First flight with a 8 month old, help!

[icecreamplease]

Hi all,

We are flying to a European country for our first holiday abroad with our baby.

Any tips on handling the flight? They are exclusively breastfed so I am a bit worried about potentially feeding on the plane with so many people (particularly as the seats are so narrow, thanks Ryanair🤣) Does anyone have any advice on how to navigate that?

It is a about a 2 hour journey and luckily my partner is there to help but I just wondered if anyone also had any tips on keeping a baby entertained who dislikes being in one place for too long 😂 I am worried about a meltdown on the plane! I would love to hear other people's experiences 🙂

Also, has anyone had experience with breastfeeding in Europe on holiday in public? It is a cold country and my baby is currently feeding maybe every 3-4 hours give or take.

Many thanks!

For the flight... book a window seat and middle, you take the window seat then your partner is the "buffer" for feeding.

I never had any issues breastfeeding in Germany if that helps.

We always booked an extra seat so we had the row of 3, much easier and you can spread yourself out.

Aircraft engines are like white noise. At that age my DD would always fall asleep during take off and sleep for 1-2 hours. So a 2 hour flight would be the calmest thing ever. Except if I needed the loo ha! Worse case scenario she cries. It’s a short flight, no one will be trying to sleep and you’ll never see them again. It doesn’t matter. No sure what you mean about feeding. Does breastfeeding require extra space? I’ve bottled fed mine on a planes up to a year old and it was fine, especially if you’re in a window or aisle and next to your partner. The only time it was snug was when DD and I had a middle next to a morbidly obese man, but that was just tight all round and we still managed her bottle. Most European countries have higher breastfeeding rates than the UK so you should be fine feeding. Just plan your layers wisely if it’s cold!

The fact you’re still bf is great, you can feed on take off and landing to help with the pressure on baby’s ears :) agree you in the window and partner in the middle, I’m not the worlds most confident feeder but I fed my babies on planes quite comfortably, possibly because everyone is stuck looking forward, it’s not like you’re out in the open.

We had baby in a carrier which helped keep arms free - if you’re taking a pram you’ll be able to take it up to the door on the way onto the plane, but you’ll have to get from the plane to baggage reclaim without it.

In terms of entertainment we tried to fly over nap time and do a contact nap with a feed either side but I’m sure a couple of sensory toys (quiet ones!) and crinkly books would help stop them from getting bored!

Thank you so much for the advice, I really appreciate it.

We are taking a baby carrier so hoping it will be smooth and easy to get on and off.

My baby is a power napper so I can only dream of them napping for 2 hours during the flight! 😂

Top tip is to take a change of clothes into the plane for you and baby. There is nothing worse than sitting on a plane with sick and poo!

Agree about feeding as much as possible during the flight. Take a toy or two to play with. My DD was newly crawling at 8 months and didn't want to sit still at all on a flight. Wanted to crawl down the aisle and grin at people, which mostly seemed to be tolerated.

Luckily we are only taking hand luggage so should have plenty spare!