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Hey All,
I'm going to be flying with my little boy to UK (24 hour flight) in August - he will be 8 months old then. I'm also going to be travelling alone, as DH is coming on later.
Just wondering if anyone has any tips on
- what to take for the flight (clothes, toys etc)
- how to deal with jetlag
- feeding during the flight (bottles and solids)
I know we're not going for a while, but I feel like I need to start thinking about it in advance!!
Thanks,
Bertie
Bertie, I recently did this flight to the UK with Charlie when he was 8 months.
My advice is:
~ When you check in, check in as early as you can to try and make sure you get the "sky cot" seats at the front: even if William doesn't do long sleeps in the sky cor, it is somehwere for him to sleep, play and be fed, without him permanatantly being stuck on you for 24 hours!
~ Take whatever, as much as you want, that you think you may need: better to have something than save on space/amount of hand-luggage: the flight staff seem to understand that carrying a baby requires a lot of "stuff"!
~ Take a couple of changes of clothes, all in one PJ type of things seem to be best
~ Take a "used" item of bedding from home to use in the skycot......the familiar bed smell will hopefully help him sleep.
~ Lots of small toys/cloth books
~ Bottles are the trickiest.......nightmare! Take double what you think you'll need!! I took 8 sterilised full of boiled water and 10 portions of formula. I just didn't trust the staff to clean bottles properly, hence I took loads! (On the way back I used mini cartons of already prepared formula which are available in the UK but not here: these were great!)
~ In terms of solids, I just took several little pots of pureed fruit. I didn't bother with the ones that would need heating.
~ Bibs and lots of wipes
~ Double the amount of nappies than you think, just in case!!
~ Baby Panadol, JIC of teething
In terms of jetlag, you and William will be passing through at least 3 time zones, so this will stuff you both about. My advice is that once you hit the UK, immediately adapt to their time and encourage William to adapt his normal routine from there.
For example, we arrived at 6 am and were on teh motorway by 9.00am, so Charlie had a nap in the car. I popped him down for an arvo nap too, but had to wake him after about an hour an a half so that he didn't sleep his usual nighttime sleep then. Then I bathed and bedded him at 7pm UK time.
We had no probs with jetlag with him: he swung into his usual groove straight away, thank goodness (wish it has been as easy for me!!)
Very best of luck, & I hope you have a great time!