Lucas_Dad

Hi all, have been recommended to this site and gleaned a lot already through reading others posts (in particular that the IT job market is not great... oh goody...). So I've just joined myself

Anyway. My Aussie wife, me, and 6-month-old son Lucas will be off to Oz one-way in September. Our son will be 9 months old when we travel. We are lucky enough to be able to travel in Premium Economy class. Have done both cattle class and PE to Oz before, and those little extras with PE make so much difference.

We are seasoned travelers but we have never done this trip with a baby before! Whilst we have booked with Qantas, I understand that the flights are actually BA (presumably a 747). I am interested in any tips, tricks, and useful advice.

Of course we will speak to the airline directly, but what's your experiences of taking bottles, formula, baby food (jar or sachet), etc. etc.? All advice, suggestions & tips gratefully received!

Cheers

James516

See if you can wangle an upgrade to Business, then leave the wife to sort the baby out back in Economy. Easy trip.

LittleKittyCat

We have done it a couple of times with small children, it wasn't that bad really, it just feels like hard work at the time!

For formula, I am pretty sure that you can pre-order ready mixed cartons of formula from the Boots after security. I was bf our daughter so that wasn't a problem for us, but I have heard others do that. With regards to food, we took those ready made baby foods. We had to open one and test it for security, but we had taken a couple of extras so that we could do this. We also got her used to eating room temperature food rather than warm, because we thought that that would be easier (rather than waiting for a flight attendant to nuke it and then have to wait for it to cool). It may be worth doing the same with the milk. At 9 months you shouldn't have to sterilise bottles I don't think, so you can just take enough clean ones with you.

We did buy a small fold up change mat which had pockets for nappies and wipes etc in it. That meant that we didn't have to take a big change bag in to the tiny plane loo for nappy changes. We took a sling to carry her and so that we could easily walk her up and down the plane if necessary. At six months she was too long to go in the bassinet, and we found that we didn't use it, but we did find the extra leg room handy (we also had our 2 year old with us).

We travelled long haul with her when she was six months old and one day after her first birthday, and to be honest she was no trouble at all either time. Our toddler was far more challenging! She was on our knee the whole time, and I didn't get any sleep, but she was as good as gold. I think that it was slightly more difficult to get her used to the time difference once we got here because it was difficult to keep her awake at nap time (we just kept our eldest awake during the day so that she was super tired at night), but it wasn't a major drama.

itigo

We bought a Britax approved car seat that the airline would accept for about 40 quid and used that. I think BA may supply their own if you book? Worth asking. Our 7/8 month old sat in that for the trip and boy did it make sleeping easier! He's a big boy so wouldn't fit in a bassinet so the car seat was a god send. Can't use it here as not Aus Standard but well worth the chucking money at it factor! Even better if BA have them........We just got him used to sitting in a front facer for a couple of weeks before we left. How big is your boy?

itigo

http://www.britishairways.com/travel...e/public/en_gb

http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airl...lobal/en#jump7

Lucas_Dad

Thanks all for the replies so far, really appreciate it!

(I particularly like the idea of wangling an upgrade to business, alas as great as the journey might be I fear I would not have a wife at the end of it!!)

Lucas_Dad

How big? Hard to say. Seems smaller than average at the moment (6.7kg, 67cm) but who knows what the next couple of months will bring! When you took your boy in a car seat did you have to book a seat specifically for him? I think our booking assumes our boy will be on one of our laps or in the basinette. Like your idea tho, defo worth looking into.

Cheers

Lucas_Dad

Lots of great tips. Thanks
Heating of bottle/food is something we had wondered about, so good idea getting him used to room temperature.
Am sure we have more questions, just don't know what they are yet!

Cheers

Lucas_Dad

Useful links. Thank you

itigo

At 9 months I doubt he'd comfortably fit in the bassinet (they usually say up to 6 months) and I REALLY wouldn't advise having a 9 month old on your lap. We paid for a seat (less than an adult fare) to keep our sanity.........just a thought!

kronk

We took our 15 mth old and our 3 year old on a validation trip from UK to Oz, we flew with Singapore Airlines and the bassinets easily accommodated our 15mth old. We then flew again to Oz via the US when they were nearly 2 and 4. No probs at all, just keep them entertained. We're flying again this year back to UK but now with a nearly 6, nearly 4 and a 14mth old baby Not worried about the flight, kids are good, try and keep your bub in its routine as much as possible. I get the kids in their PJs, put the baby in its normal bedtime clothes/blanket. Also I found that using disposable bottles from Boots were really helpful, didn't have to worry about washing bottles out. If you are doing that, make sure your baby is ok with disposable bottles so try a few out before your flight. Night flights are also helpful.

Lisa and Martin

There's some good tips on this site:

http://travelwithtots.com.au/tips-an...t-board-flight

Unfortunately in the next few months the activity and movement requirements of your child are about to dramatically increase! At that age one of their favourite things to do with toys is shake them, so apart from the quiet toys like books take a few for him to rattle to help him burn off energy. Attach tethers to as many as possible as you can guarantee every single one will be dropped and roll under the seat and you will crick your neck trying to find them. Same with bottles.

In the aircraft toilets you have to change your baby when they are lying sideways to you, a bit of an art that is......

Lucas_Dad

Thanks for the link, will definitely check that out.

Odd thing with changing him - just because of the layout of our room, our changing station has always had him lying sideways to us. I get very confused when he is straight on! But I am easily confused....

Jon77

We flew the UK - Australia route when our son was only 6 months old and he was fine, was much easier than we thought it would be. Singapore Airlines really looked after us. He slept all the way from Singapore to Sydney!

We flew with him again as a 3 year old and that was HEEEEELLLLLLLL It is much easier with a child under 1 than a toddler. He watched some of the TV but was still a bit young to operate it and got frustrated with it. He just wanted to explore all the time, and we let him as much as possible. But still had typical screaming meltdowns if we tried to move him at times. Usually that doesn't feel so bad, but is a confined space it seems many times worse. He launched one of his toys down the plane over the front of his seat and it bounced off the heads of around 5 passengers before coming to a rest on the floor!!!! I just sank in to my seat and sent the wife to get it!!!!

He is nearly 5 now and the next time we fly he will be much better I think.

It is that period from age 1 - 3 that is the hard bit!

Family of 3

I found 18 months the hardest. Before and after that it was a breeze.