flying with baby

[tenar]

We will be flying with our baby in a few weeks - she'll be about 10 weeks old.

Have you taken a baby in a plane? How did they go?

Did their ears hurt? Did you try feeding them, or giving them a dummy, or anything else, to help them to equalize the pressure in their ears.

What else do I need to know? It's a short flight: Melbourne to Newcastle, but we will be making long ones later, in a few month's time.

[AnnaChas]

We will be flying with our baby in a few weeks - she'll be about 10 weeks old.

Have you taken a baby in a plane? How did they go?

Did their ears hurt? Did you try feeding them, or giving them a dummy, or anything else, to help them to equalize the pressure in their ears.

What else do I need to know? It's a short flight: Melbourne to Newcastle, but we will be making long ones later, in a few month's time.

Hi Tenar! I too would like to know the answers to your questions. We are flying Brisbane to Bali in August, and then a longer flight to LA in September.

I've heard that feeding them on take off or giving them a dummy to use helps with the pressure in their ears. I'm concerned about how much formula etc we can take on the plane. I called the airline the other day about this and the lady there assured me I could take as much formula etc as I needed.

[Ellee05]

Oh I too am curious to see the responses to this one, I will be flying with bubs at 2wks old so am quite anxious about that, even though it is only an hour and 4omins it still concerns me.

[MrsFabuloso]

We went Sydney to Adelaide when DS was about 5mths old. He did scream on take off and landing. I tried to bf him and it worked to some degreeon take off, but landing he SCREAMED! In between he was fine.
Later we flew Sydney to Hervey Bay. He was 7 1/2mths and he cried again, but not nearly so much as the first time, so I think his ears must have grown and matured so it didn't hurt so much. I fed him on take off an he was fine, landing he cried, but would feed and whinge, feed and whinge...for a while, then eventually fell asleep. Again he was ifne in between.

HTH

[diva det]

I flew with my DS2 a few weeks ago- to Cairns and back - all in 30 hours by myself
he was around 10 weeks old as well!
He flew like a dream
i just fed him on takeoff from melb and he fell asleep until about 15 mins b4 landing- he was fine for landing as well
on the way home we had a nite flight and he fell asleep on the tarmac in cairns b4 we had even taken off . I woke him half way through the flight as i had to pee- changed his nappy and he fell back to sleep again till we landed in melb!
I went jetstar on the way up and virgin on the way home
Virgin were heaps more baby friendly. They let me take him in the pram to the stairs of the plane and their staff were soo awesome as well. they even left a seat next to me free!
HTH and I actually found the whole experience really quite enjoyable
good luck and let us know how you go!

[amberj]

We are currently in the States, having flown here about 2 weeks ago, and heading home in about a week, so we just flew a LONG way with DS.

My first advice is: the younger the baby, the easier!! DS is crawling and will NOT stop moving, and he only slept for 3 out of the 14 hours of flying, so it was a challenge! We spent a lot of time passing him between us and walking up and down the aisle and sitting up the back of the plane by the toilets with some toys. We also got a bulkhead seat so that we had a bassinet- even if your LO doesn't want to sleep in there (like ours), it was a good spot to put him so he could look around and play and be off our laps.

We gave DS his dummy for take off and landing and he didn't have a problem. You can also try feeding them.

I took two of those formula "wheels" and some baggies of back-up formula in the right amounts, and a bottle of water. The hostesses would put hot water in our bottles when we asked, and then we would fill with cool water to make it the right temp. The also served DS a toddler meal, although they don't put it in the oven at the same time as everyone else- you have to ask and then it takes them like 20 minutes to heat it up, so ask well in advance if your LO is old enough to get a actual meal. DS didn't eat much of it- DH and I thought it was yummy and ate it for him!! I had plenty of snacks (arrowroots, jars of food, rusks etc) which worked quite well, although it is inevitable that you will get really messy! Don't wear nice clothes. You will be bending to the floor to pick up ten million things. I got some disposable bibs and plastic spoons at the reject shop which were good for feeding him, because I could just throw them out afterwards.

We were able to gate check our stroller with Qantas- you check it in at the desk like normal, but you take it with you and then they take it from you at the gate. You can board earlier than everyone else.

Hm, what else? Most people have been really nice and helpful. Its certainly a lot of work travelling with a baby, but very do-able. Although I would think again before travelling this far with a 1 year old!

Let me know if you have any other questions!