Traveling with 8 week old advice

[AmieGeo]

I will be travelling to Cyprus with my 8 week old in a few weeks. What are the must takes and must nots? I'm currently combine feeding but considering stopping breastfeeding. What's your advice and how easy/hard is it to formula feed abroad? TIA. X

Sling or carrier for the airport is a must

Is that a great idea, jabs wise?

I used to travel on eight hour flights for work regularly with mine from six weeks' old. I found formula easiest - especially on take off and landing, obviously, so they keep swallowing. Yes to a sling - by far the easiest way to transport. Also, I used to dress her in extremely cute outfits and a flight attendant would invariably take her off for part of the flight .... sorry if that's not politically correct. My doctor recommended Tixylix for sleep inducing reasons and said he'd given it to all his children for the same flight, but I didn't resort to that.

People in Cyprus have babies, so everything is available if you need it. Might not be quite what you are used to (different brands etc), but all available.
Formula seems to be one to keep the same, so take enough if that. If its hot baby may want more milk.

Nappies are available.
Take a sling.
Take one change of clothes for you, and at least one change for baby in hand lugage.
Don't change a dirty nappy on the plane seat. It stinks to a few rows back (and caused the bloke behind me, who was behind the baby, to shout some horrible stuff about).
Have you thought how to steralise the bottles?
Feed on take off and at landing.
Take enough milk, nappies etc to factor in several hours delay.
Relax and enjoy it!!!!!

If your baby will sleep in pram/pushchair (obviously a flat one) take it through with you as far as the gate. Nothing worse than having a baby stuck to you with nowhere to put it if the flight is delayed.

Thanks all!

I purchased a sling recently especially for the airport- I will test her out in it before we go as she isn't used to it.

With regards to sterilising bottles etc does anyone have any advice? We will be staying in a hotel so I'm hoping they will be able to offer some support. Are there any small devices I can purchase that will make my life easier? I was thinking to take lots of the sterilising tablets?

@TittyGolightly I have spoken to midwife and doctors and they have all said it's absolutely fine to take her.

Go to Tesco and pick up some sterilizing tablets, roughly 60p for a big pack. All you need over there then is a plastic bowl big enough to pop the bottles and teats in to sterilize .

Thanks @Smurfybubbles will do!

I just came back from 10 days with a 6 week old. A sling is great for getting on and off the plane and making you handsfree during the flight (you have to take it off for take off / landing when baby needs to be front facing in the infant belt). Generally as long as the flight isn't too long newborns are meant to be fine... white noise / vibration / your lap - basically newborn sleep heaven!

Brought our own formula (twice as much as needed as it turns out), a Milton cold water sterilizer and used the tablets mentioned above. I also emailed hotel in advance to make sure kettle was available to make up feeds.

We brought our cocoonababy - the consistency from home seemed to help with sleep (I read somewhere you should bring used bedding from home so the smell is familiar) plus allowed us to have baby on our bed, hotel provided one of those travel cots where the baby is at floor level, which would have been a pain with frequent pick ups / feeds / comforting etc .

Since most resorts are designed for people wanting to be in the sun, make sure your pram allows your baby to be fully in shade... I also brought thermometer as I was a bit nervous about baby catching something on the plane (it was fine, but good to be able to put myself at ease).

We went on holiday earlier this summer with our 9 week old.
Definitely second the sling! You can wheel the pram to the steps of the plane but we found it easier to check it into oversized baggage and then just have him on the sling through security - much easier imo.

Not sure why someone said that formula is easier to feed the baby on the plane with - surely bf is as you don't need anything?? I bf for take off and landing to make sure that he was swallowing, was very easy with seatbelt on. He slept throughout the flights - think white noise of the plane helped.

Tbh since you're bf at the moment it might be worth carrying on so that you have a back up if there are any issues getting formula/sterilising etc. I found it so easy not having to worry about that, especially as at 8 weeks they still feed frequently.

Sorry meant to say, like a pp we also brought our thermometer, room thermometer and calpol. Didn't need any of them but put my mind at rest! Would have been stressful if we'd needed them and hadn't had them.

"but considering stopping breastfeeding"

Is it practical to wait until you have been to Cyprus? You wouldn't have the faff of getting bottles of formula through security then.

Will your baby have had any jabs?

Was going to say exactly the same as Harriet, I breastfed partly to make my life easier long term and it was definitely super convenient on holiday/travelling!

Our little one slept in a sleepyhead so we took that on holiday, so that her bed was essentially the same. I've heard of people taking their baby's own cot sheets to keep the smell the same. We also took a thermometer and different tog sleeping bags.

Flew when DD was 8 weeks. To be honest what really kept me going with breastfeeding was the thought of that trip and how much more convenient it is than bottles. We mixed fed though and I bought the ready made formula for the plane and general traveling as she was just on one bottle a day.

I’ve flown several times now with my kids and id say that age was by far the easiest for the flight. Baby literally just slept or fed the entire time. My toddler on the other hand...

We took our baby to Cyprus at 6 weeks, it wasn’t a problem, we are currently here for a month and she is 4 months old.

We used Mam self sterilising bottles and you can sterilise them in the microwave (couldn’t recommend them more). In a hotel I would either ask to use their microwave to sterilise the bottles or take a big tub and some Milton sterilising tablets and do it that way. I would recommend you bring your own washing up liquid and a bottle brush for cleaning the bottles.

In North Cyprus I have seen all of the major brands of milks in the shops but we did click and collect to the Boots on the other side of security in the airport and carried it on the plane; definitely bring a bit more formula as the baby may drink more in the heat, for our 10 day holiday we used all pre made formula (kept in the fridge) but for this longer holiday we are using powdered formula and have had no problem buying suitable bottled water (NHS website has guidelines).

At six weeks she slept all the time she wasnt eating on the plane so it was easy both ways.

Congratulations on your new baby, we had a great time and hope you do too.

Ps. Security are fine with bottles and formula in our experience, they didn’t say anything or do any investigations.

We did take a sling as recommended frequently here but as you can take the pram to the plane doors didn’t use it.

you can order online to collect from Boots once you’ve been through security - I’ve done that for formula etc and so much easier as one less thing to haul through security

while you can bring the pram up to the door of the plane, most airports now on arrivals will only deliver the pram back to you on the luggage belt so you need to move through arrivals and passport control without it - so def need a sling and thing about how much hand luggage you have

if you have a flask of water coming through security they might open it to test it - triple check they close it properly! (Speaking from experience)

i flew 9 hrs to Canada when my little one was almost 6 weeks old. my health visitor told me the younger they are, the easier the travel will be. she was so right - he slept for like 6hrs on the plane. although, i spent the whole time staring at him just incase anything needed doing!

i took 9 bottles on the flight with me with the ready made formula milk you can buy at tesco and asda etc. and just poured them into the bottle when/if he needed feeding. i also had one filled ready for take off.

they tell you to hold the baby on your chest so the head is on your shoulders during take off. when they crew had gone to sit down and we were about half way up i fed him a bottle to ease his ears (again advised by my wonderful health visitor to do this)

i had one night in a hotel before getting to where i needed to be so with regards to sterilising the bottles, you can either buy the sterilising tablets as pp's have mentioned or i would wash them with boiled soapy water in the sink, rinse them off and dry them completely, then boil the kettle again and fill them and let them sit for about 20 minutes, then empty and rinse with boiled and cooled water, and again make sure they were completely dried.

Thank you so much! I definitely feel more confident! With regards to feeding on take off and land did you warm the bottles prior or give it to your LOs as it comes? Thanks x

My little man never liked warm bottles, I always had to let it cool right down to room temperature first. Sony just gave him the ready made stuff as it comes. I'm sure if you ask the crew though, they put some hot water in a cup or something for you to pop the bottle in for a few minutes (I've asked for this at restaurants) might be a bit difficult during the actual take off and landing they might make you wait until the seatbelts sign goes off maybe?

Also when I flew, we got moved to a bulkhead seat so they could give me a bassinet that clicks into the wall. That was an absolute godsend. It might be worth ringing the airline you're flying with and see how to go about requesting one for your flight. Different airlines distribute them in different ways. Some you ring up and request, others are based on first come first serve basis at check in x

My little man never liked warm bottles, I always had to let it cool right down to room temperature first.

Mine liked her (expressed) milk hotter than room temperature.

Meant to say hotter than body temperature

@AmieGeo I got an insulated bag to store the bottle in. Before we boarded I asked a cafe in the airport if they had hot water for me to heat the bottle which they gave me. I heated it up to slightly above the temp I needed as they do loose heat in those bags!

On board the air hostesses will be more than happy to heat a bottle for you too but watch as I never specified how warm I wanted it and had to wait 20 mins for it to cool down as she heated it hotter than hell

@Smurfybubbles thanks again!