Travelling with a newborn - (1 - 1.5 month baby)

[Kht2024]

Hello!

I am expecting a baby in mid-April next year and have my best friend's wedding at the end of May in Canada. Though it seems doable to travel with our baby from London to Canada, I'm slightly worried if this is safe for the baby.

Closer to the time we will make a call based on delivery, baby's health and other factors.

I wanted to ask if any other parents have travelled so early on after delivery. Is it safe for a 1 month baby to travel 7-8 hours on a flight?

Would greatly appreciate any advice!

Congratulations!

no personal experience but I know someone who travelled to a wedding with a 5 week old, it’s not something I would want to do at 5 weeks post partum but it worked for them. Their main issue was that they nearly didn’t get a passport in time, you have to factor in registering the birth and then probably fast track a passport.

health wise your baby won’t have had their immunisations yet, and you’d be exposing them to a lot of germs on a flight that long.

Have you factored in time to get birth certificate and passport ?
Price of a last minute flights for you all?

Baby won't have had any innoculation jabs .

We waited till the 6 week check to travel. Planes can make your period heavier/earlier so I’d ask the midwife what she thinks. From an actually doing it point of view, passports and health insurance might be tricky to arrange and you’d need both. Babies are more important than weddings so don’t be pushed into anything that is to stressful for you.

We had a baby last year and 6 weeks later flew to a wedding. After staying in hospital for a whole week. So only had 5 weeks to sort everything.
You can book the flight now and then add the baby later as theyll be on your lap. Even if the flight is fully booked you'll still be able to add them on.

We did express passport which was with us within 7days. You can take baby passport photo using your phone, just make sure there's a white / grey bed sheet behind them.

Newborn Babies generally sleep 20hrs a day and only awake to feed, so she slept the whole flight there and back.

Your only real issue is if you have a c-section then it means you might not be fit to fly yourself.

Also buy a car seat that attaches to the buggy as you'll need it for public transport and taxes etc. Most airlines will allow you to take 2 piece buggies for free. We left the baby carrier part at home and used the car seat part to stroll around.

I know this is not exactly the same but I moved house the day before my son was born and got married 3 weeks after he was born (well planned I know!) although I'd not change it, I did find it difficult as my body just wasn't healed. I had an episiotomy which was very raw, I found it difficult to sit for at least six weeks after, I think you will struggle with an 8 hour flight. I wore huge maternity pads under my wedding dress which was actually easier to hide because it was a wedding dress-but I had the worry I would leak onto my white dress.

The noise of a wedding was not great for my child (and it wasn't his first wedding he went to one at one week old!) and luckily both weddings were outside in parts which helped noise wise. I looked up ear defenders but you can't put them on a child so young might crush their skull!

So even though it's not strictly travel, it's not just your baby you need to think about it's your health too. I would advise against going.

I don’t think I’d have been keen to travel so early. The baby will be fine but you might not be ready. I was still recovering from a C-section at that point and taking it easy. Even if you have a straightforward birth the sleep deprivation can be brutal and I wouldn’t have had the energy to travel. I was also still trying to establish breastfeeding as a tongue tie meant we didn’t get off to a good start. If I’d been really determined to breastfeed I would still have been breastfeeding, topping up with formula and then pumping which is pretty much a full time job (in the end I just couldn’t hack the pumping and we switched to formula a few weeks later.).

I struggled with a five hour train journey with a five week old baby. I'd had a C section so at least my undercarriage was ok, but my scar got inflamed with sitting still for so long, my hips hadn't fully recovered from SPD, and I felt awkward trying to feed her without my usual feeding pillows etc.

That said, I did just about manage. The baby slept through it all.

I'd worry about the air quality in a plane for that long though. It's a lot of recycled germs for an unvaccinated baby with a brand new immune system.

Hopefully you have a straight forward birth as this might impact things, took me a long time to recover from a traumatic birth

It’s the passport that’s the main issue. Ours we applied at 1 week old and it took months ages to arrive

I think that’s too tight. If you don’t deliver until end of April (possible), that’s limited recovery time especially if you have C-Section. And short timeframe for babys passport, and they won’t have had any vaccines

I'd be very worried about exposing baby to germs, especially as planes are infection pits for COVID. We flew with ours at 2.5 months but that was in the middle of lockdowns so flights were empty and everyone needed a PCR test to fly. Now, I'd be very wary of taking a newborn, younger than 3 months, on a plane, especially as any fever requires immediate medical attention for those first 3 months.

Baby will be fine, apart from infection risk but a long haul flight at 4 weeks would be risky and uncomfortable for you. Your risk of dvt and pulmonary embolism are significantly increased, you might be still bleeding, sore, breast feeding takes at least 6 weeks to establish. Taking formula on a flight requires forward planning.
If you have a c section you won't be fit to fly until at least 6 weeks.
It is impossible to know how you are going to be feeling physically and mentally tbh after your first baby.

I wouldn’t travel an unvaccinated newborn.
I also can’t imagine anything worse than being at an event like a wedding with a tiny baby, there’s just no way you’d enjoy it.

If it was travel for something vital then I am
sure it is technically ok to fly, but for a wedding? Absolutely not.

I wouldn't do it. Those first few weeks were the most intense of my life, and I wanted to be at home, recovering and getting used to looking after a baby. You might still be bleeding. I wouldn't go to a wedding in my own town at that stage, let alone flying to another country. But everyone's different!