Best time to travel ultra long haul with a baby?

[trrk]

We are expecting our first baby in July and at some point would like to introduce her to her grandparents and rest of our extended family who all live in New Zealand. It will also be the first time we have been able to see our family since covid as the border is only now opening but it's too late in my preganancy to travel before the baby arrives. The trip will need planning in advance as flights can get expensive at the last minute and other family members may also travel home at the same time.

I was wondering what the easiest time to travel with a baby will be? Too soon and I'd be worried about not being settled into being parents and even not fully recovering from birth. However I've also read that it doesn't get much easier to travel with babies over time as they get more mobile and this will be a long trip (2 long haul flights plus domestic flight, often around 30+ hours all up).

Also for anyone that's travelled to somewhere requiring two long haul flights with a baby, did you find it easier to take a stopover between legs or just push through to the end? I find this trip bad enough without a baby so I'm a bit terrified about travelling that far with a baby!

Before 6 months and weaning to food.

I'd say definitely before they're on the move, so before any crawling (as their need to be on the move presents a serious challenge on a flight!) and also while they are still taking a good number of naps. We flew, not as far as you, a couple of times when our baby was well under one year old. The fact he still napped was amazing, it really kills some of the time if they just cuddle in for a nap.

Personally I would stop for a decent break on a flight of that length, but I can also see the merit in just getting it done as quickly as possible!!

Somewhere between a few weeks (for passport reasons) and crawling, for me. But it’s be OK with a toddler too - I’d rather do it with an 18 month old than a three/four year old who are still too little to really understand what’s going on/sleep properly/ but who talk all the time, need entertainment all the time, are much heavier and cost a fortune.

I’d say when they’re 15.

I did a 24 hour journey at 2 months - it was 2 legs and that included a couple of hours stopover. The baby just slept and fed. I liked the stopover as we had a walk around and the baby had some time to be awake but I wouldn't really care either way.

My second did a 12 hour flight at 5 and 9 months. Both were a breeze, the flight at 9 months was overnight and they slept from takeoff to landing.

I find the toddler years a lot more challenging, a 3 hour flight seems like 10!