Flying 8hrs with a 4 month old..advice/suggestions and tips?!

[tiredbutlearning]

Hi there,
I am being treated to a trip to NY (4days) for my birthday and I WANT to take my DD with me. She will be just under 16 weeks old. AM I MAD?

What advice is there for jet lag?
Should I change her routine to NY time?
Do I need a car seat to travel in taxis in NY?

AAARRRGGGHHHHHH...not sure if this is a good idea, but I cant cancel the flights, nor can I leave my daughter behind.

Awaiting genuis solutions from you....

Lucky you - I can see why you don't want to pass up the opportunity.

How long are you going for? That would probably dictate whether there's any point trying to change her timing. If it's just a few days, I wouldn't bother as you'd only have to readjust when you got home.

4mo is still quite wee. Are you bf-ing? Prob easier if so, especially on the flight, but also when you're there as you won't need to worry about washing bottles and boiling water all the time.

Will you be staying in a hotel/apartment/with friends? That would also make a big difference for me in terms of how relaxed I'd be about going and whether I'd get much support with a grizzly baby confused about daylight and unfamiliar places.

We are going for 4 days and staying at a hotel, I think my major fear is she will be up all night and sleep all day.

We are staying in a hotel, so hopefully she wont wake too many people.

YOu would say to just keep going on our routine then...

best time to fly with them

they can't move, they aren't loud (really they aren't, they still mew at that age) and they are still only having milk

I flew with dd and it was a doddle. Believe me, it only gets harder as they get older!

Have a lovely time and feed on take off and landing so her ears are ok.

And just go with the flow. Don't stress about the routine etc.

ditto fox. We took DS1 to Vancouver at that age. Best advice is prepare well for the flight and go with flow when you are there.

For the flight, try and book bassinet seats (bulkhead), take familiar bedding (grobag etc), take calpol etc, feed on take off and landing and enjoy the free extra leg room! Take twice as many nappies and clothes as you would usually need in 7 hours.
Try and take pram to the boarding gate too.

When there and you change your routine to NY time you will prob find she does too! I would be very surprise if she gets jet lag - certainly our DS seemed to adjust better than me to the time difference.

have a fab time

We took our 4 month old to Hong Kong over Christmas and it was far easier that we'd anticipated.

Try to get the bassinet seats - our DD slept 8 hours solidly (!!) I think due to the background plane noise and slight movement, was fab.

Jet lag wasn't too much of an issue, we slotted into HK time as soon as we were there. Being exposed to daylight helps your body clock re-set itself so take lots of walks in the daytime.

You'll have a great time. Enjoy!

Hi all, Thank you for your responses!

i am now a little less worried about the flight. I am just very undecided about changing here over to NY time.

cathers and orchid - would you advise then continuing with my routine times ut just doing them on NY time zone...or let her be....and just hope for the best???