Tips for long haul flight with 4mo?

[macneil]

Okay, I'm finally bringing my baby home. She's coming up to about 18 weeks (this is a guess, really) so in the mid-4month region. My GP said 'The best thing to do on a long flight is lots of breastfeeding', forgetting that she'd sent me to a breastfeeding consultant and we'd had no luck getting the baby to latch on, so that's already scaring me. Air Canada specify that the baby travels 'on parents laps', but I don't know what that means, other than I think they don't provide a bassinet like BA, but BA were a total nightmare to deal with and I had to ditch my BA ticket... but I digress

She has a great routine, bed at 7am, up at 6am, one dream feed. We'll be travelling in the evening, but will take 2 flights, the first 2 hours, the second 9 hours. I expect it's all down to chance, but are there any good things I should take that I might not have thought of? We're all hoping she doesn't even think of doing a jobby, hers are explosive and involve ER type panic procedures. I'm going to take cans of pre-mixed formula, washed beforehand, and sterilised bottles, and open the cans for each feed (maybe ask steward for hot water). Apart from that, I think I have to trust to the fates. She doesn't cry very much in public, but cries all the time at home. The thought of jetlag throwing her routine out is another concern.

Tips/experiences gratefully received - thanks.

bed at 7pm, doh.

lots of threads on this in Travel longhaul section if you have time for a search.

Oh sorry, I'm always doing this, there are so many topics I never see the right one. Thanks, will check out immediately!

If you have a specific questions post again, We took DS back to the UK when he was 4 months, not nearlly as bad as you think it's going to be. I'd ask again about the bassinet, there a god send

Even if there are no bassinets could you take your infant car seat on board? We took ours and stowed it for the take off. If you are lucky you will have an empty seat around you that you can put the seat in. If not, request the bulkhead (you should get priority as you are with an infant). The infant car seat will fit on the floor.

As for concerns re: routine, just try to stick to your routine as much as possible. You may have to schedule extra naps / feeds to get over the jet lag but IME they tend to adapt to new time zones within 1-2 days of arrival. Count yourself lucky as 4 months is the perfect age to travel with a baby, they can't move around so tend to be 'better behaved' than older babies.

(We have travelled trans atlantic with our baby from age 2 months and always found it stress free until around the 18 month age). Good luck!

I just generally don't know what I'm doing, I think. This tends to be the case for every single aspect of parenting. For instance, that thread about how it's harmful to start to introduce rice before 6 months? That all seemed to pass me by. In other horrendous baby-growth-stunting instances, me and the husband are currently in negotiations about when she has to stop wearing little baby suits. He thinks 3 years.

I will phone Air Canada tomorrow and ask specifically what I should expect. They are brilliant, compared to BA, for every other detail - for instance, her ticket seems to be free (10% of my ticket at BA) and she's allowed her own piece of luggage that's max 50inches square, plus baby seats, car seats etc can all go for free in the hold, not that we're taking them, although I think I'll take the bassinet for her stroller under that rule. It would be even better if I could stuff it with her toys, but I think that would be pushing it.

I just keep thinking, it's only 11 hours in the planes, and then it's over, and she has to sleep for a few hours of that, there's no way she can stay awake the whole time.

Oh, I was typing while your message came in tinpot. Am delighted to discover it's a good age to travel, and thanks for the reassurance. I will also ask about the car seat when I call, I just assumed anything big and padded wouldn't be allowed on in the security conscious age.

Jetlag west to east seems particularly brutal, so I was assuming it would be bad for her, too. But she's feeding basically every 4-6 hours anyway, so it's possible it won't change the schedule crazily.

just lost a really long post to you and it's bedtime so in short:
demand bulkhead (sometimes only assigned on check in so get there early)
change of clothes for you aswell as baby (not nice to have 7 hours left of 9 hour flight if you are wearing babies last meal)
pacifier for take off / landing as pressure on their little ears can be bad
west to east is bad in terms of jet lag but will be worse for you as you will have had zero sleep and she'll probably sleep all the way!

and one more thing...
whole extra day supply of milk - we had an overnight delay one time and only just had enough!

Will post again tomorrow if I think of any more.

Good ideas, thanks! My main problem is she still doesn't have a passport. She was born in Canada, and we didn't apply for one until a month ago, but they sent the application back because, you can apply for a British passport for a child born outside Britain if you send the parents' British passports IF the parents were born outside Britain. BUT if the parents were born in Britain, their British passports aren't enough, and you have to send their birth certificates with the child's. But because we're in Canada, getting our birth certificates was really hard, so we chanced it with the passports, then had to wait ages for my mum to find my birth certificate and send it, plus they sent back the pictures of dd because they were too dark (it is hard to photograph a baby with mouth closed, eyes open, and no adult in the picture).

So we're still waiting for the passport, and have only a couple of days left. I don't know what you do if you give birth unexpectedly at 30 weeks while on holiday abroad, how you get back. I have no such excuse, I just didn't get my stuff together in time, but it's so scary, I've already thrown away my first ticket (BA wouldn't change it, and it was for April 2). You can't phone the embassy, you just go through to a premium rate call centre in India who read the details from the web site to you.

And I know it's my fault, but how would you go back in an emergency, say someone in England was ill, if you had a new baby, hadn't applied for the passport yet?

Have you checked the status on the British embassy web site?
I really don't think they'll let her fly without a passport, I do feel for you it's a complete nightmare to organize and be a new Mum!
We cheated and got DS an American passport first and he travelled on that. It was easier than getting all the paperwork sorted for the British one. We've got him a British passport now, but it did take time with finding all the info as you know.
I really hope the passport turns up, can you change your tickets with this airline if the worse happens?

Unfortunately, since America stopped letting in Canadians without passports relatively recently, there's been a mad rush on Canadian passports - we were told at least 10 weeks.

I don't know if I can change this ticket either! I didn't get a flexible one, but some airlines are more flexible than BA. I just couldn't afford anything else, and my husband has to go back that day because he has a job interview, that we also didn't know about until the last minute. It's all merry hell.

I didn't know I could check the status! Am hotfooting it back to the web site.

I'm sure it gives some clue to whats going on. A good fiend of mine was in a similar position to you, and she used to check the status daily. They were moving back to the UK for good so her DD needed her British passport to be allowed to stay!
She had a happy ending, the passport turned up about a week before they left.
Hope yours is also a happy ending.

OK, I did flight with a much older baby which i imagined to be 24 hours from hell and was actually OK! My tips would be

• definitely go for ready made formula and plenty of ready sterilised bottles (more than you think you will need)
• Consider buying a portable bottle warmer so you can heat the bottles yourself if needed. Air stewards were OK at providing water etc but not always very speedy especially if it is meal time
• Are you travellining alone? If not aks them to serve your food seperately ie DH eats then you do - much easier!
• Take spare clothes for baby and you (travelling in baby sick covered clothes not pleasant for anyone!0
• Change to new time zone when you arrrive (or on the plane), but if she sleeps the whole way do not even think about waking her up!! - she will adjust really quickly the other end

I haven't had time to read through so apologies if I'm repeating what others have said. Just done a 9.5 hour flight to the US and back with my 4 month old DD.

1. Due to the limitations on fluids that you're allowed to take through, people were told to throw their premade formula and buy more on the other side of security. To be on the safe side, take powdered as a back up or you really run the real risk of not having anything if they have run out etc.

The mum next to me also bought bottles of evian to mix the powder up with just incase there wasn't enough on the flight.

I cannot emphasise enough that you should bring powdered formula as a back up. You cannot risk having nothing which is what would have happened to the mum next to me if she hadn't brought both. She was forced to throw the ready made stuff away before security.

1. dress your baby for bed in what she usually wears (including grobag) but of course it depends on the temperature....!

3.Take a soother saver if you use a dummy!

1. Either feed or use a dummy on take off and landing so that it helps with the ear popping as the pressure changes.

1. My DD wasn't a fan of the bassinets and slept on our laps anyway - also with BA, they have to be transferred to your lap on take off, landing and turbulence. Difficult on a rocky flight!

They are so resilient and she'll be absolutely fine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy!!!!!!

These are all really excellent suggestions!

First, it is quite scary that they may not allow ready made. I've never made powdered formula up - here in Canada, it tends to be concentrated liquid, which comes ready made in ring-pull cans, but not cartons. They do sell powder, though, so I'll stock up. However, there's absolutely nothing at the airport, shopwise, no Boots, so they're unlikely to make me buy it on that side of check in. There's barely even food for us, usually the only thing open in the evening is a measly sandwich bar and giftshops selling packets of salmon.

I don't know what sterile disposable bottles are - I am beginning to sound like a dick! - but maybe they sell them here! Also hadn't thought of things like grobag or swaddle blanket (which she usually needs for deep sleep). We're going to have to have a big trip to Babies R Us this week to see what's there.

They've charged our credit card for the passport, so I'm assuming it should come in time now.

Thanks, everyone.

oh thats a good sign about the credit card, that means it's been processed OK and should be winging it's way back to you That must be a huge relief.

About the bottles, I used Playtex drop in's when we flew, you buy the holder and nipple and then use disposable liners (they sort of look a bit like condoms ). You used to be able to get free holders and nipples when you brought a pack of the liners. Babies r us do them as well as most of the big supermarkets on this side of the great lakes.
I took a stock of sterilized nipples in there holders, so each time I needed to feed just make up the formula in a new liner with a clean nipple.
As for formula you can get pre-measured powder in little packets, makes up 4oz at a time. You should be able to get bottled water on the other side of security.
Oh sorry just realised how long this is!
Good luck, hope you have a great trip back to the UK.

That's amazingly useful (and not long at all). Thanks!