: When we first started using formula (at 4 weeks), I followed the NHS prep guidelines, although I found it difficult: it's hard to boil water, mix, and then cool it so you have it ready at the correct time. Especially in the middle of the night. Even once we got a feeding schedule going, there were times we needed formula quickly/unexpectedly!

I don't live in the U.K. (although I'm British, hence why I was initially looking at NHS guidance). So after a while of mixing formula with hot water, I looked at the American guidance which is much simpler: www.cdc.gov/nutrition/infantandtoddlernutrition/formula-feeding/infant-formula-preparation-and-storage.html.

Now, when I'm out, I just mix formula with any cold bottled water.

All that said, if you're not comfortable to stop using the hot shot (and tbh I do tend to trust NHS guidance!), the pre-made formula bottles really are great for planes etc. Very low fuss and worth the extra cost on the odd occasion. I have also pumped milk on a plane and given that, but found it all a bit fiddly.