Do I need to take milk for a toddler on a long haul flight?

[MustHaveaVeryShortMemory]

Or will they heat up a cup of cows milk for us? If not presumably you have to buy it at the airport after you've gone through customs... Anybody know?

I take cows milk in beakers or bottles for my toddler. You will have to taste it as you go through customs but no one questions why you need it. But I don't think the plane will heat it up for you wherever you buy it.

I've had milk heated up for me, admitedly it was a long while ago. The crew also supplied me with milk, but it was UHT. Can you contact the airline you are going with?

Is the liquid ban still in place??? If so I doubt if you will get it through the controls..

Saying that, the airline staff were pretty good about providing a heating facility and the milk for my kids when I flew last year ...

I think maybe the airport shops/WH SMith should have milk available to buy

not sure about taking milk ? i breastfed ? but I'd take some valium for yourself. of course, being a breastfeeder, this option wasn't open to me, so I know what I'm talking about!

Air stewards will usually warm milk for you, but be careful to check the temperature before you give it to the child - sometimes the stewards overdo it!
I always take milk in small cartons (UHT) - the type with a straw attached - plus some in a cup. They might make you drink some to prove it's not a bomb or something but they will let you take it on board. They shouldn't object to the cartons as they are unopened (and small).
It's better to take your own rather than rely on the airline because although they have milk and will certainly give it to you, it will probably be semi-skimmed which is not ideal for kids.
I say all this with some experience as I am often travelling long haul with babies (I live in Kenya).

Thanks everyone. I will be bf the baby so valium (sadly) wont be an option! The cartons sound like a good idea - she loves straws!

Last year we went around the world with DS aged 17 mo. Depended on the airline. Air Singapore to/from London/New Zealand freely provided milk on board. Air Transat to/from Canada had only tiny UHT thingies for coffee. DS takes it cold so we didn't ask about heating.
Previous year going to Canada we were forced to open sealed 250ml cartons of SMA formula as they were over the 100ml limit for onboard liquids. Managed to get some 100ml glass bottles in an SMA 'starter pack' at Boots for subsequent trip.

FossilMum what a nightmare, I thought reasonable quantities of baby food were exempt from those restrictions.

You have to be prepared to 'taste' at least 50% of the milk you take through customs with you, including the stuff you have in unopened cartons. Have an empty bottle/beaker with you to empty it into once customs offiial has opened it. HTH

Well in the end I bought a small pint of cows milk in boots and also 2 bottles of ready to drink follow on milk (AFTER we went through security).

I was really glad of these and dd had them all without getting them heated.

I also had some jars of baby food and a couple of cartons of pureed fruit. They asked me to taste 2 (of my choice) of these. I only had a tiny bit then I used the open jars in the next few hours.

I suspect they would have provided milk on the flight but I didn't want to chance it and was glad I didn't have to wait for them to get it/heat it.

Thanks everyone for your help.