Flying to Dubai with a 1 year old

[K2012]

Good morning everyone. Need some advice.

We are going to Dubai in the beginning of June with our 1 year old son (a few weeks after his first birthday) Me and husband have been in Dubai a few times but first time with baby.

I’m a bit worried about the 7-8 hour flight and if baby starts crying a lot and get pressure in the ears etc. A friend suggested to take a dummy with us in the flight it might ease the pressure. Anything else I should take with me?

In terms of baby food I’m thinking of taking ready made pouches and ready made milk bottles with us. Do you still have to boil the water when they’re 1 year old (if they’re just having sips of plain water? We will be staying in a hotel and they’ll give us water in bottles, can I give him that or tap water?

Hit me with ideas/suggestions/advice of what we should be aware of?

Thank you in advance 👍🏻

Don't use the tap water - it is desalinated. Water is very cheap to buy in the supermarkets there.

Thank you @LeandraDear so just buy normal mineral water from the shops? Do I have to boil it first?

I read somewhere that babies can’t have mineral water something to do with the sodium levels in the water????

Just buy normal table water as opposed to mineral water although unlikely it will do any harm in the short term. You don't need to boil it. Ears are normally only a problem on landing. Dummy is good and see if you can get them to copy you doing big yawns. At 1 mine were pretty much eating what everyone else did. They'd have had a good go at the plane meals. I certainly wasn't using any pouches

Nope babies not really meant to have mineral water. I'm sure a real small amount wouldn't hurt but best to avoid if you can. You don't need to pre boil water anymore, but can if you prefer.

We went to Dubai when DD had just turned one. The flight was fine, she slept through most of it. We had the bassinet seat for her which was useful.

DD had self weaned off formula at that point but I do remember the cows milk we used for her cereal making her sick. Apparently the milk isn't treated the same over there?

We were visiting family and they kindly arranged a meet and greet service to meet us off the airplane and walk us through security. They had a pushchair waiting for us, though we had ours so it wasn't needed. We got fast tracked through passport control etc and they helped us find our baggage. It made the process really smooth.

www.marhabaservices.com/ae/english

There was a child a bit older than DD who screamed the entire flight. And I do mean the entire flight. He was clearly unwell. The crew were so helpful that poor parent, taking it in turns to hold him etc.

Just get the local ones Masafi or Oasis.

Thank you everyone 👍🏻

Leaving next week.. any more suggestions I should know before we leave?

Take spare clothes for everyone for the plane. Maybe a couple of sets for your baby. Mine is a bit younger but so far is in the habit of doing random vomits while we are travelling. On our first trip abroad at 9 months we went through 3 changes of clothes before we even left Heathrow. Maybe some not too messy snacks and fruit to eat alongside the plane food for pouches?