travelling with a baby

[grange]

My son and his wife have a 2 1/2 hr flight next month when their baby girl will be 5 1/2 months old. Has anyone any tips for a stress-free time on the plane? They would both hate to disturb anyone if the baby should be unsettled! Many thanks in advance.

[gness]

We flew to UK from Canada with our daughter from when she was six months. I always made sure she was sucking during take off and landing. When she was breast feeding it was easy but a bottle or dummy perhaps. This should prevent ear popping.

[michelle29]

just keep the baby with her mom for the happy and a safe journey. because babies get scared with the new faces.

[Finwoodhill]

The sucking to prevent ear pressure on take off and landing as previously mentioned is by far the most important thing you need to address as it can be so painful and of course, they don't understand.

[numnum]

i used to travel a lot myself with daughter on planes and more recently a 24 hour journey by car and boat myself with a 3 year and 15 month old

I would say for the flight, try not to worry about other folk around you as that gets you in a panic.

Locate toilet so you know where to go for any nappy changes, have everything in the baby bag to hand as it can be quite tricky to grab thinks

is she bottle of breast fed? make sure you have all thats needed for the flight if bottle.

I have 2 kids that dont like to be held so travelling on a plane or anywhere really is a stress

Hopefully at her age though, she might sleep through it all

If theres your son and his wife then one could hold the baby and the other take whatevers needed out the bag. it is handy to take 1 nappy, wipes, nappy bag out so its just in front of you

Also, will you have her car seat that you carry? Try and take the buggy straight to the plane. They normally take it right to the stairs/gate then you carry the baby from there. I once just carried the car seat forgetting the airport had been extended and having to carry that and the baby bag myself was a bit of a sweat

Is there any little finger foods she can have? Those organix rings or something like that might keep her occuiped. It just depends what the baby is like though. My kids have no interest in toys or anything so distractions is always tricky

[grange]

Many thanks everybody for all your help. The feeding thing on take-off and landing is a good idea. Do you think it would be better to sit at the back so they are near the loo and a space where they can stand up with her?

[gness]

Long time ago but we had a seat where there was room for a sort of cot in front of us, supplied by the air-line. May just have been long haul but worth a check.

[237SJ]

I haven`t been on a short flight for donkeys years but on long haul flights people with babies sit by the front bulk head so that they can have a baby cot. Check out the seating plan on the airline/aircraft and see if they provide that service. The other thing is that people seem to turn up with massive pushchairs when they could just go down to the local market and buy a cheap fold-up lightweight one which is perfect for travelling.

[numnum]

sitting next to the toilet could be a good idea or bad. she might get distracted by all the comings and goings and if theres a que and having people hanging about might upset all 3.

is it a big planethat they can move about on? what times are the flights?

i found with my daughter going a 4 hour flight (that flight my partner was there) she slept about 2 hours on me, then by the time she had her feed, nappy change etc we were nearly there. our flight was really early in the morning so the whole days routine was all over the place. i also had in my bag was her bottle filled with water so if she had one feed on the plane then i had that as back up to give for the landing

[numnum]

yeah, i wouldn't take a huge buggy unless you had to take a car seat and the buggy is big that the car seat clips into.

i took my silver cross single buggy that folds down and my car seat i carried that long distance but it didn't fit into that buggy though but needed the car seat for my break

[Nosha123]

Let the crew know she is nervous and they will help. They want to keep baby quiet for everyone's sake too! Good luck