Flying interstate with 6 mth old

[guccibabe]

I am wanting to visit my family in Melbourne with my 6 month old and was just a bit concerned about the flight and how he will be.. It is a 2 hour flight. Has anyone got any experience or advice as to what I can expect? I am just worried about his ears but if I give him dummy/boob on take off and landing.. I am also concerned about how he will be not in his home IYKWIM?? UNSETTLED??
Love to hear any thoughts!

[hannanat]

I love the name Tariq. We thought about it because of Tariq bin Ziad but went with Zain instead. (DH is Ziad)

The dummy is a good idea. I gave mine lollypops but they were older.

As to being unsettled, it really depends on his personality. Will he get scared if everyones excited to see him?

[christy]

I've done many interstate & even an international flight with Matilda. I have to say the younger the better!! Okay maybe not sleep wise...

With the plane thing, yep definately boob it on take off & landing. They may say to you that you can't, but you can Usually the descent is the worst, so the 20 minutes prior to landing with their ears. I always brought dummys too. 6 month olds generally are quite content to have 2-3 toys & wander up & down the isles if possible.

Settling...all I can say is do your best to keep everything as you would at home. Are you staying with friends? In a hotel? Family? A great idea is to bring familiar bedding, so we bring Matilda's pillowcase (she's older now) but when she was younger we'd bring her flat cot sheet & her cd & her wrap/blankie. So she's have familiar things when she woke up so as not to be scared. She would wake up more on holidays but I guess if you expect that then it isn't so traumatic.

We always share the same room with her & she generally will co-sleep on holidays where as at home she won't. So just try to make it as similar to home as possible & remember waking up in a strange place can be scary! When we went to America, we went out one night & came home & Matilda was in bed with my Mum!! In another room... it was hilarious, apparently she just walked into my mum's room & climbed into bed with her.

[Beckibee]

*LOL* Had to laugh at the 'boob it....' comment Christy! hehe

I agree though, I've travelled interstate with Maddy twice now. Once when she was 9 weeks old, and again at 7 months. Both times she slept the entire way, both to and from. Granted our flights were a little shorter, 1 1/2 hrs each way...but what Christy said about feeding on take off and landing is fantastic advice. It worked a charm and she loved being snuggled into me. Even better if you can time your flights to around their nap times!

[Phteven]

Did you end up buying the amby hammock? If you did it might be worth taking it with you so Tariq can sleep somewhere familiar. Virgin Blue counts porta-cots as 5kg regardless of thier actual weight.
I always try to offer something to suck on take off and landing. I try to get a window seat and get DH to sit between me and the aisle and read a newspaper so that if bubs decides to yank my top open I don't give the whole plane a look at my boobs.

I'm sure you'll have a great time visiting your family. I've found that when I've travelled overseas and interstate to visit family that in some ways its easier than at home because I have so many people who want to help where as at home its just me.

[guccibabe]

thanks everyone!
Yes I did hire a amby hammock Dach..which I will bring for his day naps and co-sleep with him at night. I will be staying at my mums so hopefully he will still feel at home! Im just nervous about the flight...